Ms TCFoodie and I have been eating the asian soups so much lately it is almost embarrassing.
And with the beef recall (yes I understand the limited relationship between that and my pho) I am once again thinking about my diet and my secret wish to eat more holistically.
For me this would mean cutting out the artificial foods including the hormone laden meats I am sure are used to eat the gallons of soup which make their way into gullet.
So.. I have been eating vegetarian soups lately when possible.
-Please don't see this as disparaging any restaurants or their practices, just another preference worth exploring on occasion-
Most often the veggie soups I have found in Chinatown, on Bryn Mawr, and on Argyle are simply meat based soup broth with vegetables.
Tonight at dinner I was conflicted when told the veggie soups at Tank are meat free. I was hoping the soups all had a meat base so I would have no impediment to my cherished XL Pho with extra jalapeños and 20 minutes of indulgence with a sweaty forehead.
As It was I had the Vegetable and Tofu soup made extra spicy with a side of the sprouts, jalapeños, basil, and cilantro.
The soup was nearly as good as Ms TC Foodies pho with flank and brisket. The tofu was certainly not typical store bought if not made in house. And a real highlight were the mushrooms which were left in healthy sized slices and re-hydrated so that they had a texture similar to fish balls. They lent an added flavor and texture I appreciated despite the copious amount of vegetables with a desirable integrity and flavor often missing in soups.
While the soup was 9.95 it came with a side of rice and certainly filled me up (please see Northwest Indiana Kelseys post for clarification on "filling up")
With the exception of the full hot pot at Lao Se Schwan everything from the prices to the accoutrements available on the table to the ease of parking at Tank make it my first choice for asian soup (is that the appropriate nomenclature?)
“Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.”
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright (1856-1950)