[Photo: Kathy Chan]

We first brought you a post on Columbine back in the fall. A soup, sandwich and salad take-out shop in Tribeca. "Incredible" doesn't even begin to describe this place. Lines stream out the door during prime lunch hours, even during those snowstorm days we had a few weeks back. Crowds return at exactly 5:00 pm, when all the sandwiches and salads are half-off. Soups are still full-priced, though they're often out of soup by then. Salads and prepared vegetables are solid, the sandwiches run from simply good to awesome, and the soups? Well, that's what makes this place incredible.

My mornings start like this: get to work, check email, then check Columbine's daily specials, updated on their website every morning. There are three soups listed at top. One is vegetarian; the other two might be a puree or a chowder. All soups come with butter and bread from Sullivan Street Bakery. Often it is a small cut of pizza bianca, and at other times it will be a slice of the pane di comune. Either way, nod yes when they ask "bread and butter?"

The purees are easily my favorite. Warm and filling on cold days. Kabocha squash or pumpkin on some days, and a particularly memorable Mexican squash puree (pictured above) on another. Their purees come with a bit of extra this-or-that to jazz it up. For the Mexican squash, bits of toasted jalapenos for a spicy kick, and garlic cream to top.

The Mushroom Puree is pretty nuts, velvety and full. The "bonus" with this soup? Roasted shiitake mushrooms and a spoonful of whipped cream. Sometimes I even get an extra pat of butter and drop it in the steaming puree.

As for their chowders: delicious? Yes. Creamy and fatty? Nope. Know in advance that their chowders, while lovely, are thin and brothy, lighter than you might expect. That noted, said chowders are consistently deep in flavor, with big chunks of goodness, an abundance of whole kernels and bacon in the Cheddar Corn Chowder pictured above.

Dessert, like the soups, change on a daily basis. If chocolate whoopie pies are on the menu, you would be a fool to leave without one. (Or two. Perhaps three.) The red velvet cake is perfectly fine, with vanilla buttercream instead of your usual cream cheese frosting—but a dark Chocolate-Cherry cookie is worth a return visit alone, as is the Valhrona Chocolate pudding. Rule of thumb with Columbine desserts? If the word "chocolate" shows up in the description, mark it down on your agenda.

And don't forget: half off sandwiches and salads after 5pm!

Related:
Lunch for One: Columbine
Columbine's Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Columbine

229 West Broadway, New York NY 10013 (map)
212-965-0909
columbine229.com