Soup Diary 101105

There's this program on the Food Channel called Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, in which the spiky-haired host travels the nation visiting the titular establishments. In every episode, he discovers something fantastic and unique in the places he visits. But I don't think he's ever cisited Montana, and I can't say as I blame him. I stopped in a diner today up in Missoula, and while the meal was fine, it wasn't anything to broadcast to the world, even on cable. In fact, I don't think I've ever had anything particularly memorable in a Montana diner (well, at least not since the M&M in Butte closed-- they served a great pork chop sandwich). When I walked into the place today, there was a sign on the door thanking me for spending my money in a locally owned place (it sits on a strip with all the usual fast-food franchises), something I'm glad to do. I had a nice grilled chicken sandwich on a whole wheat roll, with nice crispy fries (much better than what you get at the aforementioned fast food places), so I really shouldn't complain. But the soup-- chicken noodle-- was a big disappointment, very bland and overloaded with noodles at the expense of any vegetables or meat. Of course, you can't get soup at all at Taco Bell or Arby's, which is a big part of the reason I went to the diner; but this cup didn't give me much reason to make the same choice again. Next time, I'll try to find another alternative to the same old stuff, but I've been visiting Missoula for over twenty years, and you'd think that by now I'd have found someplace to make a regular soup stop.