Here’s the UWS Dish: French Onion Soup Battle, Episode II

By Abigael T. Sidi

Almost a full month after Onion Soup Battle Episode I, it is still brutally cold, with this past weekend’s windchill breaking some NYC records. Several commenters on Episode I recommended that I cover a few additional spots, some even asking for a sequel. So, by popular demand, calories be damned, here it is: Onion Soup Battle Episode II, which will focus on the consensus picks from my readers: Café Luxembourg, Café du Soleil, Florentin, and La Sirène.

As with Episode I, I’ll be going with my four criteria: broth (savory vs. sweet), onion caramelization (low to high), croutons (mush vs. crunch), and cheese flavor/pull/burn. I’ll even throw a fifth one in there, which is more of an expansion of the cheese criterion: I’ll refer to it as the “drippings pick-off” index, borrowed from reader Ian Alterman. In his comment on Episode I, Ian successfully put into words a crucial element of onion soup: “Most importantly about the cheese is that it be dripping down the sides and create a reasonably generous post-soup amount of slightly hardened, chewy cheese to “pick off” the outside of the bowl. I would never accept an onion soup without this.”

I’ll start with the two soups I hadn’t tasted thus far, which both happen to be vegetarian, Florentin’s and La Sirène’s. (In fact, Florentin’s was recommended specifically for this reason.) I’m not going to lie; I was a little skeptical at first. As I stated in Episode I, to me, onion soup is first and foremost about the broth, and I’d always assumed that its beefy, meaty backbone was central to the soup’s richness and characteristic flavor profile, and, therefore, its overall deliciousness. I could not have been more wrong.

La Sirène’s soup, while expectedly lighter than the classic beef-based broth, focuses on fragrance instead: It bursts with bright, citrusy thyme, and also boasts subtle, woody rosemary aromas lurking in the background. A delicious balance of sweet and savory, and not as salty as beef bouillons (I did season the broth a bit, just salt and pepper.) The onions had standard caramelization levels, and the croutons were your by-the-book, day-after French sourdough, high on mush index but with deep yeasty flavor. As for the Gruyere, it was thick, with a great char, and the most generous portion of all eight variations I tasted. As a result, the drippings pick-off index was off-the-charts, almost like an extra serving of cheese!

While bright and smokey herbs were front and center in La Sirène’s soup, the second veggie variation I sampled, Florentin’s, went all out on sweetness. Their broth is, by far, the syrupiest I’ve tasted, which I actually really enjoyed. The soup is also served burning hot, which I love, with good onion caramelization (hence, the sugary broth), making it a very distinct option in the neighborhood. However, the cheese factor is where I feel Florentin could improve. The melted gruyere is all concentrated on top of a single bread toast floating in the center of the bowl. The toast is too large to scoop with your spoon, and the broth is too hot for any finger usage, so it was unclear to me how to eat it. And because there is no dripping, there are no late pick-offs, or barely. So, a quite unique version on the list, but with some noted shortcomings.

Lastly, to wrap things up, back to traditional, beef stock-based soups. Café du Soleil and Café Luxembourg dish out very similar, succulent soups characterized by deep, deep brown savory and meaty broths (akin in quality to Manny’s Bistros’s), high onion caramelization (yet with any sweetness neutralized by the beefy stock), and loads of melted, punchy Gruyere with impeccable burns, pulls and pick offs. Café Luxembourg is the undisputed winner in the onions (of which there are a billion and are finely minced) and cheese drippings category (not only are the drippings plenty, but they come in a sophisticated, classy geometric style, making them fabulous pick-offs – Ian, if you’re listening). On the other hand, Café du Soleil outshines its competitor with its charred garlicky croutons (mushy but with clear structure around the grilled edges) and a sublime, thick broth. At $10, it’ll also cost you half what Café Luxembourg’s will!

I asked Café du Soleil co-owner Nadine Chevreux, whom I had previously interviewed for the Café’s merguez/frites sandwich, about the magic behind their onion soup. “It is one of our best sellers!” she said. “The depth really comes from two things: time and good ingredients. We caramelize the onions very slowly, and that alone takes about 45 minutes. We make our own beef stock using roasted bones, which gives the broth that rich, meaty flavor. We finish it with a splash of Pinot Gris, to balance the richness. For the croutons, we use pain de campagne (rustic sourdough). We slice it thick, toast it until nicely golden, rub it lightly with garlic, and top it with Gruyère for the best melt and flavor.”

I’m going to chicken out and refrain from providing a “definitive” ranking, hoping eight options will be enough for readers to survive the remainder of the winter (no Episode III, I beg you; I heard high cholesterol in teenagers is a real thing.)

The Dishes:
Florentin’s Florentin Onion Soup ($13)
La Sirène’s French Onion Soup au Gratin ($14)
Café Luxembourg’s French Onion Soup ($20)
Café du Soleil’s Soupe a l’Oignon ($10)

The Restaurants:
Florentin: 480 Amsterdam Ave (corner of West 83rd Street)
La Sirene: 416 Amsterdam Avenue (corner of West 80th Street)
Café Luxembourg: 200 West 70th Street (between Amsterdam and West End Avenues)
Café du Soleil: 2723 Broadway (between West 104th and 105th streets)

Read all Here’s the UWS Dish columns here.

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