Andrew Garbarino, chef of The Twisted Frenchman in Pittsburgh, makes his tomato soup by charring the tomatoes on a hot grill to give them a subtle smoky flavor, and gives the same treatment to carrots, onions and fennel. Then he slowly stews them in a pot with butter, cream and garlic for 1.5 to 2 hours. 

Erica Gillespie, director of store development for Hale and Hearty, said “some people want a full meal in a cup, which we are able to accommodate with richer, more satisfying soups like Broken Lasagna or Chicken Sausage Jambalaya.”

Gillespie said “other people are specifically looking for healthier, lower calorie options like our Chicken Vegetable, Spicy Wild Mushroom with Red Miso, or Ten Vegetable soups. And then there are those people who look at soup as more of an accompaniment than a complete meal.”

Seasonality is the name of the game for the Maryland crab soup at Avenue Kitchen & Bar in Baltimore, where co-founder Bill Irvin starts with a stock made from crab bodies thickened with potatoes. Irvin adds corn, carrots, celery, sweet onion, potatoes, green beans and lima beans.

McAlister’s Deli is also following the seasons this fall, when corporate executive chef Will Eudy brings back his autumn squash soup to the Atlanta-based chain’s roughly 435 restaurants.

All of McAlister’s soups are manufactured for them, and this one is made with a variety of roasted hard squashes, sweet onion and vegetable stock, along with cardamom, allspice, cinnamon and a touch of cream.

McAlister’s is getting ready to roll out a blue crab and sweet corn chowder, said Eudy.

“We’re not going to call it she-crab soup, because it’s not really, but it’s a classic blend of blue crab, corn traditional mirepoix [carrots, onions and celery], crab stock and a little heat,” he said.

Also coming out this fall at McAlister's is a roasted mushroom soup made with shiitake, portobello and cremini mushrooms, chicken stock, garlic, thyme and a little cream, finished with sherry.

At Pura Vida in downtown Cleveland, chef and owner Brandt Evans came across the national dish of Ghana, Nkatenkwan, a chicken-and-peanut stew, and wondered how it would work as a vegetarian dish at his vegetable-focused restaurant.

“It became wildly popular and successful,” he said. “People eat it when it’s 85, 90 degrees out on a hot summer day. It surprises the hell out of me.”

At four-unit Granville in Los Angeles, executive chef Glenda Galvan-Garcia knew she had to come up with a good matzoh ball soup so she started with the broth.

The soup starts with a chicken stock that simmers overnight which, according to food and beverage director Marc Dix, slowly draws the marrow out of the chicken neck and bones.

The stock is a key component to the fish head curry soup at Farm in Bluffton, S.C., where chef Brandon Carter said, "It’s a great way to utilize what would normally go into the stock or garbage, and visually it’s interesting, and the flavor is delicious.”