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Autumn Brings on Soup Season in Whitefish

By Beacon Staff

When leaves yellow on birch and frost spots the ground early morning, one’s stomach naturally yearns for soup—fall’s best comfort food. Local Whitefish chefs are pulling out their recipes for soups that satisfy with the season. “We’ve been selling five to six gallons of soup a day since it got cold,” says Thomas R. Romagnuolo.

Romagnuolo, the executive chef for The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, is the brains behind the Spicey Shrimp and Corn Chowder served at The Boat House Restaurant. He throws roasted peppers into shrimp stock, adds corn, heavy cream, and shrimp bits followed by a butter and flour roux to make the pleasing soup. It’s one of several that rotate as the soup de jour on both the lunch and dinner menus.

Together with Executive Sous Chef Jason Sanders, the pair whip up favorites such as African Peanut Soup, Lobster-crab bisque, and Thai carrot bisque—a orange-tinted pureed combination of coconut milk, red curry, Kaffir lime leaves, ginger, fish sauce. “It’s crazy how much soup we sell here,” says Romagnuolo. “People will come in just for our soups.” If you want to taste The Boat House soups, the restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) and dinner (starting at 5:30 p.m.).

Chef David Lewis at Pescado Blanco just introduced his soup-of-the-day again—warming concoctions made from scratch with his own secret stock recipes. “They’re good, yum-yum hearty,” he laughs. Standing on the menu alongside Pescado Blanco’s perennial Tortilla Soup are his daily specials of Butternut Squash flavored with coconut and ginger, Poblano Corn Chowder, and sweet-tasting Carrot Habanero soups. His soups are available seven nights a week, starting at 5:00 p.m. for dinner.

If you’re hungry and cold, soup’s on!