May 10: Souper!Salad!

People sometimes ask what my favorite restaurant is. I'm always a bit embarrassed to answer because it's not Ruth Chris or something fancy that one might expect me to say. To me, Souplantation is the best restaurant ever. Even though I get the same exact thing every time I visit, there's just something fantastic about a buffet of handmade soups and tossed salads. The focaccia is disgusting, but the way the warm blueberry muffins mingle with Won Ton Chicken Happiness is to die for.

Unfortunately for me, there wasn't a Souplantation in Pennsylvania and there isn't one in Austin either. I have now been away from my favorite dining experience for over a year. There is, however, a place called Souper!Salad! I had driven by it every single day on the way to work and I had always wondered if it was like a Souplantation. I asked some people at work if they had ever been and a few said they had and that it wasn't very good. I didn't know if they were just really picky or what, but I had to try it for myself. After all, not everyone likes Souplantation so it stands to reason that these people might not like Souper!Salad! either.

Today I had the opportunity to judge for myself and I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed. It was like the poor man's version of Souplantation. The salad buffet had the standard fixings, but didn't have any special mix like the Won Ton Chicken Happiness that I love so much. I had to eat off of cheap plastic plates compared to the heavy duty ceramic ones I had grown accustomed to. To add insult to injury, there was actually a container of gold fish crackers and Nilla Wafer cookies. That may not sound like a problem, but it looked cheap and tacky.

There were four soups to choose from and the Southwest Chicken soup that I selected wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. There weren't any blueberry muffins or delicious chocolate squares and there was only one flavor of frozen yogurt! I mean, c'mon on! Where's the swirl?

For the past six months I had been driving past Souper!Salad! wondering (and hoping) if it was a Souplantation in disguise. Today I came to the sad conclusion that the only way I was going to get myself some delicious Tuna Tarragon was to fly to California and visit the the original restaurant.