Roasted Tomato Tortilla

Tortillas MIA

Despite missing the promised tortilla strips, and despite the lack of seasoning, a little salt transforms this bland soup into a pleasant lunchtime experience. The addition of salt perks up the vegetable broth, bringing out the taste of the small pieces of tomato, carrot and garlic. Unfortunately, the thin broth is ultimately unsatisfying and left this reporter desperate for an afternoon snack. Nonetheless, this soup serves as a warning to all that emergency packets of salt should always be kept in your desk drawer.

Location: NG Cafeteria

Price: $1.87

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Sweet and simple

Although the menu promised ginger, nutmeg and sherry, this soup is decidedly one-note. Fortunately, that single note is sweet and satisfying. This creamy soup is a smooth blend of butternut squash and yams punctuated with a few pieces of leek. While you may not be heading back for seconds, this uncomplicated soup is enjoyable and filling. After so many disappointments in the cafeteria lately, even this moderately boring soup should be counted as a success.

Location: NG Cafeteria

Price: $1.87

Maryland Crab

A crab died, in vain, for this soup.

Ordered with the half sandwich and house salad combo, the Beacon's Maryland Crab Soup arrives in a small porcelain cup--a size equivalent to what will be an inadequate cease to the average stomach's midday growl.  Upon first spoonful I was, however, impressed by the plethora of morsels unfeasibly squeezed into the meager serving.  Tomato based, the crab pieces are plenty, accompanied by generous bits of tomato, zucchini, potato, carrot, onion and celery bits.  Unfortunately, the crab is slightly overcooked, thereby surpassing the sought-out delicacy of the perfectly cooked crab lumps known to a good bisque or an unforgettable bowl of luscious cream of crab; it is as though the crab is running the show, trying to hold the concoction together, where, as the name features, it ought to be the main event itself.

Though I'd slurp at it again over an expense-paid work lunch, this is not a soup to seek out for its high price and sub-par quality over a competitive lot of pots just mere blocks away.  Note:  I only review soup, but I feel it's my duty here to advise that the house salad included on the lunch combination is approximately ten pieces of mixed mesclun lettuce only, coated lightly in olive oil and vinegar.

Location: Beacon Bar and Grill, 1615 Rhode Island Ave, NW

Price: $6.00 for a bowl, or $13.00 for a small cup, house salad, and half sandwich