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Poseidon's
soups warm diners on a wet, cold day
Bowl
of French onion serves as a restorative
March 14, 2006
| If
You Go |
Name: Poseidon’s Cove.
Address: 2124 Eastridge Center.
Hours: The restaurant is open from 11
a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily. The bar is open from
11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.
Owners: Laura and Steve Dye.
Executive chef: Jeno Herman.
Sous chef: John Bender.
Soup prices: Clam chowder or French onion
soup — cup, $2.50, and bowl, $3.50; soup
of the day, such as roasted corn chowder or
chicken enchilada — cup, $2, and bowl,
$3.
Wheelchair accessible: In lounge and
part of dining area.
Smoking: Lounge only.
Parking: On-site lot.
Telephone: 858-0000. |
When
the wet cold comes at the end of winter, we want
soup.
Steaming, superb, savory soup.
From scratch.
Happily, Poseidon's Cove makes two of the best in
the Chippewa Valley.
Each cup or bowl of New England clam chowder comes
crowded with beautiful ingredients jostling for
attention: vibrant carrot and white potato cubes,
thin crescents of pale green celery, squiggles of
onion and lots of sweet, whole, tender baby clams.
The creamy broth is properly silken but not thick
or cloying like many of the chowders we have eaten.
Instead, it's thinner and just a little sweet, with
the richness of milk and butter counterbalanced
nicely by dry white wine and black pepper.
We applaud the absence of bacon and its smoky dominance.
In this fine broth, each ingredient tastes only
of itself, so a spoonful offers a variety of flavors
unexpected in a cream-laden soup. It's light and
complex enough to eat a lot of.
The French onion soup is made the right way, with
onions slow-cooked for hours until deep-dark brown
and caramel-sweet. A cabernet sauvignon reduction
captures the sweetness, a touch of dry sherry lends
lightness and elegance, and a demi-glace made from
Poseidon's own beef stock adds flavor and body.
The soup is served traditionally, ladled over toasted
bread with a thick cap of melted cheese.
It's easy to understand why the French eat this
soup as a restorative. So many qualities of comfort
food are here: sweet and soft, warm and crisp and
chewy, smooth and dense, mildly salty and rich.
The only way to improve this soup would be to use
a cheese as tasty as a Swiss Gruyère.
Either of these soups makes a great lunch or light
supper with a hunk or two of Poseidon's good house-baked
bread.
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