(A bowl of homemade Mom’s Matzo Ball at George & Sam’s Deli & Diner.)
By Marisa Marsey
Ugh! My head is fuzzy. My nose is runny. My eyes are tearing. When I try to swallow, it feels like a boulder’s wedged in my pharynx. A summer cold has arrived. Everyone says they’re the worst. Who wants to be under-the-weather when the weather’s so nice? Friends are going to picnics and cookouts, and I’m sending regrets. In August, it’s not nearly as enticing to wrap up in flannels and hunker under a mountain of blankets as it is in January. But I’m nursing myself back to wellness thanks to these local spots, my soup saviors.
Soup Love
Amy Markman was once a respiratory specialist and geriatric social worker but she’s no less a healer as a full-steam-ahead soup maven. Her Hilltop shop retails over 30 varieties including Beef and Rice, Brunswick Stew, Chicken and Dumplings, Harvest Vegetable, Matzoh Ball, Roasted Tomato, Split Pea, Wagyu Beef Bone Broth. Talk about alphabet soup!
Quarts primarily come frozen (labeled with precise heating instructions), but there is a small grab-n-go section. You’ll also find specialty items – tea-on-a-stick, Agent Nateur hair and skincare products, lush Lola blankets and more – amidst a pink-accented setting making you feel you’ve stepped into a soup boudoir.
Markman’s elixirs come in gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan versions. There’s even bone broth for pets. Excellent news as my sweet doggie deserves something special for having looked after me more than I have her recently.
Even before I start into my soup, I feel the TLC. The container is wrapped in tissue paper and placed in the prettiest of bags (like toting Tiffany earrings!). That was Markman’s hallmark when she was just cooking for feverish family and friends and then later when she launched Soup Love as a home delivery business in 2019. She continues that extra touch at her brick-and-mortar, opened last year.
One sip of Chicken Noodle, and its restorative powers envelop me: Brawny chicken bone broth fortified with carrots, celeries, onions, bay leaves, gossamer chicken threads and noodles rich in niacin, iron, thiamin, riboflavin and folic acid. And of course, love.
1628 Laskin Road, #720, Virginia Beach and Old Beach Farmers Market. Souplovevb.com.
George & Sam’s Deli & Diner
The consummate consommé for what ails you, Mom’s Matzoh Ball Soup carried over when George Stepanovich and Sam Tripodis rebranded their Bagel Baker Delicatessen (a spinoff of Great Neck’s Bagel Baker) in Loehmann’s Plaza earlier this year, expanding it into a deli and diner. (“You can’t eat pastrami every day,” as Stepanovich told me.) Two pillowy-soft dumplings floating in a heartwarming chicken broth equal healing in each slurp. That there’s an actual mother – George’s – behind it adds to its home-cure cred. In fact, Anna Maria’s recipe box is the source for all the soups served here (if it’s running as a special, her lemon chicken orzo is also a godsend). G&S’s old school charm makes me long for the day when my appetite is back on all cylinders: full-service breakfast and lunch anytime, corned beef on rye and smashburgers, knishes and Cobb salads, high-rise pancake stacks and turkey clubs. But for now, I appreciate the care evident in the takeout packaging; some of the sturdiest, leak-proof around.
4000 Virginia Beach Blvd., #156, Virginia Beach. georgeandsams.com
Junes Daytime
This new, super cool Great Neck magnet for fast-casual breakfasts and lunches (and baked goods!) offers just one soup each day. Sometimes it’s lentil, sometimes crab and corn chowder, sometimes French onion with a gorgeous roof of molten cheese. Don’t try to divine it, the variety changes randomly, triggered by variables like local produce and weather. That said, something chicken isn’t a long shot because they’re roasted here every other day. Toss in a rainy afternoon and a surplus of garlic and I lucked into Coconut Chicken Turmeric in my time of need. Just hearing the name brightened my spirits. The coconut delivered a sweetness that soothed, the ginger and turmeric added vitality, and carrots and cous cous rounded out the proceedings deliciously. I’m a fan of everything I’ve devoured at Junes from the steak & egg burrito to the buttermilk pancakes, from the Italian combo to the meatloaf sandwich (with an obligatory trip to the bakery case for homemade treats: cinnamon rolls, crullers, cookies, muffins, oh my!), but I would order this soup even if I weren’t peaky. With garlic galore, you know all the bad things will be kept at bay.
1328 N. Great Neck Road, #104, Virginia Beach. junesdaytime.com
The Stockpot
I always thought it fitting that the original location of The Stockpot is next door to Virginia Beach’s Wareing’s Gym. The eatery exudes good health with plants blooming extravagantly on the wall and a wholesome, hearty, scratch-made goodness. There are now locations in Norfolk and Chesapeake (and a fourth planned for Norfolk International Airport) and while each is free to tweak its menu, all ladle out Anne’s Chicken Noodle.
Beginning with a chicken broth laced with ginger and tamari (soy sauceish but with even more umami), it’s chockablock with hormone-free chicken breast, soba noodles, pickled onions, scallions, cilantro and kimchi. The piquant Asian inflection jolts my system and helps return me to the land of the living. I’m already plotting when I can return for other soup faves like watermelon mint gazpacho and Tuscan sun-dried tomato. Of course, despite the name, there’s much beyond soup to savor including skillets and bowls, salads and toasts, craft coffees and smoothies, cocktails and wine. And luscious desserts (all baked at the Norfolk store) like piña colada loaf, cream cheese brownies and a pretty-as-a-picture peaches & cream cake. My appetite has returned!
700 19th Street, #106, Virginia Beach. 215 E. Plume Street, #100, Norfolk. 1296 S. Battlefield Boulevard, #100, Chesapeake. stockpotsoups.com