Who says soup goes out of season? While there’s something special about sidling up to a steamy bowl on a bone-chilling day, we’re ordering New York’s finest broths and bisques year-round.
We’ve gushed about the boroughs’ best noodle soups (don’t be shy about slurping, friends), so this guide celebrates the silky purées, brothy seafood stews, and meaty chilis we love. From neighborhood favorites in Harlem to Prospect Heights hotspots, these bowls prove that the best things in life come with a spoon. Join us on this deep dive into New York’s most remarkable soups.
Leitao West Village
Photo courtesy of Leitao
Ameijoas em caldiera
Leitao in the West Village might be known for its centerpiece-worthy meat presentations (a suckling pig dinner is a treat to impress out-of-town guests), but don’t miss the steaming hot clams listed as an appetizer. While not a soup by the most technical definition, if you don’t spoon up the rich tomato broth or soak a bread heel in it, you’re doing it wrong.
Photo courtesy of Leitao
Karczma Polish Restaurant Greenpoint
Pickle soup
Karczma in Greenpoint has old-school charm and a menu to match. Grab a bar stool and get your fill of the restaurant’s signature hand-made pierogi. Just don’t leave without a warm bowl of ogórkowa. This sour pickle soup is savory, tangy, and finds a comfortable middle ground between a silky smooth purée and a chunky bisque. The key? Grated dill pickles that cut through the rich broth.
Vinatería Harlem
Photo courtesy of Vinatería
Cauliflower soup
New York native Yvette Leeper-Bueno Bio opened Harlem’s Vinatería in 2013 to serve Spanish Italian fare as ample and inviting as the cozy decor. You might come for the handmade agnolotti drenched in a creamy wild mushroom sauce, but you’ll stay for the silky cauliflower soup topped with frizzled leeks and jewel-like pools of excellent olive oil.
Photo courtesy of Vinatería
Palenque Colombian Food Williamsburg
Photo courtesy of Palanque
Ajiaco
The ajiaco at Palenque is far from your typical potato-laden chicken soup. At this Greenpoint gem, a whole corn cob floats in each bowl, lending a delightful sweetness to the herby broth. The soup is dense with shredded chicken and topped with a cloud of crema for a touch of richness.
Photo courtesy of Palanque
Pig and Khao Lower East Side
Photo courtesy of Pig & Khao
Khao soi
Leah Cohen, chef and owner of Pig and Khao, brings the fun and far-from-subtle flavors of Southeast Asian street food to her Lower East Side and recently opened Upper West Side restaurants. She unites the flavors inherited from her Filipino mother with the techniques honed under Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison Park in dishes like sinigang shrimp topped with sour tamarind aioli. Cohen’s khao soi, inspired by the Thai noodle dish, is at once creamy (coconut milk), spicy (turmeric and chilis), sour (fermented mustard greens), and fresh (cilantro). Tender simmered chicken and a tangle of egg noodles — both chewy and crunchy — make a complete dish.
Photo courtesy of Pig & Khao
Lupe's East L.A. Kitchen Soho, NY
Chili verde
Lupe’s brings the L.A. sunshine and spirit to Soho. With laidback vibes, a coastal color scheme, and a fantastic hot sauce line-up, the restaurant sends you straight into vacation mode. We say lean in and get yourself a house margarita and a bowl of their piquant chili verde made with sweet and tangy tomatillos and served with a fresh tortilla for dunking.
Casa Enrique Long Island City
Pozole de mi tia
Casa Enrique in Long Island City might have a humble exterior, but inside, chef Cosme Aguilar (a James Beard nominee and Michelin star winner) is cooking up elegant Southern Mexican food that’s far from basic. His pozole’s brick-red broth is a masterpiece on its own. Add the rich pork, fluffy hominy pearls, and a spread of fresh, snappy toppings and you have a dish that feels like a hug.
Haenyeo Park Slope
Suun dubu
Haenyeo is named after the female free divers who harvest seafood and seaweed off the coast of Jeju Island, South Korea. Chef Jenny Kwak, who opened her first restaurant in the East Village at 19, brings Korean home cooking to Park Slope with Haenyeo. Suun dubu is a spicy, brothy stew packed with jiggly silken tofu and seafood. It’s served bubbling hot in a clay pot. Kwak’s version is funky and tangy with a generous serving of shell-on cockles, gently poached squid, sweet shrimp, and buttery bay scallops.
