Time for soup!

Fall is definately upon us. A chill is in the air and leaves are turning. It has become time for soup.

I am sure there have been soup threads in the past but I am relatively new here so I thought a new one would be good.

I had good soup last spring at Carnivale on Fulton (about the only good thing about that hell-hole). Unfortunately I forget most of the ingrediants and it was a special. It was creamy and spicy (ancho peppers, I think).

Anyway - name a good soup and why it is so good (since I can't).

I know that people will probably mock me, but I could LIVE on Outback Steakouse's baked potato soup. It's not too thick and has lots of chunks of potatoes. Then they garnish it with bacon, chives and cheddar cheese. mmmm

AngrySarah wrote:Fall is definately upon us. A chill is in the air and leaves are turning. It has become time for soup.

I am sure there have been soup threads in the past but I am relatively new here so I thought a new one would be good.

I had good soup last spring at Carnivale on Fulton (about the only good thing about that hell-hole). Unfortunately I forget most of the ingrediants and it was a special. It was creamy and spicy (ancho peppers, I think).

Anyway - name a good soup and why it is so good (since I can't).

Soup isn't seasonal! Soup is all year 'round! Crazy Yankees.

I just had an outstanding sweet corn soup at Green Zebra that managed to be light and airy and creamy at the same time. That they can make something so common and pedestrian as corn soup seem new is why in part GZ is one of my favorite restaurants.

Starship Subs had some great soups (at least 5 on the menu daily). Over 100 listed and new ones squeak into the menu board often.

Starship's Soup List

Sometimes they have a bread bowl on the menu and on that day Beef Stew is a soup of the day.

Some of my favorites: Cream of Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, Split Pea, Red Eyed Tamale Soup, Cajun Jambalaya (not really a soup), Mushroom Barley, Mama McKenzie's Potato Sausage Soup, Resurrection Chicken (spicy!), and the ever popular French Onion (not too salty w/ lot's of onions).

Enjoy!

STARSHIP SUBS
7618 W. Madison
Forest Park
708-771-3016

A coupla years ago I had a really good Cream of Carrot soup at ...

Bite
1035 N. Western
Chicago
(773) 395-2483

Not too carroty and nice and creamy. Mmmm.

The 3 cheese grilled cheese on thick bread was good too.

Panther in the Den wrote:Some of my favorites: Cream of Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, Split Pea, Red Eyed Tamale Soup, Cajun Jambalaya (not really a soup), Mushroom Barley, Mama McKenzie's Potato Sausage Soup, Resurrection Chicken (spicy!), and the ever popular French Onion (not too salty w/ lot's of onions).

I agree, I've had most of those and they were all great. The cream of artichoke is one of my faves. However, don't go with their Sweet & Sour Cabbage soup, it was a dog. I'm not very impressed with their sandwiches, just OK, but the soups are usually great.

You know who has good work-a-day soups? Cafe Bacci. They feature two soups each day. Most of them are quite tasty and feature good-sized chunks of vegetables. Today I had the chicken corn chowder. It had a cream base with loads of corn, chopped chicken, and celery. Cafe Bacci has several locations throughout the Loop, so I doubt that they make their soups on-site. Still, they seem very fresh, so I'm sure that they make them at some centralized facility nearby. That may not sound so good, but it's a cut above many other places that get their soups out of a bag.

I eat soup year round, but I think of fall and winter as soup MAKING weather -- the time of year when you want to add a little moisture to the air and can actually lower your heating bill by letting something simmer for a few hours. I make lots of bean soups during the fall. I make a nice soup of winter squashes with beer, ham, and apples. I also often make something I gave the imaginative name of "Fall Soup," which consists of about 10 lb. of potatoes, 3 lb. of onions, 2 lb. of smoked pork shoulder, a couple of quarts of buttermilk and a couple of jars of Gray Poupon mustard. It makes a lot, but my friends love it, and I've never yet been able to make enough to have it last more than a couple of weeks. And parsnip soup -- I love making parsnip soup in the fall.

Anyone else consider cooler weather a signal to get out the soup pots?

I know a lot of people on this board have a high regard for the vegetable barley soup at Hannah's Bretzel. I have not tried it, but now that the weather is changing I intend to get some soon.

Suzy

sdritz wrote:I know a lot of people on this board have a high regard for the vegetable barley soup at Hannah's Bretzel. I have not tried it, but now that the weather is changing I intend to get some soon.

