So it’s finally cold. We had an 83° Christmas last month, but a chilly introduction to 2016. In Houston terms, anything below 60° is considered chilly, but these recent 30° to 45° temps have been downright chilling.
In keeping with the already weakening “lighter eating” resolution of many Americans and the short period of time Houstonians can actually eat a steaming hot meal without sweating profusely, we thought now would be a good time to revisit some of the best soups in Houston, several of which were detailed by Phaedra Cook in our February-March 2014 edition of My Table.
Some of our personal favorite soups in Houston? The chicken and rice soup from Niko Niko’s, the tortilla soup at Picos and Mamma Mandola’s Sicilian chicken soup from the original Carrabba’s.
What’s your personal favorite? Did it make the list? Let us know what we’re missing on Facebook or Twitter, or email us here.
In Houston, it’s easy to find stellar examples of soups that hail from the world’s great cuisines. As winter settled in with brisk days and chilly nights, we slurped our way across the city to find some of the best. Here are a dozen of Houston’s souper bowls.
JAPAN: RAMEN
Soma Sushi, 4820 Washington, 713-861-2726
During his tenure at Kata Robata, chef Mark Gabriel Medina assisted his boss, chef Manabu Horiuchi, in developing and refining their ramen program, leading to some of the best in the city. The oxtail ramen became so popular that it was prone to sellouts, and the spicy soymilk rendition is not to be missed. Medina has been stationed at Kata’s sister restaurant, Soma, for several months now and has developed his own quality ramen program there. Soma’s offerings include the classic-style “Soma Ramen” with pork belly, tamago (Japanese omelet), wakame (seaweed), scallions, fish cake and shiitake mushrooms in a pork dashi broth, as well as the spicy miso ramen with pork, oyster, shimeji and enoki mushrooms and pickled shishito peppers.
VIETNAM: PHỞ
Pho Binh, 10928 Beamer Rd., 281-484-3963
The original Phở Binh location is a decidedly unglamorous place. It’s a trailer with an add-on dining room but no one comes here looking for interior design tips. The glamour is in the bowl and on the plate of traditional accoutrements for your phở (pronounced “fuh”), such as fresh basil and bean sprouts. Pho Binh also has consistently good broth.
If you’re new to pho, you should know that there are many different kinds and you can adjust the content to your own tastes. Pho tai, for example, is one of the simplest ones and comes with sliced eye of round. Pho ga is the chicken version. Another rendition allows you to skip the meat entirely if you want. Or, go all the way with pho dac biet; this “special pho” has an assortment of meats that can include tendon, meatballs, brisket and flank. (By the way, the place has three front doors. The one on the far right is the actual entrance. I managed to surprise the kitchen staff and embarrass myself when I picked the wrong one.) Also try: bun bo hue, a soup with beef, lemongrass and thicker noodles, at Cafe TH.
MEXICO: MENUDO
La Mexicana, 1018 Fairview, 713-521-0963
Menudo is the linebacker of soups: big, strong, intimidating. Katharine Shilcutt of Houstonia magazine recently recommended La Mexicana’s as a fine example. Now that I’ve tried it, I think she’s onto something. The fatty, succulent concoction will cure whatever might be bothering you on a Sunday morning. Menudo is generally only available on the weekends. The tripe, which is a key ingredient, needs to stew for several hours so it’s tender enough to eat. First-timer? Tripe is no scarier than squid, and the tripe in La Mexicana’s menudo is actually far tenderer.
THAILAND: TOM KHA GAI
Kanomwan, 7361⁄2 Telephone Rd., 713-923-4230
A creamy soup with a limey flavor sounds a bit odd unless you have had tom kha gai. It’s a coconut milk-based soup with boneless chicken breast made fragrant with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Ask for some sliced Thai peppers in fish sauce to add both heat and saltiness. Kanomwan makes the best tom kha gai that I’ve ever had. Kanomwan’s original owner, Darawan Charoenrat, whose crusty demeanor could be both frustrating and endearing, passed away in 2010, but his surviving family prepares his recipes faithfully. Also try: tom yum goong at Thai Pepper. It’s a shrimp soup in a spicy broth similarly flavored with kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemongrass.
UNITED STATES: GUMBO
Danton’s Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen, 4611 Montrose, 713-807-8883
Danton’s Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen makes an incredibly dark roux that requires time and patience. In fact, the last time I was there, our server warned us, “You know this is a dark roux, right?” He went on to say that some customers erroneously send the gumbo back without tasting, thinking that it must be burned. Choose between the seafood gumbo and the chicken and sausage gumbo. I personally always go for the seafood version, which is never lacking in oysters along with a satisfactory amount of shrimp and crabmeat. This may be the best seafood gumbo in the city.
KOREA: KIMCHI JJIGAE
Yori Yori At Super H Mart, 1302 Blalock, 713-467-0777
I asked my friend Liz Fenton, a Korean-American whose judgment I trust, where I might go for kimchi jjigae. “I don’t know,” she said. “For me, that would be like going out for grilled cheese!” We’ve often enjoyed delicious bowls of various kinds of Korean soup at the food court at Super H Mart, the big Korean grocery store on Blalock (north of I-10), so we stopped in at Yori Yori — once I finished bemoaning the empty space that used to house ToreOre, a counter that served Korean fried chicken so hot that it would wring tears of both joy and pain from my eyes. I’ve never had a bad meal in this food court, and the kimchi jjigae was no exception. The broth was a seductive deep red from the hefty amount of cabbage kimchi. It was the perfect wintertime warmer. If this is as common as grilled cheese in a Korean home, I’m kind of jealous now. Also try: yukgaejang, another deep red soup that includes beef and plenty of scallions.