Archer & Goat Harlem
Photo courtesy of Archer & Goat
Spicy corn & coconut soup
The menu at Harlem’s Archer and Goat is as nuanced and dynamic as the Ecuadorian, Puerto Rican, and Bangladeshi heritage of the family that runs it. Expect punchy Latin American and Southeast Asian flavors across the menu, including the superior corn and coconut soup. Chiles kick through the rich coconut milk broth, and corn balances the bowl with natural sweetness.
Photo courtesy of Archer & Goat
MOKYO East Village, NYC
Photo courtesy of Mokyo
Gumbo
Chef Kay Kyungmin Hyun helms the kitchen at Mokyo and Thursday Kitchen in the East Village. She marries the nostalgic flavors of her childhood in Busan, South Korea with influences from her classical French training and global travels. Her gumbo has the familiar foundation of andouille and crawfish, but Korean chile gives the brothy dish its fire and funk and the nasturtium leaf garnish adds grassy bitterness to counter the heat.
Photo courtesy of Mokyo
Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. Greenpoint
Lobster bisque
New York isn’t bursting with New England-style seafood joints, but Greenpoint Fish & Lobster covers plenty of ground. The menu and coastal decor transport you to seaside Maine, where you wouldn’t leave without a bowl of fresh lobster bisque. This hearty bisque doesn’t skimp on meat — whether you go for a modest cup or the worth-it bowl, your soup comes topped with a small mountain of freshly steamed and buttered lobster.
Pylos East Village
Avgolemono me sampania
Avgolemono, Greek egg and lemon soup, reaches new heights at Pylos in the East Village. Since opening in 2003, the restaurant has been serving traditional Greek cuisine in its white-plastered dining room that harkens to Santorini. While the meaty grilled octopus and showstopping pork shank lure back repeat visitors, the avgolemono me sampania is a sip of sunshine in a bowl. Eggs offer heft and silkiness to this chicken broth-based soup studded with chewy orzo.
Mile End Delicatessen Boerum Hill
Photo courtesy of Mile End Deli
Matzo ball soup
Boerum Hill’s Mile End Deli serves elevated Jewish classics from a Montrealer’s perspective, including loaded poutines. The sandwich menu gets plenty of warranted attention — the Reuben is phenomenal and the spicy tuna with harissa and fried capers is one-of-a-kind. But the matzo ball soup is comfort food at its best. The unclouded broth is refined and perfectly seasoned, and the giant singular matzo ball is pillowy and flavorful.
Photo courtesy of Mile End Deli
La Bonne Soupe Plaza District
Photo courtesy of La Bonne Soup
French onion soup
A restaurant by this name has big boots — or rather, bowls — to fill. And boy, are the bowls at this Midtown mainstay full. The French onion soup is a sight to behold and an instantly memorable. The piping hot ramekin is sealed with a rink of freshly torched gruyere. Dig past the cheese layer to find a nest of deeply caramelized onions swimming in incredibly rich beef consommé. A slab of crusty baguette helps temper the saltiness and gives you something to sink your teeth into.
Photo courtesy of La Bonne Soup
DAR 525 Williamsburg
Chicken soup
If you have a hankering for soul-soothing chicken soup, Dar 525’s homey but refined bowl is guaranteed to satisfy. The restaurant, with locations in Greenpoint and Bed-Stuy, offers a Mediterranean menu of fluffy dips served with fresh pita, a great selection of herb-heavy salads, and a classic chicken soup bolstered with creamy potatoes, rice, and plenty of black pepper.
Congee Village Lower East Side
Salted chicken soup in whole coconut
Congee Village in Flushing and its original location on the Lower East Side are unusually spacious by New York standards and serve up hot, reliably delicious Cantonese food tout de suite. Browse the large and well-photographed menu for inspiration, but don’t overlook the simmered chicken soup served in a whole coconut. Shards of fresh coconut dissolve into the salty broth as you eat, adding richness to a bowl brimming with soy sauce-infused chicken.
Smithereens East Village
Photo courtesy of Smithereens
Beans
Call it a hot take, but we’re confident to call the Smithereens beans a soup. Fat and buttery white beans, curls of squid, and piquant pickled mussels swim in a broth you’d be a fool not to spoon up. Add a slice of sweet and crusty Anadama bread on the side for a quintessential New England feast in the heart of the East Village.
Photo courtesy of Smithereens
