That's an interesting-looking soup, I said to the gal at the next stool. Which one is it? It's actually two soups, she replied.
On an earlier visit, she'd been unable to make up her mind, to which the counterman proposed, why not both? That ad hoc combo, she added, has become her regular order. Of course many salad bars and dessert shops, as well as a growing number of Chinese dry-pot counters, incorporate "you name it, we'll mix it" into their business models. When the ingredients are more free-flowing, however, the practice is rarer. (Granted, I must be overlooking at least one good black-and-white milkshake and any number of cocktails.)
With soup, as with tang shui, the most productive approach is to deal directly with the man or woman who holds the ladle, when you can. My bowl ($5.50), mushroom barley soup splashed into borscht, was a colorful combo, but you might do better to pair two soups with more similar consistencies — such as that gal's standing order, split pea and lentil.
Previously: cherry blintzes before, just before, and after.
B&H Dairy Kosher Restaurant
127 Second Ave. (7th-8th Sts.), Manhattan
212-505-8065
www.Facebook.com/BHDairyKosherRestaurant