I enjoy this soup. It's very mild but it balances the saltier meats and hearty bread of their sandwiches. On it's own it would definitely need a hunk of good bread and maybe a dash of cayenne.

As to the original query from AngrySarah: there are so many fantastic soups in Chicago that I honestly don't know where to begin. From phos on argyle to Thai tom yums to Mexican birria and carne en su jugo (close enough to a soup) to Korean soups to Jewish chicken soups to Romanian tripe soup to vichyssoises and on and on and on. If I had to list all the ones that I love and why I love them, then I'd never get to eat dinner tonight. Maybe I'll sleep on it and narrow it down to one or two.

Best,
Michael

I was being *somewhat* facetious as per "you crazy yankees."

I eat soup the whole year thru...I imagine I could eat a different soup every day of the year and still have new varieties to try.

I make, soups, stews, "stewps---thank you Rachael Ray ," and chili all year long.

It's amusing this adherence to colloquial soup-eating seasons: don't tell the orientals...shhhh...they apply the philosophical heating spirit of soups during hot weather...it liberates the chi...or somesuch.

oh...I recently had an MSG bomb...mindblowing "Chinese stock" Vietnamese wonton soup at Tank Noodle: the sheer umami blast was enough to send the patron str8 to nirvana...do not pass go...do not genuflect, listen to Amy Grant, or tithe on yr way out. fyi: it's the egg noodle soup listed below the "wonton soup" ---it's the one with about a billion different accoutrement: fish cakes, krab, wonton, roast pork, bbq pork, jalapenos, cilantro, basil, bean sprouts, quail egg, shrimp, meatball...etc. Urgh...with a soupcon of sambal oelek...so frickin' good.

Christopher Gordon wrote:It's amusing this adherence to colloquial soup-eating seasons: don't tell the orientals...shhhh...they apply the philosophical heating spirit of soups during hot weather...it liberates the chi...or somesuch

It's not just soup. I went to Paprikash on Diversey to get some stuffed cabbage. It was in May, and I was informed that it was not served during summer months.

Hot and Sour at Pine Yard in Evanston. Still a benchmark.
Mushroom at the long-gone Zofia's (first in Niles then Arlington Heights, now neither) -- amazing mushroom flavor and almost thick enough to stand a spoon in.
Tom Yum at Lotus of Siam -- almost too spicy to eat, especially in Vegas heat
French Onion at Weber's in Dearborn, MI -- it's been 25 years, and I still remember it from a team road trip

Soupbox on Broadway has some very nice soups daily. Favorites around my house are chicken with wild rice, potato leek lobster bisque (This can be spotty but sometimes surprisingly good) and clam chowder. 12 different soups each day, all made locally, all available as bread bowls and they deliver too.

It's also worth noting that the frozen mushroom barley, lima bean and sweet and sour cabbage soups from Kaufmans on Dempster in Skokie are also excellent, and have saved more than a few late night dinners for us.


Soupbox 2943 N. Broadway

Kaufmans Bagel Bakery 4905 W. Dempster

Lula Cafe's corn bisque with bacon, smoked whitefish, Melrose peppers, and wild mushrooms (the version I had used lobster shrooms) is by far the best corn soup I've ever had. It's quite beautiful, too - very refined, not rustic in the slightest. Heaven in a bowl. And I've got the recipe! Life is good.

The Lobster Bisque at The Clubhouse in Oakbrook Mall. Awesome! Not that I have had it but my wife is an expert on such things.

While you are there, try the Meatloaf Sundae. A mountain of Mashed Potato, slices of Meatloaf stacked on the sides of the mountain and covered in the richest brown gravy I have ever had. Topped off with some of those thin french fried onion thingys.

The Chicken Pot pie is very good too.

The Clubhouse
298 Oakbrook Center
Oak Brook
(630) 472-0600

Monday - Thursday 11:00 am - 10:30 pm
Friday - Saturday 11:00 am - 11:30 pm
Sunday 10:00 am - 9:30 pm

The Board of Trade Cafeteria (also known as Cellars Market) located in the basement has some good soups. They are not gourmet but better than you would expect. The creme of chicken has quite a following and the vegetable is good as well as the bean soup. Also the Taco Soup is liked by many. They also have good rib sticking cafeteria meals and sandwiches, fish sandwiches and a salad bar.

All well and good so far, but WHERE in the Loop can you find a decent split pea soup? Uncle Al's and (on occasion) Au Bon Pain are passable, but I seem to be in a minority as far as my numero uno soup fave.
>>Brent

Not in the Loop but further north, Capt'n Nemo's had a good Vegetarian Split Pea soup every day.

