Pumpkin Porcini Parsnip Soup @ Bis.Co.Latte (Hell’s Kitchen) [Review]

When I used to imagine life in New York, I had visions of Carrie Bradshaw’s brownstone, brunches with friends, and lazy afternoons in Central Park. Over the last two years in this city I’ve learned that while those things do exist, New York is also home to thousands of chain restaurants and dirty alleyways, and it can be hard to find those quaint coffeeshops that everyone seems to think of when they think of the Big Apple. I have a few days off this week due to transitioning jobs (!) and I have been trying to find as many of those small places as possible.

My mom came up to visit me yesterday and left a few short hours ago. This morning we took a walk over to the Hudson River (that’s the one on the West Side) and passed by a charming find – Bis.Co.Latte – it’s a biscotti and coffee shop in my new neighborhood.

Upon entering the shop I was greeted with a smiling face and a display of biscotti – there must be over a thousand of these cookies, in a so many flavors. To be honest I wasn’t there for the biscotti though. I’m simply a coffee girl through and through, and I have been avoiding grains lately anyway (paleo* thing).

So instead of a biscotti I picked up a homemade soup.

Pumpkin Porcini Parsnip Soup (vegan)

This was one of about 6 fresh soups they had available. They also had a pumpkin chili that I would like to try and a risotto menu. I asked about the porcini – they are mushrooms with a meaty flavor. My soup was a puree and it came with some multigrain bread that I decided to save for Bobby. They also packed in some pumpkin seeds for me to top it with (I got it to go and ate it at home). I believe you can get all of their soups vegan.

The soup was absolutely perfect – I didn’t need to salt or pepper it, and I finished the whole thing. It’s fairly pricey ($7.75 for just a soup – a fairly large portion) but it’s worth it… at least once in a while. I usually spend around that much for lunch anyway so this was a nice change. The pumpkin soup was surprisingly filling. It’s thick and creamy (they use soy milk) and a very homey fall meal. If you are in the area I definitely recommend checking out Bis.Co.Latte. Let me know if you try any of their baked goodies.

Do you like soup? Pumpkin soup? What’s your favorite fall meal?

I usually don’t eat soup because I don’t think it fills me up, but recently I have been trying to add it into my diet more. I love the way it makes my stomach feel (no bloating) and for some reason a hot soup can be super comforting on a chilly fall afternoon. Other recent soup adventures of mine have included carrot soup and veggie soup (both from Le Pain Quotidien) and a Shrimp Bisque (like a chowder) from Hale & Hearty.

*A note on paleo – I have been avoiding grains off and on (mostly avoiding) for the last year but have kept kind of quiet about that because I didn’t want to say something and then suddenly change my mind later. I think I would like to slowly go more paleo (like avoiding sugar better) but I’m totally ok with this being a verrrrry slow process. Paleo can be very meat-heavy and sometimes I have issues (morally) with eating such large amounts of animal flesh. So there you have it.