Soup-ed Up In Greenpoint

As the temperature drops and it officially becomes winter, we turn our palate to this comforting and convenient genre. Soup’s been trending of late on a national scale, perhaps fueled by the increase in popularity for pho and ramen or simply because chefs are now integrating more interesting ingredients and combinations—making soup a farm-to-ladle experience.

We surveyed some local restaurants to get the scoop on soup. Overall, and it comes as no surprise, folks found that as it gets colder, soup gets more popular—especially the heartier/creamier ones. However, there’s definitely a healthy overtone as well, with non-dairy or vegetarian options and even substituting yogurt for cream. Many restaurants are also regularly changing up the menu based on what’s at the market/in-season and to continually keep customers surprised. See a sampling after the jump of what’s on offer around town and get souper excited.

Anella (222 Franklin Street) is serving tomato cheddar soup at lunch and butternut squash soup for dinner. Tomato is a classic that’s offered all year round and butternut squash is seasonal.

Hail Mary (68 Greenpoint Avenue) offers a soup of the day, which changes sometimes multiple times a week based on the produce at the market. They recently were serving a creamy broccoli soup with a cheddar crisp, yoghurt, and piment d’espelette.

Glasserie’s (95 Commercial Street) menu changes daily slightly each day, but a soup which has just come back in a slightly new incarnation is the Foraged Mushroom & Soft Egg & Hazelnut, with Mushroom Broth.

Sauvage (905 Lorimer Street) is currently serving a Mushroom Soup with Liver Royale, but they change the soup offering with each change of season.

Milk and Roses (1110 Manhattan Avenue) usually serve at least one soup during the winter months. Right now, they are offering a vegetable soup and a butternut squash soup as appetizers and a beef stew as an entrée.

Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. (114 Nassau Avenue) always has the fish chowder on the menu and from time to time they will run a seafood ramen as a special and it’s always a big hit with customers. Fun fact, after opening it took four months to arrive at their chowder consistency that everyone agreed with. “It was either too thin, or too thick. Everyone had an opinion on the consistency of “chowder””.

Five Leaves (18 Bedford Avenue) serves a different soup every few days. Their focus has always been a healthy rotation of vegan and vegetarian stock-based soups with bright, fresh flavors.

Adelina’s (159 Greenpoint Avenue) has two soups on the menu. First, a white bean soup that’s creamy pureed, garlicky and topped with sage. The second is Acquacotta, a broth-based hot soup that means cooks water because it was originally viewed as a peasant food. It’s a hearty stew made with beans, fennel, tomato and onion.

Dar 525 (168 Driggs Avenue) provides chicken soup and lentil soup made fresh every day.

Esme (999 Manhattan Avenue) offers a roasted sweet potato soup with red curry roasted sweet potato that tastes almost like a tikka masala type curry. In the Fall and Winter they do it as an appetizer and find that people end up sharing because they want a couple of bites of warm soup, but don’t count it as a full meal.

Karczma (136 Greenpoint Avenue) has many soup options offered daily, including chicken noodle, white borscht (served in bread), pickle soup or tripe soup (a traditional Polish meat stew). They also offer a soup of the day.

Le Fanfare (1103 Manhattan Avenue) has a soup special most days and they are usually vegetarian. Recently they have had butternut squash, mushroom, carrot and ginger, lentil, Italian tradition.

Paulie Gee’s (60 Greenpoint Avenue) has a few soups for your pre-pizza meal. A vegetarian take on the classic French Onion, a Pumpkin Bisque, and the Arnold Brothstein, a Parmagiano broth with pasta, fresh escarole and Italian tomatoes.

Overall, if you’re looking for a warm pick-me-up, it’s clear the soup scene is heating up in Greenpoint.