Cafe Roze
Most people think soup is a seasonal food. But as we know, most people are dumb. More than half the food we eat year-round is warm, so it’s no more logical to eat fried chicken or hot dogs or spaghetti in the summer than it is to eat soup.
That’s excellent news, because Nashville is a Soup City. I know this because I eat soup at least five times per week. I also know that soup, like roast chicken, is the fastest way to see which chefs know their stuff. If you can’t make a well-seasoned, satisfying soup, you can’t cook.
For today’s purposes, I’ve broken Nashville’s standout soups into categories because it’s too hard to pick five actual soups. However, if you are indecisive, gluttonous or just like doing good, check out Our Kids Soup Sunday! The 31st annual event is this Sunday, March 3, at Nissan Stadium Club Level West, and it is the easiest, most fun way to taste 30-plus soups from area restaurants. It’s cheap — $25 for adults and $5 for kids — and all the proceeds go to Our Kids, a Nashville nonprofit that provides medical exams and crisis counseling to families affected by child sexual abuse. Good food. Great cause. Win-win.
1. Brothy Asian Soups
From pho to tom kha gai, Nashville has always excelled in this category. A few standouts have come and gone — India Noodles from International Market, Thai Fighter Soup from That Place on Belcourt Circa 2015 That I Cannot Remember the Name Of. And I’m not even putting ramen on this list because it needs its own.
Now then, specifics:
In the classic category, there’s Kien Giang’s pho — with clean, aromatic broth that’s both sweet and savory — or Bún bò Huế (salty, laced with lemongrass, seriously spicy).
Grab chicken noodle soup from King Market with a side of wings. I don’t think fish stomach stew is on the menu anymore, but they’ve got 10 others, so everyone’s covered.
The newest iteration of International Market is also a heavy hitter, whether you choose cozy chicken noodle, sour-salty-spicy mushroom poh thaak, or khao tom (rice soup with chicken or shrimp).
While Kisser’s spicy miso udon is obviously a slam dunk, don’t sleep on beef tataki udon: handmade noodles, seared Bear Creek Farms beef, grilled maitake mushroom, and umami-packed dashi broth.
On that meaty note, Pho T&N’s beef stew with rice noodles gives you the best of both worlds in terms of veggie beef soup (slow-cooked sirloin, carrots) and phở (slightly sweet broth, raw white and green onions).
The next time you go for S.S. Gai’s Thai fried chicken, ask about their specials. Both their khao soi (coconut curry noodle soup) and tom kha gai (coconut chicken soup) are paragons.
If you’re looking for somewhere you can customize your bowl, try East Side Pho. Order extra broth or noodles ($2.95) or extra meat ($3.95) to double up on whatever part you typically run out of first. (Broth. It’s always broth.)
Tip: Grab the right gear to enhance your at-home experience. I’m including Amazon links in case you’re not near a local market, but let’s be honest: You’re near K&S World Market wherever you are. And it’s worth visiting just to get a jar of Shirakiku pickled ginger, which will revolutionize your soup, sauce and salad games all at once.
Your shopping list includes:
A few big-ass, microwave-safe bowls. Even if your broth is delivered warm, it’s not going to be the melting-plastic kind of hot it should be to lightly cook the raw onion in your pho. So zappable bowls are a must.
Dishwasher-safe wooden chopsticks so you’re not part of the problem. Nearly 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are produced yearly in China, and most of the 20 million trees cut down to make those come from mature groves that take decades to grow. Yikes.
Plastic Asian soup spoons with a handle. I’ve been given many glass spoon sets, but for use over time, plastic with a hook is always my go-to (and what nearly every Asian restaurant uses).
Red Perch
2. Places to Order the Special
In addition to S.S. Gai, here are some spots that always deliver on specials.
The Café at Thistle Farms expertly seasons every offering, from Creamy Tomato to Chicken Noodle. Bonus: Their Chicken Pot Pie can pinch hit as soup in a jam.
The Clam Chowder at Red Perch is widely beloved, with the closest contender being The Optimist’s fish version. When you pull it from the fridge, you can turn it upside-down without spilling any — a clear, glorious indicator of how much bacon fat goes into the roux. Yet I will still tell you to forgo it if a special like Shrimp Congee is on the menu! The savory rice porridge is topped with earthy fried garlic, crisp green onions, and bright ginger, all of which give it an addictive bite.
Both Roze properties — Cafe in East and Pony in West — knock soup out of the park. From Curry Butternut Squash to Chilled Avocado to Sipping Broth (ginger, lemongrass, coconut), you can count on Julia Jaksic to warm you up (even when it’s cold soup she’s serving).
If you go to Peninsula, you order the broth. They always have one, whether it’s Vegan Strawberry or Maitake with Pine. And it is always my most memorable sip of the year.
3. Chili
Chili is the one soup, I’ll admit, that I’d rather eat a cup of while watching football than sitting by a pool. So hit your chili quota before the last freeze. (Reminder: In Nashville, that’s not till March or April, so don’t go planting stuff this weekend just because it’s 60 today.)
Your to-do list:
Bare Bones Butcher’s no-bean chili is all killer, no filler. Made with slow-cooked shank seasoned with andouille-sausage spice blend, it’s hearty and hits the spot. It’s also one of two chilis in the world I will accept raw onions atop because it’s rich enough to need that punch. (No. 2 is Cincinnati; see below.)
For bar chili, you can’t go wrong with Corner Pub (the OG location still hosts a chili cookoff every February) and Broadway Brewhouse, which delivers a small plot twist by using pulled pork instead of beef.
