OPINION: This cold soup is about the best this hot summer has to offer
Aug. 17—It's been a long while since I wrote about Andrew Madsen's Mystic Soup Co., which was once tucked into an obscure space in the back of a garage building on Route 1.
It was early November 2016 when I wrote that Mystic Soup Co. reminded me of the "Soup Nazi" character from the discontinued "Seinfeld" TV series, because, like the popular TV soup maestro, Madsen was selective about how much soup he'd sell you, depending on whether there would be enough left for his regular lunch customers.
Donald Trump had just beaten Hillary Clinton in the presidential election then, and I am sure I was seeking out especially delicious comfort soups, Mystic Soup Co.'s creative concoctions, like black bean chicken with avocado, feta and roasted tomatoes or butternut squash with coconut curry and crab.
Madsen subsequently moved on to open his popular Mystic Salad Co. downtown, and Nana's Mystic, a progressive pizzeria and bakery opened in his old space, drawing a new wave of devoted foodies to the quirky storefront behind the garage.
And we all know what happened to Trump.
I got reacquainted with Madsen soups when he started selling from the stand at Wehpittituck Farm on Cove Road in Stonington, one of my favorite summer haunts.
Farmer Jimmy Moran has been regularly stocking Madsen's cold tomato-based gazpacho soup, an indescribably delicious blend of fresh veggies, most grown right on the storied Stonington farm.
Never mind lobster rolls or fried clams, this is the finest taste of eastern Connecticut summer.
And a visit to the farm, which, in addition to veggies and gazpacho, sells cut flowers and fresh eggs, is always a scenic delight. It's a classic New England setting, forever preserved, with fields, old stone walls, a 300-year-old farmhouse and massive barn, all perched along the waters of Quiambaug Cove.
You couldn't ask for a better glimpse of the best of rural New England.
And the souvenir can be an amazing, a refreshing dose of the best of summer tastes, a $5 tub of gazpacho by Madsen and Moran.
The good news I learned recently, after spotting a sign along the road in Route 1 in Pawcatuck, is that many more Madsen soups are on tap, for when the summer gazpacho farm soup season ends.
It turns out, Madsen explained when I ran into him recently, he quietly reopened Mystic Soup Co. a while ago, in the small shopping center at 210 S. Broad St. just west of the high school, while keeping his downtown Mystic Salad Co. open.
The soup shop, open daytime hours Monday to Saturday, has a fine fresh hot and cold sandwich selection, in addition to the changing daily soups.
I'd most recommend some farm-fresh gazpacho from Cove Road farm right now.
But I also feel better knowing that Madsen's comforting soups will apparently still be available as another worrisome presidential election season unfolds.
This is the opinion of David Collins.
