Soups When the weather starts to chill, Phantom warms up with a big bowl of steaming sustenance. Phantom ladles out eight great soup selections.

New England Soup Factory (The Best: Chicken Soup)
2 Brookline Place
Brookline, MA 02445
(617) 739-1695
www.newenglandsoupfactory.com

With only about a half dozen small tables, the New England Soup Factory is mainly set up for take-out. All the soups are made fresh from scratch and the menu changes daily. However, you can always count on Chicken and Vegetable, rustic Clam and Corn Chowder, satiny Lobster Newburg and Chicken Pot Pie. The Chicken Soup is a robust bowl of triple strength broth full of big, meaty chunks of chicken and melt-in-your-mouth tender carrots. Order the Matzoh Ball for the lightest dumplings in Brookline and Newton. In addition to soups, there are over-stuffed sandwiches.

Legal Sea Foods (The Greatest: Clam Chowder)
14 New England locations
Chain, 
www.legalseafoods.com

At Legal Sea Foods, you can count on two things: serious seafood and the best chowdah on the coast. Their New England style clam chowder is creamy but not too rich, thick but not heavy, and perfectly balanced with briny bivalves and potatoes. Sleek restaurant design and forty fish varieties make it a fun, happening place to dine. Guest chefs from abroad generate exciting menu influences from China, the Caribbean, and India.

Pho Pasteur (The Greatest: Pho)
Chain
4 Greater Boston Locations
www.phopasteurboston.net

Pho Pasteur’s Vietnamese specialty is pho, a steaming noodle soup brimming with clear broth, plus beef, tripe, chicken, or seafood. Garnished with crunchy bean sprouts, fragrant basil, and lime, it has serious restorative powers. Most menu items are intrinsically healthy and low fat, consisting of noodles, veggies, and a little meat or fish. The brightly colored, budget friendly chain has locations in Harvard Square, Newbury Street, and Allston. But only the Chestnut Hill branch serves their silky taro tapioca pudding baked inside a coconut shell.

Locke-Ober (The Greatest: Lobster Stew)
3 Winter Pl.
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 542-1340
www.lockeober.com

Generations of Bostonians have grown up with downtown Boston’s timeless Locke-Ober. Their famed JFK lobster stew is part of the tradition, renamed for its biggest fan. The impossibly rich concoction yields a hint of sherry and cayenne pepper, finished with a pat of butter. The exquisite American menu includes New England seafood, a fine oyster bar, and distinguished wines from the cellar. The superb setting is perfectly refined, detailed with dark mahogany and luxury leather.

Matt Murphy's Pub (The Greatest: Oxtail Soup)
14 Harvard St.
Brookline Village, MA 02445
(617) 232-0188
www.mattmurphyspub.com

Matt Murphy’s is unmistakably Irish, with newspaper-wrapped food, thick accents, a stand-up bar, and chummy atmosphere. The authentic pub serves up superior ales from the brass tap and the most memorable Irish fare this side of the pond. Phantom likes to settle in for a night of live music and some hearty oxtail soup, featuring terrifically fatty meat simmered with root vegetables. Other rustic recipes include shepherd’s pie, hovering mashed potato peaks over a chunky lamb stew.

Sandrine's (The Greatest: French Onion Soup)
8 Holyoke St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 497-5300
www.sandrines.com

Tucked down a side street of Harvard Square, Sandrine’s is a transporting French affair with Phantom’s onion soupe gratinee, lavished with Riesling wine and baguette croutons, then covered in Swiss cheese and oven broiled. The rest of the large menu emphasizes the flavors of German-influenced Alsace, France. There’s the specialty flammekueche pizza spread with fromage blanc and onions and the uber delicious choucroute garnie, brimming with sauerkraut, sausage, hickory smoked bacon, and new potatoes. Warm colors permeate the elegant bistro, bound by an entrance that resembles a 1930s Paris Metro gate.

Souper Salad (The Greatest: Soup Chain)
10 Massachusetts locations
Chain, MA 
www.soupersaladboston.com

Souper Salad specializes in steaming soups and fully stocked salad bars for professionals on the go. Each morning their local culinary center prepares 200 gallons of steaming sustenance and disperses the soups to each of their 10 locations. Reliable standbys include triple boost veggie, clam chowder, and country chicken stew, but Phantom goes for wildcards like pumpkin apple soup and Long Island duck with vegetables. To round out the meal, there’s a la carte ordering for Asian noodles, sandwiches, wraps, and muffins.

Stone Soup Cafe (The Greatest: Luxe Liquid Lunch)
0 Central St.
Ipswich, MA 01938
(978) 356-4222

The homey Stone Soup Cafe is a fabulous find where local fishermen and foodies enjoy the farm fresh fare atop white linens and flickering candles. Up to 10 soups are made daily in small batches for lunch. The clam chowder is a 5-year award winner, but other soul warming hits include tomato bisque, curried butternut squash, Cuban black bean, Italian wedding, and pasta e fagioli. Breakfast and lunch are always steeped in savor, but the mind blowing dinners (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) require reservations weeks in advance.