Where to get the best soup in Philadelphia | Craig LaBan

Yes, it’s cold. But soup season is one of my favorite times of year to savor comfort in a bowl in an incredible variety of international styles and creative variations. I could eat pho and ramen every day during winter. And we’re blessed with so many choices in those genres they’re worthy of their own fresh lists another day. So let us look beyond and consider the wide world of other Philly soup treasures simmering away.

For classic Americana flavor, I’m fond of the ham and white bean soup at the Dutch Eating Place (Reading Terminal Market). It's basically the definition of stick-to-your-ribs Amish diner cooking.

The Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.) makes one of Philly’s best creamy New England-style chowders, though I always have a hard time passing up its traditional snapper soup and a cioppino-like fisherman’s stew that is more like a meal. Perhaps the best upscale take on clam chowder in town right now is the creamy-but-creamless rendition at the Love (130 S. 18th St.), where the broth is steeped with fresh clams, lemongrass, and potatoes and topped with Old Bay-dusted cornbread crumbles.

At N. 3rd (Third and Brown Streets), where chef Peter Dunmire has long been one of the city’s most underrated soup masters, there’s a steady rotation of favorites like goulash, split pea with bacon, and porcini mushroom bisque.

Speaking of longtime soup stars, Valérie Blum at Cafe Lutecia (2301 Lombard St.) is rightfully renowned for the bowls of creamy tomato bisque and African chicken peanut soup she serves at her little French cafe near Fitler Square.

South Philadelphia’s Italian kitchens have serious soup magic, too. The classic Abruzzo specialty scrippelle 'mbusse, in which Pecorino-filled crepe rolls are floated in chicken broth, is one of the frequent specialties at Mr. Joe’s Cafe (1514 S. Eighth St.) and a menu anchor at Le Virtù (1927 E. Passyunk Ave.) The hearty pasta-fagiole tradition of bean and noodle soups is a frequent draw at Fitzwater Cafe (728 S. Seventh St.), the Italian lunch-brunch specialist where a white-bean version is in the soup-of-the-day rotation. Of course, South Philly also has a United Nations of other diverse soup options: the Phnom Penh rice noodle soup at I Heart Cambodia (2207 S. Seventh St.), the flavorful Indonesian soups filled with twisty, handmade noodles at Sky Cafe (1122 Washington Ave.), and a funky Vietnamese bún bò huế at Cafe Nhan (1606 W. Passyunk Ave.) that may be the city’s best.

From the neighborhood’s deep Mexican menu, there is the consommé steeped from the lambs at South Philly Barbacoa (1140 S. Ninth St.). The tangy, chili-flecked savor with rice and chickpeas is so deep it’s one of the most soulful bowls of anything in the city. For a heartier meal, I love the Mexican pozole stews with hominy, pork, and chilies at Tacos California (1030 S. Eighth St.) and Adelita (1108 S. Ninth St.). The tortilla soup is timeless at Blue Corn (940 S. Ninth St.).

In Northeast Philly, the toothy texture of handmade noodles are key to the Uzbek lamb soup called lagman served at Chaikhana Uzbekistan (12012 Bustleton Ave.). Slow-cooked beef is the heart of the Ukrainian borscht at Passage Restaurant (10783 Bustleton Ave.). Polish pickle soups and ruby clear beet borscht bobbing with mushroom pierogi are a draw at Dinner House (2706 E. Allegheny Ave.) in Port Richmond. Bubbling hot pots of spicy soondubu soft tofu stews are among North Philly’s Korean highlights at Jong Ka Jib (6600 N. Fifth St.) in East Oak Lane.

But is there a better soup neighborhood than Chinatown? There are too many there, in fact, to mention in one Q&A alone, but here are some favorites that go far beyond the Cantonese classics: the Taiwanese beef noodle soup at Ray’s Cafe & Tea House (141 N. Ninth St.) that’s even better with a pot of Taiwanese mountain tea; the Hakka-style beef noodle soup at the Hakka Beef House (927 Race St.), where the bone broth is rich with a sesame-onion paste.

On the chilliest days, though, my ultimate cold-weather Chinatown craving is the lamb, beef, and pita soup from Xi’an Sizzling Woks (902 Arch St.), an unusual bowl thickened with ripped pita bits that is sort of like a Silk Road sibling to Italian ribbolita.

I could go on. But that’s more than two dozen stellar bowls to get you started. Clearly, the cold is no match for Philly’s bottomless kettle of treasured soups.