Been a minute since I took a good hard look at a French Onion and that’s because we’re technically out of season.
So let’s just jump right in.
The Good:
- Rich
- Broth is on top of the cheese which I actually like because it shows me we have a good ratio down the center of the bowl of soup
- Unbelievable texture on the outer rim at about 4:30pm on the bowl. The kinda crunch you save for after the bowl of soup and then peel off with your fingers
- Good green garnish that looks to be hand shaved or at least chopped.
- I can’t see the bread but I know it’s there. Not a great bulge but could just be the angle. I think it’s two pieces of a French loaf sliced and layered perpendicular to the soup
- Size. Very girthy and obviously not a special for the day but more of an institutional soup I would assume. Otherwise there’s no handcut veg or the french onion specific bowl\
- Zoom in on the crunch
With that – one of my least favorite things is when a place serves French Onion regularly but doesn’t have French Onion bowls. I don’t want my FO in the same space that recently occupied Friday Night Chili. I want specialization in my hardware and that’s lacking severely.
That Bad:
- Table top doesn’t make me feel confident in the broth. I know that’s a weird connection but when I see a laminated table top/booth, I know the cook is pouring broth from a plastic bag and the sodium content can get a little too heavy in those cases.
- No lace panties on the bowl
- Cheese is kinda undercooked
- Cheese thins out on the edges where it should hold the most durability vs. the center. In this case there’s too much pooling on top of the bread which keeps it submereged and thus loses the crunch that balances the onion’s texture
- Tells me it’s more of a traditional square cut of cheese instead of something a little bigger and more custom to the bowl’s needs
- I can’t see the spoon but I really hope it’s a soup spoon vs. traditional because traditional does not hold up in French Onion. Like hitting lob wedge at the British Open, you want to avoid at all costs.
- Broth looks a little watery and thin where I want more of a dark complexion. That’s where homemade beef stock can really make a difference but I don’t want to be a stickler this late in a review
The Score:
- Some times you get a bad bowl that tastes good
- This is the opposite where it’s a decent looking bowl but I think it tastes worse then presentation. And respectfully I’m using a lot of context clues to make that conclusion but I stand by it.
- Heavy torch would probably be fastest way to get above 7.5
- Overall I would order this bowl but I don’t think I would intentionally seek it out based on what I know
- Final Grade: 7.1