DINING REVIEW -- Kathy Mader

Because many of the people around me haven’t been feeling well lately,

and I have been sick for the last three, going on four, weeks with what I

now fondly label the “Devil’s Curse” -- otherwise known as “one wicked

cold” -- I have been in search of soup, soup and more soup.

I guess I could always make some, but that would really defeat so many

purposes that I can’t even name them, as well as undermine my desperate

need to “relax and get better.” So, where to go for good soup?

Avila’s on East Coast Highway in Corona del Mar gets a huge prize with

its Avila’s Soup ($6.41), a savory chicken tomato broth teeming with rice

and large chunks of chicken. Don’t even think about ordering this without

the condiments of fresh cilantro, chopped onions, grated jack cheese and

fresh avocado.

All of this is served with corn or flour tortillas and makes for one

happy Kathy. This soup is a complete meal and always delicious.

Guaranteed to warm up even a wicked cold.

A cold is not the time to indulge in a cream-based soup. However, the

New England clam chowder ($3.95) at The Yankee Tavern, on the corner of

Bayside Drive and East Coast Highway, always beckons me. And it is always

great in the cold, if not with a cold.

It is a sweet, cream-base chowder chock full of corn, clams and

potatoes. And they serve it with the most perfect sourdough loaf -- soft

and warm on the inside, crispy and chewy on the outside. I recommend this

more for the bronchial group than the stuffy-nose group.

Two perfect “get well soon” soups can be found at Ho Sum Bistro and

Asia Cafe respectively. Ho Sum, on the Balboa Peninsula next to the City

Hall, serves what they call a Pho-Phun Noodle soup ($5.95) and it has a

light and tasty chicken broth base, with all kinds of fresh vegetables

including carrots, celery, cilantro and snow peas, with shrimp and

chicken, and lots and lots of noodles. You can always count on noodles to

get your mind off of your head.

Asia Cafe, on the corner of Wilson and Newport Boulevard, serves up a

version of the Vietnamese Mien Ga soup ($5.95), with an incredibly rich

chicken-based broth. It has thin slices of white chicken meat,

cellophane-like rice noodles and is topped with green onions and fried

leeks. This soup has flavor that can penetrate even the densest of head

colds. I will be eating this as prevention for the next flu season as

well!

On East Coast Highway in Corona del Mar, Oyster’s spicy seafood gumbo

($6) -- with its fresh swordfish, ahi tuna, shrimp, clams, tomatoes and

okra -- is another meal in a soup that works its way through your head in

its own peppery way. And the bread there is also terrific. Actually, all

the food there is terrific, but the soup and bread is a great “got to get

back into bed soon” dinner.

Another tasty, delicious, and not chicken-based soup can be found at

El Torito Grill in Fashion Island. This pureed tomato-based soup ($3.95)

has hints of mesquite in it, and the grilled corn kernels make it almost

chewy. This is some great flavor and with four baskets of handmade

tortillas, your exploding stomach will take your mind right off your

inability to enjoy that God-given right to breathe through your nose.

Side Street Cafe on Newport Boulevard makes a mean tomato bisque

($2.50) with bits and pieces of bacon to add to the experience. This is

not a tomato liker’s soup, but if you love them, this is seriously

flavor-packed with whole stewed tomatoes making a showing.

PF Changs’ Pin Rice Noodle soup ($7.95) is to die for, sick or well.

It is a sassy and piquant broth with those same clear rice noodles,

grilled shrimp and pork “meatballs,” for lack of a better word. The broth

is chicken-based, yet has a tang to it that I could never re-create. And

why try? Especially when you don’t feel well.

My mom would kill me if I didn’t mention her chicken noodle soup with

its shaved carrots and thinly sliced green onions; however, I feel

awkward mentioning it in that I haven’t had any delivered during this

excruciating stretch of stuffiness. Maybe if I ask real nice.

Clearly we live in an area rife with that best known of traditional

cold remedies, soup. I have only mentioned those that made it on my “sick

circuit,” but there are many more to try.

To all of you out there not feeling well this holiday season, go get

yourself some soup, put on your reindeer pajamas and matching slippers,

press play on “It’s a Wonderful Life” and get well soon. Happy Holidays!

* KATHY MADER’s dining reviews appear every other Thursday.