Soup Diary 100713

There used to be a string of shops in Western New York called Bagel Brothers. Not too surprisingly, their specialty was bagels, and they did a good job with the cornerstone item of their operation. I was always partial to the popy seed variety. But Bagel Brothers also served homemade soup, and just about the cheapest but hearty lunch one could find in the area was a cup of soup and a bagel with cream cheese. They only offered about five varieties that rotated on the menu, usually offering two options a day, and the best of the lot was their bean soup. Well, something like fifteen (maybe twenty) years ago, the local operators sold out to a chain from New York City, and though the stores remained open, and the bagels were still pretty good, the soup now came from some pre-packaged can or mix, and I stopped frequenting the place. It wasn't that big of a sacrifice really, but I did kind of miss that bean soup. I was reminded of all this yesterday when I tried the Three Bean and Potato soup at Fables. It was not exactly the same as the old Bagel Brothers stuff, but it did have something like the same flavorful broth I remembered, and though I'd be hard-pressed to identify what the potatoes added to the mix, they certainly didn't detract from the overall positive taste sensation. I'm surprised that I don't remember having a straight bean soup at Fables before, but maybe I've just not visited on those days it appears. Anyway, it was a nice nostalgic kind of lunch, even if I couldn't enjoy a bagel and cream cheese on the side.