FRANCE: ONION SOUP
Mockingbird Bistro, 1985 Welch, 713-533-0200
It’s good to listen to your editor. I was about to go scouting for a classic French onion soup when My Table publisher/editor Teresa Byrne-Dodge mentioned that Mockingbird Bistro has a good one. Well, she wasn’t kidding. The Caramelized 1015 Onion Soup arrived from the kitchen piping hot in a heavy enamel tureen. The broth was so dark and rich I thought it might be a beef stock. It turned out to be chicken stock – the color and richness is a result of roasting the bones first. There were plenty of deeply caramelized onions, and melted gruyère with a sprinkling of Parmesan was the crowning glory.
CHINA: HOT AND SOUR
Hunan Garden, 4331 Kingwood Dr, Kingwood, 281-360-2668
When we lived in far West Houston, we relied on a restaurant named Hunan Pagoda for regular deliveries of Chinese food. It got me through many a deadline. Their hot and sour soup was outstanding, and we never ordered without adding two large containers. Then Hunan Pagoda suddenly closed with no explanation or indication that the owners were reopening elsewhere. That left an empty space in our bellies, and we cast about a few times for a replacement hot and sour soup, only to be repeatedly disappointed. Until, that is, we found Hunan Garden in Kingwood. Owner Jenny Wang is the founder of the Houston Chowhounds and a co-host of the Southbound Food radio show, so she knows cuisine. Hunan Garden’s hot and sour soup has a hearty dose of black pepper along with sliced bamboo shoots, tree ear mushrooms and chopped green onion tops for garnish. Also try: Wang likes her version of hot and sour soup but says to also try the version at Doozo Dumplings at The Shops at Houston Center.
ISRAEL: CHICKEN SOUP
Kenny & Ziggy’s, 2327 Post Oak Blvd., 713-871-8883
The chicken soup from Kenny & Ziggy’s could not have come at a better time. I was recovering from the flu and needed a little Jewish penicillin. Regardless of whether it’s scientifically proven that chicken soup helps a cold (a study at the University of Nebraska in Omaha found that it does have some anti-inflammatory properties), the comforting broth has a psychosomatic effect at least. I had Kenny & Ziggy’s “mishmash,” where they throw in a little of each of the add-in options: egg noodles, a matzo ball and some dumplings. You can order a chicken soup with any one of these exclusively if you prefer. The matzo ball was my favorite, and I think next time I’ll just get that. If you have to have noodles, though, the egg noodles here were nothing to sneeze at, so to speak.
ITALY: PASTA E FAGIOLI
Damian’s Cucina Italiana, 3011 Smith, 713-522-0439
Damian’s Cucina Italiana has had its pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans) on the menu for well over 20 years. Sportscaster Milo Hamilton, “the voice of the Houston Astros,” loved the soup so much that he’d tell others that they needed to go to Damian’s and try it. In time, the restaurant named the soup after him. You’ll find it on the menu as “Milo Hamilton’s Pasta e Fagioli.” The soup includes prosciutto, potatoes, onions, celery and plenty of cannellini beans as well as short tubes of ditalini pasta. (“Ditalini” means “small thimbles” in Italian.) Also try: minestrone, probably the best known of all Italian soups. By tradition, minestrone should use whatever vegetables are in-season. Find this vegetable and pasta soup at pretty much any Italian restaurant.
GREECE: AVGOLEMONO
Niko Niko’s, 2520 Montrose, 713-528-4976
Niko Niko’s has long been a fast-casual mainstay in Houston and an ambassador for Greek food in general. Their offerings include the beloved avgolemono. The name means “egg-lemon,” but Niko Niko’s recipe skips the egg, which is traditionally used as a thickener. (The Houston Chronicle reported years ago that owner Dimitri Fetokakis’ mother did not like the eggs, so Niko Niko’s recipe doesn’t include them.) So, while some renditions of avgolemono are thick, Niko Niko’s is brothy in consistency with the classic sour tang. (They send out half a lemon with the soup in case you want more sour.) There’s also rice, so this is basically like a tart version of classic chicken and rice soup. Niko Niko’s also includes some pita triangles on the side. Also try: fasolada. Called the “national food of the Greeks,” it’s a soup made with white beans that are simmered in a tomato-based stock. Olive oil may be added during cooking or at the table.
INDIA: SAMBAR
The Dosa Factory, 5959 Richmond, 713-781-3672
We checked out The Dosa Factory both for their dosas and their sambar. Dosas are big crisp crêpes, often filled with vegetables or eaten with chutney, that are made with finely ground rice and black lentils. They’re a staple in Indian cuisine. Sambar is a soup that is often served alongside dosas and is prepared with several spices, such as chiles, coriander and turmeric. It also includes dal or lentils. The Dosa Factory’s sambar is blended and relatively smooth but has some texture from the lentils. It’s pleasantly warming, and you serve yourself from a big, heated tureen in the back corner of the restaurant. (Yes, you can go back for seconds.) Sambar is fine for dipping your dosa, kind of the Indian equivalent of dipping a grilled cheese sandwich into a cup of tomato soup. Also try: pepper rasam, a staple on many Indian buffets. It’s a thin, spicy soup made with tamarind and red chiles. It’s great as a starter and, depending