Long Island restaurants serving great soups
Soup isn't just a good way to warm up: It's an occasion for culinary artistry, and these are local masterpieces.
Selections by Newsday's food staff.
Primehouse Steak & Sushi
Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Primehouse Steak & Sushi (910 Franklin Ave., Garden City): Generous, coral-hued lobster bisque features plenty of meat at this new steakhouse. More info: 516-416-4264, primehousegardencity.com
Coco Palace
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Coco Palace (19 Northern Blvd., Great Neck): "Crossing the bridge noodles" features pork-and-chicken bone broth, chicken, pork, strips of omelet, squid, shrimp, wood ear mushrooms, chives, scallions and snow-white rice noodles. It's prepared tableside at this Chinese restaurant. More info: 516-708-1878, cocopalaceny.com
Mi Viejito Pueblito
Credit: Raychel Brightman
Mi Viejito Pueblito (1687 New York Ave., Huntington Station): The house soup here is a hearty stew of beef, corn, potatoes and carrots. More info: 631-470-0396
Kitchen Melody
Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Kitchen Melody (25-5 Cuttermill Rd., Great Neck): Quarry fillet with pickled mustard soup comes in a bowl nearly two feet wide at this Chinese restaurant. More info: 516-874-5228, kitchenmelody.com
The Bryant
Credit: Raychel Brightman
The Bryant (100 Walt Whitman Rd., Huntington Station): The onion soup served here is the mild, slightly salty variety, under a tasty lid of crusty, melted cheese. More info: 631-923-3321, pollrestaurants.com
F.A.N. Authentic Chinese Cuisine
Credit: Daniel Brennan
F.A.N. Authentic Chinese Cuisine (534 Commack Rd., Deer Park): The extraordinary in-house special soup at this eatery features a rich chicken-pork broth, milky with an emulsion of salted duck eggs and sesame and olive oils. It's lavishly topped with snow-pea leaves and loaded with flavor-bombing wedges of both salted and smoked duck eggs and little red goji berries. More info: 631-586-6888, fanchinesefood.com
Dodici
Credit: Marisol Diaz-Gordon
Dodici (12 N. Park Ave., Rockville Centre): Fagioli bianchi, a white-bean soup, is enriched with escarole and croutons at this Italian restaurant. More info: 516-764-3000, dodicirestaurant.com
Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Prime 1024 (1024 Northern Blvd., Roslyn): This Italian steakhouse serves a stirring, fortifying, handsomely presented onion soup gratiné. More info: 516-621-1024, prime1024.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Broadway Market (643 Bdwy., Rocky Point) The rich broth of a spring-pea soup is topped with a gossamer Parmesan foam. More info: 631-849-1729, bmropo.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Fyhre (246 Voice Rd., Carle Place): Tangy lemongrass-seafood soup features shellfish, squid and vegetables. More info: fyhrehibachi.com
Credit: Chris Ware
Cove Hollow Tavern (85 Montauk Hwy., East Hampton): A creamy parsnip and pear soup topped with crispy parsnip chips and thyme is served at Cove Hollow Tavern in East Hampton. More info: 631-527-7131, covehollowtavern.com
Credit: Barry Sloan
Yum Yum Dumplings (2432 Middle Country Rd., Centereach): Tomato and egg drop soup is mellow and restorative at Yum Yum Dumplings in Centereach. More info: 631-676-3148, yumyumdumplings.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Cafe Bethel (52 W. Merrick Rd., Freeport): Sopa de res is a beef soup served with hearty chunks of potato, carrot, corn and cabbage at Cafe Bethel in Freeport. More info: 516-608-8868
Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Casa di Fratelli (477 Old Country Rd., Westbury): Flecks of escarole give the hearty lentil soup at Casa di Fratelli in Westbury a pleasant touch of bitterness. More info: 516-385-3700, casadifratelli.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
St. James Public House (552 N. Country Rd., St. James): French onion soup is topped with a crouton and melted Gruyere cheese at St. James Public House. More info: 631-250-9900, stjamespublichouse.com
Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
The Cuban (987 Stewart Ave., Garden City): Ajiaco de pollo, smothered garlic chicken soup, gets its creaminess from thin-sliced avocado at The Cuban in Garden City. More info: 516-222-0295, thecubanny.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Splendid Noodle (1320 Stony Brook Rd., Stony Brook): Roast duck noodle soup with an extra helping of greens is excellent at Splendid Noodle in Stony Brook. More info: 631-675-6725
Credit: Marisol Diaz
