Dining Out: Soup’s on, and it’s delicious

by Lynn Williams
maindish@baltimoreguide.com

Could 11 West Preston Street finally have beaten the jinx? The funky little space above the health food store has housed several eateries, but none seemed to garner the following one might expect in a neighborhood overflowing with college students and concertgoers.

I have a good feeling about Soup’s On Baltimore, though. For starters, who doesn’t like soup? Especially soup so good people don’t mind lining up next to the bathroom to order at a tiny kitchen window.

The family-owned company, which also has a branch in Perry Hall, has a repertoire of around 200 soups—I was too lazy to count, but soup freaks will want to go to the website, www.soupsonbalto.com, for a look at the complete, mindblowing list. African peanut! Banana, Lemongrass and Coconut! Thai red curry chicken with Japanese eggplant! Steak chili with Guinness stout! Of course, they’ve got chicken noodle and Maryland crab, too. Whatever your favorite, it’s probably on the roster.

Every day they choose several vegan, vegetarian, meat-based and seafood soups, and a sweet dessert soup; these can be checked out daily on the website, too. Sandwiches and salads are recent additions to the menu. Making a choice might be tough, but pricing is simple: a cup of soup is $3, a bowl $4, a pint $5; some seafood soups are $1 extra, and a cup of dessert soup is $4. Sandwiches and salads are $4. Taxes are included, as is a slice of lovely sesame-seed-sprinkled crostini. Especially considering the gourmet ingredients and homemade stocks used, this is a major bargain.

Our first soup choice, a vegan broccoli, white bean and sun-dried tomato, was a hearty, peasanty brew, packed with chunks of fresh broccoli, one so big it took up a substantial amount of space in the bowl. My husband could have used more beans; he thought he’d be getting “a bean soup with vegetables, not a vegetable soup with beans.” It needed a bit of salt to bring out the flavors, but this was by design. The soups are low-sodium; customers can make use of the canisters of sea salt to doctor their own.

The asparagus soup with shrimp was sublime. It was a taste of spring, with its lush, creamy texture and subtle hint of tarragon. Large fresh shrimp made this soup well worth the extra buck.

The tarragon chicken salad sandwich was made with big chunks of chicken, flavorful greens and halved purple grapes, and served on a crusty roll. Also worthy of praise was the toasted, open-face tomato and fresh mozzarella sandwich; the tomatoes were actually ripe and red, and the sandwich topped with abundant finely-chopped fresh basil.

There was one non-soup dessert on offer: butterscotch pudding. It looked like a bowl of whipped cream, which, when I dipped in my dipped in a spoon, revealed swirls of pudding studded, with chunks of toffee. (I think I gained weight just writing that sentence!) Still, I preferred the chilled raspberry and cranberry soup. It was also creamy, but the cranberry added a refreshing tartness.

The packaging is the same, whether you carry out or stick around. Do stay, though. This is a cheerful place to dine, with a small, two-level dining room, Victorian fireplace, stained glass window, and jaunty yellow color scheme.

Soup’s On Baltimore
11 W. Preston Street
Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon.-Sat.,
noon to 6 p.m. Sun.
Phone: 410-528-1003
Our lunch for two: $23.00

The Latest Dish…
If there’s anything guaranteed to make me stop in my tracks, it’s a poster bearing the word YUM. This one was for an event called “Yum! on the Avenue,” a fundraiser for The GreenMount School. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, more than 25 restaurants and shops in Hampden will offer food and drink, right out there on The Avenue (36th St.) To partake, buy a ticket ($25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event) and check in at the Hampden Family Center, 1104 W. 36th St. Local musicians will entertain, and there will be a raffle and silent auction. For more information, visit www.greenmountschool.org or call 410-235-6295.