Best Six Soups at Local Restaurants
Winter's coming. Take comfort in delicious, hot soup. Here are some beautiful bowlfuls worth putting on your mittens and boots to go out for.
Avgolemeno at Artopolis Bakery Cafe & Agora
306 S. Halsted St., Chicago, (312) 559-9000
The specialty of the house, the delightful "artopita," is a savory oval of crisped puff pasty with a filling like fresh spinach and feta, flavored with dill and onion; smoky Black Forest ham with spinach and kasseri cheese; or white and portobella mushrooms mixed with kasseri and emmenthal. There is also an ample selection of sandwiches, served on your choice of Artopolis excellent breads, with choices like the Mediterraneo, roasted leg of lamb with mint on rosemary bread, and the Norwegian Crest, featuring house-smoked salmon, watercress, capers and fennel cream on dark, caraway-studded rye. Either makes a meal when paired with what they call "traditional soup," or avgolemeno, Greek-style egg-lemon soup, an exemplary version — thick, lemony and full of chunks of chicken.
Crema de langosta at Flamingo's Seafood
1590 S. Busse Road, Mount Prospect, (847) 364-9988
At the northwest suburbs' most upscale Mexican restaurant, Chef Jorge Almaraz crafts an ambitious, delicious menu of fresh seafood dishes and presents them in generous portions, beautifully arranged and garnished on modern Villroy & Boch chinaware. Don't miss the crema de langosta, a big bowl of creamy lobster bisque, lightly seasoned with chipotle chilies and garnished with a generous helping of lobster meat. Two entree soups -- siete mares, or "seven seas," filled with shrimp, clams, scallops, oysters, fish, mussels and crab legs, and shrimp soup -- also figure on the menu.
Duck consomme at Old Town Brasserie
209 N. Wells St., Chicago, (312) 943-3000
Le Francais is no more, but Chef Roland Liccioni is dishing up high-end brasserie fare in Old Town. The service and surroundings may be less formal than in Wheeling, but the menu offers several Liccioni favorites, including his notable duck consomme, a transparent amber-colored broth, rich and unctuous, with tiny truffled ravioli floating in it.
Pho at Le Colonial
937 N. Rush St., Chicago, (312) 255-0088
In Vietnam, pho (pronounced "fuh") is a breakfast dish, a meal in a bowl. At Le Colonial, Chef Chan Le serves smaller portions of the beefy noodle soup as an appetizer, but it's still soul-satisfying, its deep, meaty flavors enhanced by aromatic cinnamon, cloves, cardamom pods, star anise and fresh ginger. Each morning Le starts by simmering a huge pot of beef chuck and oxtails. She toasts all the spices, uses only fresh noodles and serves her upscale version of the soup with slices of beef tenderloin instead of the more usual flank steak and garnished with lively fresh herbs, bean sprouts, jalapenos and lime wedges.
Stracciatella at Sabatino's
4441 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, (773) 283-8331
Terror struck fans of this elegant, old-fashioned Italian favorite when they learned that a fire broke out there. Happily, repairs have been made, they're back in business and diners can continue to enjoy their first-rate shrimp de Jonghe, steak Diane prepared tableside and flaming baked Alaska ... not to mention the deliciously savory stracciatella, chicken broth swirled with egg, cheese and spinach, one of the hearty soups that comes gratis with meals at Sabatino's — along with salad and hot, cheesy and tomatoey pizza bread.