(Credit: Mark Gross)
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Inside, owner Cynthia Shea's excited salutations -- as she addresses many patrons by name -- punctuate the neighborhood coffee shop ambiance. The customers, mostly women, lean over open notebooks or novels while waiting for their food. Whether behind the counter or navigating the tiny restaurant, Shea's continuous smile and accommodating demeanor reveal just why she and her guests share such a good rapport.
The simple menu offers a rotating selection that always includes three soups, two salads, one pot pie (often of the veggie variety) and one fruit of the day. I ordered the day's pot pie -- chicken -- with a warm piece of bread ($6.95) and my dining partner opted for the wild mushroom puree with feta ($4.95), which also came with bread.
Only a handful of people occupied the dining room, but our choice of seating remained limited: should we take the table for four though we were only two, or should we climb up on a stool, prop our elbows on the narrow counter that lined the wall and pray we didn't leave with a hot soup-stained lap? We greedily took the four-top.
As the lunch hour reached full swing, the other seats filled up and before delivering our meal, Shea was forced to split our four-top into a two-top and make a seat for yet another book-toting woman and a still growing crowd. Fortunately, our lunch wasn't far behind.
Dish: My chicken pot pie's hearty fillings included a traditional blend of shredded chicken, potatoes, peas, carrots and onions encased in a flaky-on-the-outside, doughy-on-the-inside shell of buttery goodness. My partner described her wild mushroom puree as "mushroomy"; overall, she seemed to enjoy it, reveling in the feta and finishing every last drop.
Damage: Neither of us added a salad, which tacks on a reasonable $3. Our beverages -- my can of Coke ($1), her Honest Tea ($2) -- brought our tab to $15.65 with tax.
Decision: As I picked clean the familiar metal tin of pot pie (using a fork to work the creases and wondering how many of these pointed utensils Soup's On actually hands out on a daily basis), I never felt overwhelmed by the crowd swell, only content with the pleasant swell of my now-full gut.