The South Sea sub (No Fish! Ham, Salami, American Cheese, Eggs, Captain's Secret Sauce, LTO, and Pineapple Sauce) is pretty good too.

Capt'n Nemo's
3650 N. Ashland Ave.

... and other locationsfurther north.

I'm a big fan of the hot-and-sour soup at Big Bowl. It starts with a house made pork broth and has a good balance of vinegar and spice.

I also have recently had very good lobster bisque at Flamingo's Seafood. This was creamy and intense with a lot of lobster in it, and a big portion.

It's been a while, but I used to really like the garlic soup at Arco de Cuchilleros (3445 N. Halsted St., 773/296-6046), served sizzling hot with an egg cooking in it. Has anyone been there lately?

I love the chicken soup at the Mexicoid chain place in Northwestern (Ogilvie) train station (Baha Beach or something?). It is amazingly fresh and flavorful (my guess is that it's made with leftovers from their stuff). Spicy and lime-y and full of grilled chicken and cilantro. Mmmmm. I may make some grilled chicken this weekend just so I can try to make that soup!

Soon after it opened, I had a chicken vegetable soup at The Grove (the new place on Diversey near Pine Grove that replaced Granny's Waffles) that was clearly homemade and very delicious.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anybody have a recipe for soup I can make from great northern beans, spices, onions, spareribs, and chicken, etc.? I don't feel like going to the market today.

a recipe for soup I can make from great northern beans, spices, onions, spareribs, and chicken, etc.?

You know what I tend to do now: I use the ingrediants as keywords (skip spices) to find a recipe via Google. Sometimes it pops up with something which would never have occured to me.

In my maternal family, they liked roasting spare ribs, then later adding potatoes, sauerkraut and onions. In my paternal family, the spare ribs and sauerkraut leftovers would be served the next day mingled into a baking dish of spaetzle, then baked until the noodles crisped. Lot's of Saturday nights at my Dad's home were spent arguing over who had more than their fair share of crisp spaetzle.

Regards,

kuhdo wrote:Soupbox on Broadway has some very nice soups daily. Favorites around my house are chicken with wild rice, potato leek lobster bisque (This can be spotty but sometimes surprisingly good) and clam chowder. 12 different soups each day, all made locally, all available as bread bowls and they deliver too.
Soupbox 2943 N. Broadway

When I lived just east of there, on Wellington, I'd stop for an after-work meal of soup and bread at least twice a week. My favorite was their leek and potato soup. It was so creamy good and delicious, warms the cockles of the heart on a cold, wintery Chicago day. I hope it is as good as I remember it. I might have to go down there sometime this weekend to check to make sure it is!!

The potato leek is still just as good as you describe. This is my daughters favorite and she really loves it. I think they (soupbox) really do have the best (non asian) soups in the area and strongly suggest those looking for soup give them a try. They may also have a downtown location now.

Cathy2 wrote:In my maternal family, they liked roasting spare ribs, then later adding potatoes, sauerkraut and onions.
Regards,

That was one of my favorite dishes when I was growing up. I haven't had it in years. Thanks for the reminder. I can almost taste it now. I'll have to try to make it this winter.

kuhdo wrote:The potato leek is still just as good as you describe. This is my daughters favorite and she really loves it. I think they (soupbox) really do have the best (non asian) soups in the area and strongly suggest those looking for soup give them a try. They may also have a downtown location now.

Is the SoupBox located in the Northwestern train station food court affiliated with the SoupBox you mention? I ate at the downtown location last week and enjoyed it. My lobster bisque had a good flavor and nice creamy consistency - definitely exceeded my expectations for a food court restaurant. Coworkers who had the beef stew said it was good as well.

MMMMMmmmmm, Cathy, I may have to make that this weekend. Only difference was that my former mother in law used country-style ribs. Back to the soup, my lifeline when I was going to school was Heaven on Seven's gumbo. I love that stuff - never fails to warm me up!

This past summer, I also dined at Le Titi de Paris for Bastille Day and Chef Maddox served a soup for amuse bouche. It was served cold and was a dreamy blend of leeks and other things - possibly cucumber. I've had it there twice and wished that I could take a quart home for later!!!

The mexican restaurant near where I live (LaMagdalena on Addison Rd in Addison) serves a cup of soup before your dinner that they do not charge for (too big for amuse bouche to me). It's a simple but very tasty broth flavored with cumin and also has chicken and pasta shells in it. Yummy!