The Belmont - Austin, TX
Friday, August 21st, 2009
The soup was a bit bland, and the cheese was a bit too stuck on the bread. It was good cheese, however.
Rating: 6.75 out of 10
Archive for the ‘Decent’ Category
Danielle’s Crêperie - Sacramento, CA
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
According to folklore (actually, it was according to the waiter), they used to use a combination of gouda mixed with swiss. “But at some point, we just said ‘forget it’, and went to only gouda.” It was certainly interesting, but really not great. The soup was bland, and gouda isn’t really a great melting cheese. The cheese lay on the croutons in such a way that it was impossible to get a taste of it without the bread.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
Clyde’s of Gallery Point - Washington, DC
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Nice, rich broth, and a decent amount of cheese. Nothing outstanding, but no complaints.
Rating 7.0 out of 10
Sequoia - Washington, DC
Monday, January 26th, 2009
Sorry about the picture. We tried moving candles around, but it didn’t help. The broth was interesting, and used a veal stock. The gruyere was quite good, and tasted expensive, but there was very little of it. I would ask for extra cheese next time, and see how it goes.
Update: Thanks to Bob Peterson for fixing up the picture for me!
Rating: 6.0 out of 10
Monsieur Marcel Restaurant & Wine Bar - Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
A fine-tasting Internet recommendation. The place is a small outdoor eating area in “The Farmer’s Market” in the fairfax district of LA. The broth is quite tasty. The cheese is straight swiss, as opposed to gruyere, but it is better than most swiss cheese I’ve had. Note to fans: Prior to this entry, all of the photos have been taken with a Bang & Olufsen cell phone. Even though the quality of the camera on the phone wasn’t great, it became a sort of tradition to me. I have (at least temporarily) abandoned the B&O phone for the Google Android phone (T-Mobile G1), so this photo was shot with that device. Sorry to all of the theonionsoup.com purists!
Rating: 7 out of 10
Angelo and Maxie’s - New York, NY
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
Similar cheese as what I had earlier in the evening, but the broth was much better.
Rating: 7 out of 10
L’Express - New York, NY
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
This soup was recommended to me, and I remembered it being good when I tried it several years ago (before I had this blog). It was good, but not as good as I recalled. The Gruyere was not melted enough, and it tasted as if there may have been some parmesean mixed in. The broth was not very tasty.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Cafe Bastille - San Francisco, CA
Monday, September 15th, 2008
For a restaurant that tries to be highly traditional French (right down to the over-the-top accents), the F.O.S. was highly non-traditional. The cheese was a blend of provolone, mozzarella, and gruyere, with the provolone being the flavor that stood out. The combination was actually pretty good, with the provolone being able to brown, and the mozarella adding some texture. It would have been better if the gruyere stood out more, though. The broth was not great. Also unusual was the garnish on top, which was chives.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Kincaid’s - Burlingame, CA
Monday, August 18th, 2008
Apart from all of the shrubbery in this soup, it was pretty decent. The menu says “swiss and parmesan”, but I only tasted the swiss.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Weber Grill - Indianapolis, IN
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
More Indianapolis parmesan with gruyere, but the parmesan was not overwhelming this time. Lots of cheese, and the broth was pretty good.
Rating: 7.0 out of 10
Shula’s Steakhouse - Indianapolis, IN
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
The tour of Indianapolis F.O.S. begins at Shula’s, a high-end chain. This one is located in the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. The soup has an interesting mix of cheese, described to me as Gruyere, Provolone, Swiss, and Parmesan. The parmesan was way, way overpowering. I couldn’t really taste anything else about this soup.
Rating: 6.0 out of 10
Crepe Daniel - Saratoga, CA
Monday, July 7th, 2008
This is an interesting place, as it used to be owned by a French family, but was taken over by a family from Taiwan. They kept the strictly French menu, including the F.O.S. They use a high quality swiss cheese, but the broth is rather bland. Seems like a white wine base, with no sherry and an inadequate caramelization process. Overall, it was enjoyable.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Christine Lee’s - Hallendale, FL
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
It was shocking enough to find F.O.S. on the menu of a chinese restaurant, but then when it came out with the pastry puff on top, which looked exactly like Papillon in Fremont, I was flabbergasted. I’m now trying to figure out who copied from whom. The two soups look too similar for it to be coincidence. There were differences, however. This one had only what tasted like mozzerella, and very little of it. The broth was chicken stock, and really lacked in flavor.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Restaurant Soleil - Palo Alto, CA
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Standard hotel fare, with regular Swiss cheese, which was too stuck to the bread. This restaurant is located in the Westin Hotel.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Faegan’s Cafe and Pub - Syracuse, NY
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
The soup is consistently decent here. It could use a little more of the swiss cheese that they use, and the soup is not really rich enough.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
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