JR El Rodeo (130 Montauk Hwy., East Moriches): Pozole, a spicy soup thick with exploded hominy kernels and large pieces of braised pork, is served at JR El Rodeo in East Moriches. Chopped raw onion and cilantro sprinkled on just before serving added bright, fresh flavor and cut the richness of the pork. More info: 631-909-2666, elrodeony.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Main Road Biscuit Co. (1601 Main Rd., Jamesport): French onion soup arrives with a biscuit crouton topped with gruyere cheese at Main Road Biscuit Co. in Jamesport. More info: 631-779-3463, mainroadbiscuitco.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Fish on Main (286 Main St., Port Washington): Fish on Main in Port Washington prepares a savory Manhattan seafood chowder, generous, well-seasoned and amply but not overly tomatoed. More info: 516-883-1515, fishonmain.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
The Rolling Spring Roll (189 Main St., Farmingdale): At The Rolling Spring Roll in Farmingdale, the Vietnamese noodle soup called pho (pronounced "fuh") commands center stage. Both the beef and chicken versions start with deeply savory house-made broths. Add-ins -- fresh bean sprouts, basil leaves and lime wedges -- boost the soup further. Surprisingly, pho made with a vegetable base and laced with pieces of fried tofu, works well -- a boon for vegetarians. More info: 516-677-9090, therollingspringroll.com
Credit: Gordon M. Grant
Taqueria Cielito Lindo (29 E. Main St., Riverhead): On a chilly day, get a bowl of savory, soul-warming pozole rojo at at Taqueria Cielito Lindo in Riverhead. The crimson broth is rife with hominy (dried soaked field corn) and pieces of pork that may have bones clinging to them. More info: 631-591-0732, cielitolindony.com
Credit: Gordon M. Grant
China Station (1015 NY-25A, Stony Brook): The "all-in-one house special" hand-pulled noodle soup at China Station in Stony Brook contains beef stomach and tendon, pork bones, boiled egg and vegetables. More info: 631-751-6888, chinastationstonybrook.com
Credit: Doug Young
Maria's Mexican & Latin Cuisine (211 Smithtown Blvd., Nesconset): The chicken and green chili soup at Maria's Mexican & Latin Cuisine in Nesconset is rife with tender poultry and vegetables. Also on the menu is a deep coral lobster bisque, with heaps of snowy lobster meat crisscrossed by fresh asparagus spears. More info: 631-979-7724, marias211.com
Credit: Daniel Brennan
Red Ginger Asian Diner (353 Larkfield Rd., East Northport): Red Ginger in East Northport serves a Westlake wonton soup, an egg-drop broth that also floats vegetables and shrimp, that's more of a meal than a side dish. More info: 631-623-2125, redgingerasiandiner.com
Credit: Heather Walsh
Los Andes Restaurant (1844 Deer Park Ave., Deer Park): Aguadito de Mariscos, a Peruvian green seafood soup with a cilantro base, is a knockout specialty at Los Andes Restaurant in Patchogue. More info: 631-392-1555
Credit: Doug Young
Red Tomato (6245 Northern Blvd., East Norwich): Red Tomato in East Norwich makes an Italian wedding soup that's a happy union of robust chicken broth, al dente pasta and loads of plush, cleverly seasoned mini meatballs. More info: 516-802-2840, orderredtomatopizza.com
Credit: Alessandro Vecchi
Phayathai (735 Hawkins Ave., Lake Ronkonkoma): Chef-owner Veerawat Satsri, of Phayathai in Lake Ronkonkoma, makes a tom kha gai (chicken coconut soup) that has a sly electric undercurrent all its own. Also good: tom yum goong, the classic Thai shrimp hot and sour soup, that is both ringing hot and rife with subtleties. More info: 631-981-0303, phayathai-li.net
Credit: Newsday / Joan Reminick
Tang Asian Fusion (903 Montauk Hwy., Copiague): At Tang Asian Fusion, a Chinese-Japanese-Thai eatery in Copiague, entree noodle soups are a main attraction. One features roast pork, shrimp dumplings and al dente Chinese egg noodles; another, with shrimp and toothsome, fat udon noodles, makes for happy slurping. More info: 631-608-9196, ordertang.com
Credit: Jin Lee
Pine Aire Fish & Deli (140 Pine Aire Dr., Bay Shore): Is soup a meal? That overriding question is answered with a resounding "yes" at Bay Shore's Pine Aire Fish & Deli, a colorful El Salvadoran seafood restaurant adjacent to a fish market. A big bowl of sopa de pescado yields a haul of shrimp, clams and at least one fat slab of red snapper, all swimming in a fragrant, heady brew laced with chopped fresh cilantro. What more do you need? More info: 631-231-1655, pineairedeli.com
Credit: Timothy Fadek
The Orient (multiple locations): The broth of the soothing tofu-spinach-pork soup at The Orient in Bethpage is a soothing elixir. Based on chicken but augmented with a little ginger and perhaps dried scallop, it is light but rich, a perfect foil for the melting cubes of tofu, just-wilted spinach and still-tender pork. It's not on the menu, but is always available by request. Also available at Orient Odyssey in Jericho. More info: theorientny.com
