Soup Diary 090818

I'm not sure if the Baja Fresh chain of restaurants qualify as fast food, but if so, then there is no question but that their Chicken Tortilla Soup is the best thing I've ever had at a fast food restaurant (if it's not fast food, then the competition would be a bit stiffer-- so I guess I'm stacking the deck a bit here). I'm not really sure why this is so much better than the other Tortilla Soups I've tried over the years, but it certainly is. I made a point of having a bowl while I was in the Seattle area last Saturday, and as always, it was excelente! One feature that makes it so good (and you can see this in the image above) is that every bowl comes with at least a couple avacado wedges. I can't quite articulate what this adds to the soup, flavor-wise, but it's definitely something (the closest approximation, which some of you will understand, is that it's like the dill pickle added to the falafels at Natalie's Cafe in Amherst-- I love that!). This soup is so flavorful, rich with onion, tortilla strips, chunks of chicken and a smattering of cheese that it even blows away the burritos served at Baja Fresh, which are pretty darn good in their own right. As far as I know, Baja Fresh is a west-coast-only institution, and part of me hopes they stay that way. I'd be worried that if they went national, everything would be figuratively, if not literally, watered down. So I'll be satisfied with my one or two visits a year, and grateful as long as they keep on making this yummy soup.