Louis De Guoy, author of The Soup Book wrote “There is nothing like a plate or a bowl of hot soup, it’s wisp of aromatic steam making the nostrils quiver with anticipation, to dispel the depressing effects of a grueling day at the office or the shop, rain or snow in the streets, or bad news in the papers.” Soup–whether a pho, bisque, stew, chowder or consomme– is the ultimate in comfort, enveloping you in its luxurious embrace of concordant flavors and ingredients. By clicking on the name of the restaurant for which you wish to know my opinion, you will be magically transported directly to my review of that restaurant. Here are my favorites:
| Soup | Restaurant | Why It’s On the List |
| Spicy Beef Stew | Cafe Dalat (Albuquerque) | Brimming with flavor and served steaming in a swimming pool sized bowl, this soup is made from fifteen different spices, giving it an unforgettable piquant, spicy and savory taste. |
| Ginger Peanut Butternut Squash Soup | Jambo Cafe (Santa Fe) | Jambo is the perennial winner of Santa Fe’s annual Souperbowl and this might be the cafe’s very best soup. It’s a concordance of deliciousness and an optimization of complementary ingredients. |
| Tonkotsu Spicy Miso Ramen | O Ramen (Albuquerque) | This isn’t the ramen of your impoverished collegiate past. This is ramen all grown up and as rich and delicious as any soothing, comforting elixir you’ll ever have. |
| Curried Black Bean-Sweet Potato Soup | Jambo Cafe (Santa Fe) | Santa Fe’s Souperbowl award-winning soup for 2011, the complexity and depth of flavors of this intoxicating elixir are addictive. It’s so good it’ll make grown men swoon. |
| Tortilla Soup | Luminaria (Santa Fe) | First a concave bowl is presented at your table–its contents: unctuous, buttery avocado chunks and crispy red and yellow corn tortilla chips. Then a pitcher of steaming soup is poured over the top–chopped cilantro, fresh corn niblets and diced organic chicken in tow. As much fun to see constructed as it is to eat. |
| Fresh Fish Pepper Soup | Talking Drums (Albuquerque) | This traditional Nigerian soup has the qualities of pungency, fragrance, piquancy, herbaceousness in seemingly unlimited amounts. Those qualities add up to sheer deliciousness. |
| Smoked Sweet Potato-Chipotle Soup | Bocadillos (Albuquerque) | It’s criminal that this soup isn’t available on a daily basis. Bocadillos earns SouperBowl merit every year, and this soup is far superior to other soups entered in the event. |
| Sate Beef Noodle Soup | Pho #1 (Albuquerque) | Originating in the Mekong Delta, this sate (roasted chili paste made with garlic, shrimp paste, shallots and other sundry ingredients) enlivened elixir may be the best soup in a restaurant renowned for outstanding soups. |
| Cream of Asparagus Soup | Mucho Gourmet Sandwich Shop (Santa Fe) | Santa Fe’s best sandwich soup creates some of New Mexico’s very best soups. The cream of asparagus soup is stick-to-your-ribs satisfying, healthy and homemade gourmet quality soup available in what is traditionally a fast food venue |
| Banana Beef Stew | Cafe Dalat (Albuquerque) | Made with banana shank, a boneless cut of beef with a lining of fat for flavor, this soup is simmered slowly in a five-spice broth and has properties that uplift the soul. Order it with bread so you can sop up the wondrous broth. |
| Borscht | Blades’ Bistro (Placitas) | Chef Kevin prepares some of the state’s most rich and luxurious soups, the best of which might be borscht, a culinary treasure in Eastern and Central Europe. Deep reddish-purple in color courtesy of beetroot, it is redolent with tomato, potatoes, beef, sour cream, garlic and dill. |
| Seafood Bisque | Joe’s Pasta House (Rio Rancho) | Great seafood bisque in landlocked Rio Rancho? You’d better believe it. This is a transformative soup, one that will take you back to the coast where fresh, off-the-boat seafood is plentiful. At Joe’s, it tastes just like that. |
| Tomato-Basil Bisque | Mucho Gourmet Sandwich Shop (Santa Fe) | If the pairing of tomato soup and grilled cheese is the ultimate in classic comfort food, then you’ve got to visit Mucho on a cold winter day when the featured soup is tomato-basil soup. It’s got addictive soul-warming properties that envelop you in warmth and luxury. |