Last week in the Nation’s Capitol I decided to check on the late Spring soup scene. And while browsing through lists of standard soups (French Onion, Minestrone, Chicken Vegetable, etc) I gave pause to the menu posted in the window of the New Heights Restaurant, just steps from the Woodley Park-National Zoo Metro station: Bisque of Salsity and Pear! I resolved to return at dinner.
So on a beautifully warm DC Spring evening (almost exactly like a New England summer day!), I took a table on Calvert Street and waited with white linen for my server. Jason appears and his menu shows NO Bisque of Salsity & Pear! The menu in the window was yesterday’s. Boo.
So to the top of the menu I go. I order an equally promising bowl: Asparagus & Almonds with Buttermilk Lemon Custard. Not a bad consolation.
Jason (a fantastic server and barman) returned with a basket of bread and salted butter- 1 piece of warm corn bread and several crunchy fresh French pieces. And after a reasonable pause my new favorite soup was served!
It’s so wonderful when expectation leads to satisfaction!
The asparagus soup was served just exactly warm. The texture was puree perfect. The almonds surprised with toasted gritty crispness. And there resting peacefully in an asparagus bath was a white square of buttermilk-lemon custard. With my spoon I destroyed the curd, bit by bit. Such a delight.
If the true measure of a chef is their soup, Chef Logan Cox stands tall.
