Awesome gruyere, and some of the best broth ever. There was nothing negative to say about this soup. Perhaps it’s their use of vidalia onions, or just the quality of the cheese…I don’t know. It was simply spectacular.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Located at the Fairmont in Banff Springs, Alberta, this German take on the French classic is interesting. The cheese was absolutely delicious (combination of gruyere and emmentaler, just like in their fondue). However, there was very little of it, as it was cut to fit the shape of the piece of bread. The broth was also delicious, and very meaty. It suffered the same problem, as there was only around a millimetre of it (that’s Canadian for “millimeter”, which is also Canadian for “very little”). The bread you see in the picture is not floating. You could really only get around 5 or 6 spoonfuls of broth. Excellent ingredients, though!
Rating: 7.0 out of 10
This is the third F.O.S. I’ve reviewed with a “puff pastry” on top (see Papillon and Christine Lee’s). While I considered the others to be unique and still decent, this one does not “hold up” (in more ways than one). The pastry was as good as the others, but there was no cheese to be found, at all. I believe I could taste the remnants of cheese in the broth itself, but with nothing there to keep it on top of the soup, it was invisible. So, rather than saying there was no cheese, I guess I’ll say that there was no cheese texture, and that by itself is unforgivable.
Rating: 4.0 out of 10
Nice presentation, via the brass bowl right out of the oven. However, the bowl is tiny, the cheese is extremely mild and hopelessly stuck to the bread. The broth is also bland. The cheese was so mild that I didn’t really believe it was gruyere. I asked the server what it was, and he said, “provolone”. I pointed out to him that the menu said gruyere. He went back to the chef, and he still claimed gruyere. In any case, not a stellar showing for this high end, highly rated steakhouse.
Rating: 4.0 out of 10
I’ve always said that Daniel’s should serve onion soup. I mean the place just “screams” for it. I had assumed that if they were to add it on the menu, that they would do a great job, and I was right. Added on 9/2/2009, it’s a veal stock soup, with three cheeses: Gruyere, Mozzarella, and Parmesan. The broth has a good amount of sherry, which really works well with the stock. This is a great addition to the already excellent choices at this restaurant, and to my F.O.S. favorites!
Edit (10/02/09): Having had this several times now, I can say with some certainty that the mozzarella tastes very much like it is *smoked* mozarella.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Founded by Bob “Bru” Brudzinski (one of the “Killer Bees” from the Miami Dolphins of the 1970s), this place is famous for their chicken wings. They also have a F.O.S. which I’ve enjoyed over the years. Filled with lots of provolone, it’s not quite the traditional type of soup I’ve grown to love, but it is great in its class.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
This was probably the best chicken-based onion soup I’ve had. Although it doesn’t hold up to a beef-based soup, it is pretty close. The onions were perfect, and the emmentaler was baked well. It could have used more cheese, so next time I’ll ask for extra.
Rating: 7.0 out of 10
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
French Onion Soup, deconstructed! Just when I thought I’d seen everything! The menu is a bit ambiguous, simply saying: “Classic French Onion Soup, Gruyère Grilled Cheese. I was never expecting to see an actual grilled cheese sandwich alongside the soup. I wasn’t positive of the proper procedure, so I asked our server, who confirmed that I was to dip the grilled cheese sandwich into the soup. It was different, but good. Since I’m not one of those who normally likes to eat the bread along with the cheese in F.O.S., it was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t get around it this time. As I’ve said before in this blog, “….the bread is just there to hold up the cheese.” However, I will not take that into account for this soup. The broth was possibly the best I’ve ever had.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Located in the Mirage hotel, Cafe Caribe is the main restaurant/coffee shop. The onion soup seemed to contain provolone, with perhaps some swiss mixed in. The broth was pretty good.
Rating 6.5 out of 10
Usually, room service in a hotel would not be a different review than the restaurant from which the food comes. However, the Bellagio’s room service has their own kitchen, and their own recipes. Actually, the room service soup is better than the soup reviewed 1 year and 364 days earlier at Cafe Bellagio. More care was taken to season the plentiful cheese, and the soup was sweet and excellent.
Rating: 8.25 out of 10
Well, there’s not much good to say about this one. The menu said it would have melted mozzarella cheese, and if I searched hard, I could find *something* that might have been mozzarella.
Rating: 2.5 out of 10
Having f.o.s. on the menu of an Italian restaurant brings me back to my old days in suburban New York. As you can see from the photo, the gruyere is not melted very well. The soup tasted reasonably good, but the cheese was bleh, and was all stuck to the bread.
Rating: 5.0 out of 10
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
This one certainly came out looking ugly, but I was very pleasantly surprised! Although the cheese was not cooked enough, it was very good gruyere. Also, the broth was excellent, with well-caramelized onions, and a delightfully sweet taste. The scallions were helpful, too.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Ron Schnell is a French Onion Soup connoisseur. This page blogs his various tastings, as they happen. The ratings are based on his own opinion of the perfect french onion soup, and do not necessarily have anything to do with yours, the French government, or anyone else's. If you think my experience was out of the ordinary, please add a comment to my entry and I'll probably try it again. If you want to recommend a place with great F.O.S. please add it to this posting
There are currently 114 french onion soup reviews at this blog.
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