In the "Is It Really Chili?" category, there’s Pork Green Chili at Taqueria Del Sol. They are down to their last Nashville outpost on Charlotte Avenue, and I am deeply worried because I need that strange, spicy, rich, cheesy soup nearby. Tip: Use this chili as a dip with chips or mix it with their turnip greens for a soupier texture. It’s weird but it works.
Finally, check out FatBelly Pretzel’s Cincinnati Chili with Pasta and Cheese. The undercurrent of sweetness in Levon Wallace’s chili, coupled with its not-super-thick texture, makes it ideal for dunking sandwiches.
What, you might ask, is Cincinnati chili? According to What’s Cooking America, here’s the (edited) gist:
Macedonian immigrant Tom Kiradjieff created Cincinnati chili in 1922 at his small Greek restaurant, The Empress. The restaurant did poorly until Kiradjieff started serving chili made with Middle Eastern spices in a variety of ways. He called it “spaghetti chili,” and his “five way” version was spaghetti topped with chili, chopped onion, kidney beans, and shredded yellow cheese. It was served with oyster crackers and a side order of hot dogs topped with more cheese.
A SIDE OF HOT DOGS TOPPED WITH MORE CHEESE? This sounds like a man after Levon Wallace’s own heart. (And if you want to try it in Cincinnati, here's where to find it..)
Athens
3. Nashville Classics
Classic Nashville Soup is a category I made up, but I’d argue Midtown Cafe actually invented it decades ago. Their Lemon Artichoke Soup — with its zingy citrus and creamy chicken broth — is simple and perfect, and that’s why it’s been around for over 30 years.
Here are a couple other stalwarts:
I hesitate to even list Mas Tacos Por Favor’s soup here because its reputation is bigger than Taylor’s. But if you haven’t tried their impeccable tortilla soup or their zippy pozole verde (hominy, tomatillos, fresh green things), order both.
The avgolemono soup at Athens is the rare stick-to-your-ribs chicken soup: creamy, tangy and packed with eggy-lemon flavor.
For cream soups, you can’t beat Skull’s Rainbow Room. Their lobster bisque is buttery, full of shellfish, and cut with just enough sherry to keep it from being solid.
For pickup soup, grab some potato leek at Sperry’s Mercantile or curried broccoli cheese at The Picnic Cafe’s new home on Highway 100.
The Food Company’s tomato basil is a must-order for dipping, though I still miss Bread & Co.’s superior version. (Real talk: The Grilled Cheeserie’s tomato soup is better than both — with honorable mention to their roasted red pepper — because it’s made with both cream and freaking country-ham stock.)
Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine’s coconut tomato soup has all the elements of your favorite tomato soup plus coconut, and it’s richer, spicier and deeper in flavor.
While the epitome of French onion soup was Eastland Cafe’s (RIP), you can still find a tasty one at Sperry’s and a salty, hangover-curing version at Twilight Tavern.
Finally, there’s George's chicken tortilla soup at City Cafe East. Originally served at the old Sportsman's Grille, it won Soup Sunday many times. When the chef left, he took his tortilla soup recipe (and Cajun corn cakes!) with him, and now you can get both — and a free second bowl — on Lebanon Pike. Nashville hospitality in a nutshell.
Superica
5. Chains
There are two types of people: those who love McAlister’s tortilla soup and those who think those people are disgusting. I’m the former. Do I know that the thick, orangey faux-Mexican soup is just cheese dip you can eat with a spoon? Of course. But sometimes the soup you need is whatever soup you ate when you were 7 — even if it comes out of a bag.
Other worthy chain choices:
Chili’s: Their chicken enchilada soup is no match for McAlister’s tortilla, but their cheesy baked potato is always solid, as is their non-beany chili. Both must be eaten with their addictive, oversalted, highly breakable tortilla chips.
Twin Peaks: Another entry in the Tex-Mex canon is green chile chicken soup, a brothy option with green chiles, roasted corn and smoked paprika. I stopped into the Cool Springs location kind of on a dare — my friend Chip has been raving about their 29° draft beer for a decade. While I’m not sure I’d bring my daughter to this Bavarian Hooters, I’ll admit: The soup was good! As was the beer, and both were cheap, at less than $5 each. (Also, having a 20-year-old in a plaid crop-top call me “sweetheart” with the familiarity of a grandma felt comforting. Something to unpack with my therapist.)
Taziki’s: Their Greek lemon chicken soup — rice, julienned carrots, tart-rich broth — is legitimately better than any chain needs to make. And since Zoe’s shuttered, it’s my go-to chain chicken soup.
Chuy’s: They make a serviceable, mass-produced version of Mas Tacos’ tortilla soup, and that’s as high a compliment as a chain can get.
PF Chang's: If you’re a Chinese restaurant with a dish called “Asian Chicken Noodle Soup,” genericism is built in, and boy, is it tasty. On Sundays in my 20s, I lived on this stuff. I’d sip the broth — flavored with soy sauce, ginger and garlic — right from the quart container while I watched True Blood and dreaded Monday. Glory days. (Sidenote: I couldn’t find this on the menu of the West End location for takeout ... Please tell me it is not, like Sookie Stackhouse, A Thing Of The Past.)
Superica: While this barely counts as a chain — it’s the only outpost of Ford Fry’s Atlanta Tex-Mex restaurant — Superica’s soup can legitimately be called “sopa de tortilla,” in large part due to the punch of the ancho chiles. But be on the lookout: I remember a posole verde on past menus, and I low-key think it was the winner of the two.
Tip: If all else fails, order potato soup. Even the worst iteration can be fixed by a handful of cheese and a splash of hot sauce.
