Linda Falkenstein
Clockwise from top: Southwest turkey sandwich, Sonoma salad and chicken tortilla soup.
A decade ago there was a mini-boom of soup restaurants in Madison. A Simply Soup downtown and one in Middleton were joined by the Soup Factory, also in Middleton. They offered multiple handmade soups daily — up to a dozen to choose from — rotating from a larger recipe cache of 200-some soups. Genius! People love soup, especially at lunch and especially in the winter. But it can seem like a light lunch at any time of year (there’s always gazpacho), and soup somehow is always more appealing than salad. Yet Simply Soup was closed by 2005; the Soup Factory by 2009.
Since late February, the far west side once again has a dedicated soup spot with Zoup! The original Zoup! opened in Southfield, Michigan, in 1998; its first franchise location opened in Ann Arbor in 2003. It now has locations in 18 states and Canada. Zoup (I’m tossing the exclamation point!) is out in the confusing array of mini-malls that surround the confusing mall-in-parts that is Greenway Station. And if you have any question whether soup is really back, Cafe Zupas (another soup chain, this one with a more “housemade/organic” vibe) is slated to open soon right across the street from Zoup.
Zoup is friendly. Customers can ask for samples at the counter, where all daily soups are displayed. The staff will practically demand you sample a few, so don’t feel guilty about experimenting. This can avert a choice misstep, but it also slows the line down during the noon rush, and make no mistake, there is a noon rush.
In addition to soup, there are salads, called “greenz!,” and “sandwichz!” The restaurant’s most popular menu option is the try two combo, with a small soup and a half salad or half sandwich.
From the soups, I’ve liked the chicken tortilla, which had a flavorful but not overpowering tomato broth that carried a little zing (though not much in the way of chicken), and the chicken wild rice medley, which had good wild rice flavor (although again, little chicken). From there, things start to go off the rails a bit. Seafood etouffee, boasting a decent amount of shrimp, had an unpleasant garlicky aftertaste and not much Creole spicing. Chicken pot pie soup resembled a cup of chicken gravy.
A pepper steak soup had generous strips of beef, but the broth was greasy and salty. Tomato basil bisque was so salty I thought my mouth was going to blister. Its in-your-face tomato flavor was like spooning up a jar of Newman’s Own spaghetti sauce.
“Burger cheeseburger” soup was also salty and reminded me of stroganoff-flavored Hamburger Helper, although there was something perversely satisfying about this cheesy concoction dotted with dill pickles.
Somewhat better was the North Indian lentil, which is vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free (Zoup is good about labeling). Yet it tasted too much of curry powder and didn’t have the earthy flavor layers of a great lentil soup.
A word about portion size: The “side” is supposed to be eight ounces; the “cup” is supposed to be 12 ounces and the bowl 16 ounces. But the “12-ounce” cup container actually holds nearly 16 ounces, while the bowl holds a little over 16 ounces. (So if you’re into counting calories, beware.)
Soups come with a choice of a french, sourdough or multigrain roll; they’re all basically cottony white bread.
The Sonoma salad was an alarming pile of gorgonzola cheese crumbles and dried cranberries dwarfing a wan romaine and spring mix (mostly romaine); I abandoned its raspberry vinaigrette, which was so sweet it could have been used as pancake syrup.
What looks like a healthy choice, the quinoa veggie wrap, has quinoa and brown rice listed as ingredients; the brown rice is by far the most prominent. It was also undercooked, so its chewy, chalky flavor dominated the cucumbers, carrots, red pepper and out-of-season tomato. Thanks to the rice, this pick has more carbs than the regular sandwiches. You’d be better off with the Southwest turkey (20 carbs for a half sandwich). But if you’re in the mood for a sandwich and a salad, there are many better options, including Panera Bread.
Nutrition information, by the way, is available on the online menu. This is where you can discover the shocking amount of sodium in those salty soups.
Prices are more than I expect for soups. The “side” size is $4.50-$5.25; cups hover between $6 and $7, and most bowls between $7-$8. (To compare, a cup of Himal Chuli’s superb dal costs $2; a cup of Mediterranean Cafe’s lemon chicken soup just $1.75. Now that’s worth an exclamation point!)
Sure, I’d pay that much for a delicious bowl of soup. But not for these.
Zoup!
8391 Greenway Blvd., Middleton, 608-841-2566; zoup.com, 11 am-8 pm Mon.-Fri., 11 am-7 pm Sat., 11 am-3 pm Sun., $5-$8
