Cathi Turow: What’s Your Soup Type?

I’ve noticed countless variations on butternut squash soup in restaurants this fall. Many other cozy soups are offered as well.  With so many wonderful new soups to try, how is it possible to decide which to order? It comes down to this: what’s your soup type? In the five cafes below, your type will lead to delicious meals on the menus.

Sweet Tomato (91 Audrey Ave., Oyster Bay); Forest Ave Grill (170 Forest Ave., Glen Cove)

Your Soup Type: “I Gotta Taste It”

In Sweet Tomato, 12 different kinds of soup smile at you on the front counter. You’re welcome to taste them before choosing the one you’d like to order. During my last visit, the manager mentioned customers have been asking for the butternut squash soup since August. On October 17, it will return, along with sausage soup, lemon chicken orzo, kale soup, plus more. Two new fall soups will be added to the menu each week, and they’ll rotate.

In Forest Ave Grill, eight rotating soups are offered every week. You can enjoy tasting samples before making a choice. Apple butternut squash is the newcomer for the fall. This thick version of butternut squash soup is delightfully sweet. As I slurped my portion, I could hear the apples whispering, “We’re here too.”

MMythos Kitchen (1380 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn)

Your Soup Type: Creamy-But-Not-Too-Creamy. The avgolemono soup in this new Greek café is your perfect match. As I tasted the slightly creamy traditional rice, chicken and egg soup, the freshest lemon flavor hummed in the background.  The ingredients in the lentil soup were equally talented. Everything on the menu is home baked, including bread which is served with a fava bean puree. Here’s what’s most charming: the entrees, salads, sides and desserts are not served perfectly symmetrically on their plates. Instead, foods ranging from moussaka to baklava are placed casually on their dishes. It feels as if loving hands raised them out of the oven and sliced them especially for you.

Maldon & Mignonette (243 Glen Cove Ave., Sea Cliff)

Your Soup Type: Not-Overloaded-With-Ingredients. Seasonality, simplicity and flavor describe the vibe in this restaurant. So, your soup type is a perfect fit with the chef’s butternut squash creation. The soup is a delicious, basic combination of butternut squash, carrots, tomatoes, onions and a drizzle of olive oil. 

On the new fall menu, I paired my soup with the Autumn Wreath roasted vegetable salad. The ingredients happily form a wreath (plump Brussels sprouts, figs as an innovative touch, squash, goat cheese, honey and thyme). My favorite pasta dish: cappelletti with squash, pecans and sage. It tastes like a crisp autumn evening. 

Hoshi (34 Audrey Ave., Oyster Bay)

Your soup type: Smooth-With-A-Crunch. In this new sushi bar & Japanese restaurant, the kabocha soup (butternut squash’s cousin) is smooth as silk with crunchy pumpkin seeds atop. The menu is filled with creative inventions. I love the vegetable taco (a four-inch slice of seaweed serves as the “shell,” while rice with paper-thin fresh vegetables gather inside it). The dumplings are wrapped in tuna instead of a noodle case. Fried rice versions include scallops or lobster. There are wagyu curry short ribs. The list goes on. This is a “must try” restaurant.

See you next month!