The “soup and sandwich” combo has proved itself on countless lunchtime skirmishes: It’s quick, cheap and not so filling that the troops are likely to fall asleep at their keyboards afterward. They get in, get fed and get out, mission accomplished.
Soup Express expands the concept to its entire menu, which consists of a dozen housemade soups and a variety of matchmaking opportunities: crisp salads of romaine, pitas stuffed with falafel, fresh-cut fruit, turkey subs. Diners can order a la carte or, in the finest tradition, combine a soup with a full sandwich or salad. (Combos run $5.45 to $7.75 with a beverage and a pint of soup, and $7.75 to $9.95 with a quart. Vegetable soups are least expensive; seafood soups the most.)
The menu changes weekly, but recent soup choices ($3.25 to $4.85 per pint, $5.45 to $7.75 per quart) ranged from lentil and rice to seafood gumbo, with stops along the way for chicken and dumplings, pumpkin, and chicken and pinto bean chili. Something for everyone, in fact. At the beginning of May, cold soups will appear as well, chef/manager Al Alexander promises: Look for vichysoisse, cucumber mint and gazpacho.
You order at the counter from the cheerful, efficient staff and either take your meal out or settle yourself at one of eight tables in the spick-and-span space overlooking a busy sidewalk in downtown Evanston.
The cooks at Soup Express deserve praise for sidestepping the usual afflictions of commercially prepared soupsextreme saltiness and gummy thickeners. Things here taste as if a real person made them individually.
The chicken and dumpling soup, for instance, dense with dark meat, provides a bowlful of comfort despite its faults. The vegetables have been cooked to the point of disintegration, and the flavorful dumplings have the texture of a sodden biscuit.
Speaking of biscuits, they would make a perfect underpinning for the ultra-thick beef stroganoff soup. Occasional chunks of beef mix it up with juicy whole mushrooms, a good choice for the long cooking that overcame the green beans.
French onion soup suffers from a thin but peppery broth that perks up after a judicious sprinkling of salt. And on the topic of seasoning: The pumpkin soup, enriched with cream, favors the warm, sweet spices of pumpkin pie, which take getting used to.
Accompaniments are varied and neatly made. The falafel sandwich ($2.75) with three mini-doughnut-size disks of deep-fried chickpeas stuffed in a pita round, uses very fresh lettuce and tomato slices, but the whole desperately needs a spicy sauce of some sort. A generous portion of fruit ($2.50 for about a pint) is similarly pristine, though not quite ripe: Chunks of melon cohabit with pineapple and grapes.
A similar portion of naked Caesar-style salad ($2) consists of fresh-cut romaine dusted with Parmesan and topped with big, peppery housemade croutons with lots of crunch. Diners add their choice of dressings.
One delicious option is a thick, lemony, peppery hummus ($2.75), packed with crunchy pita chips.
Fruit smoothies ($2.50 small; $3.50 large) make a change from the usual soft drinks. Bottled water, juices and teas also are available.
For dessert, the sugar cookie or the chocolate chip ($1) is sure to satisfy, but keep the Italian ice in mind. July will be here before we know it, by which time Alexander plans to have ice cream too.
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Soup Express
(2 forks)
1565 Sherman Ave., Evanston
847-570-0600
Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.
Credit cards: M, V
Noise rating: Conversation friendly
Ratings key:
4 forks: Don’t miss it
3 forks: One of the best
2 forks: Very good
1 fork: Good
Reviews are based on anonymous visits by Tribune staff members. The meals are paid for by the Tribune.
