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Type: American
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Good choices: Corn and clam chowder, minestrone, chicken vegetable soup, teriyaki chicken, grilled sesame salmon, green beans with cherry tomatoes, apple cranberry crisp, double fudge brownies.
Credit cards: Mastercard, Visa.
Access: Ground floor.Fully accessible.
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NEW ENGLAND SOUP FACTORY
224 Needham Street, Newton
(617) 558-9988
Restaurant reviewed 10/22/98 by Adam Pertman
Let's get one thing straight right off: Nobody makes better chicken soup than my mother. She doesn't serve to the general public, though, so it's a good thing other terrific alternatives are available.
Like those concocted by the New England Soup Factory, which serves lots of other stuff, but makes its best efforts on the menu item in its name.
The chicken soup -- which has thick chunks, not measly bits, of carrots and poultry swimming in its rich broth -- provided a delightful taste of home. In fact, every one of the half-dozen soups we tried was a hit.
In particular, we liked the minestrone, replete with vegetables and with just a slight tang, and the corn and clam chowder, which was so thick and hearty that it could have been a meal in itself. If anything, some of the chowders yearn for just a bit more stock to thin them, but that's hardly a complaint.
Bowls of soup, available for eating in or carrying out, sell for $4.25, pints go for $5.25, and quarts for $9.25. Some chowders cost slightly more.
Culinarily speaking, there aren't many things more soul-filling than soup on these days when golden leaves are falling along with the temperature. But stay and stray a bit, because many of the other selections at the New England Soup Factory are well worth trying, too.
As you'd expect, the place offers an array of salads to complement its soups. Particularly good were the classic Caesar ($4.75), with or without anchovies but always with freshly shaved parmesan, and the antipasto platter ($8.25), which could easily fuel two appetites with its generous mix of fancy greens, albacore tuna, salami, roasted peppers, and kalamata olives.
Everything at this restaurant /carryout, which has another branch in Brookline, is offered a la carte and picked up from the counter. You piece together your meal rather than have it arrive complete at one of the half-dozen small tables. It's also worth noting that liquor is not available.
Among the main-course-type items (not including the wide selection of sandwiches), we were taken by two Asian-style offerings. Those were the honey-teriyaki chicken breast ($10.95), which is only slightly sweet and very tender, and the succulent tamari-marinated salmon ($15.95 per pound, or about $6 per serving), which can be ordered either grilled or roasted.
The best of the vegetable offerings we sampled were the crispy string beans with cherry tomatoes and sliced red onion in a light, vinegary sauce; and the roasted autumn vegetables, a subtle melange that features squash and eggplant. The veggies and some of the other side dishes cost $7.95 a pound, and you can mix or match them.
Though we enjoyed our meals overall, and the presentations were consistently appealing, not everything lived up to the high expectations created by the soups.
The vegetable lasagna ($6.95), for instance, looked colorful and inviting -- but it turned out to be bland, in need of a tangy sauce or some other kick. Conversely, the Thai-lime chicken provided some tongue-tingling sensation, but it was mostly harsh citrus without enough sweetness or saltiness for balance.
Those inconsistencies notwithstanding, what the New England Soup Factory does well, it does really well. Which means we're on to the dessert section, where the offerings are all baked in-house by a pastry chef.
Aunt Hannah's apricot strudel ($7.49 a pound, or about $2 a slice) was flaky and fruity, and the cheesecake ($1.95) was stunningly light for a dish that will probably take five hours on a stair-stepper to work off. But it was two other desserts that made us happiest: the gooey and decadent double-chocolate brownie and the apple-cranberry crisp (each $2.50), an especially flavorful version of one of our favorite ways to end an autumn meal.
Even mom can't do much better.
Tips & hits
