Uncommon Stock is an interesting place.  It’s owned by the same people that run Happy Gillis in the garage behind the restaurant.  It’s a “take and bake” type of place.  You walk in, place your order and take the soup home to reheat it.  Uncommon Stock is only open from 10am to 4pm Friday and Saturday and from 10am to 2pm on Sunday.  I wish that they would remain open until 5:30 on Fridays, that way those of us who still work downtown could pick up a quart before heading home.  At this point it seems that 3 different soups will be prepared each weekend. You can find out what soup’s on by checking out their web page each week.

I have tried four of the soups so far, first up, Lentil Soup with Autumn Vegetables and Sausage.  The sausage was crumbled into really tiny pieces, the vegetables were cut into tiny cubes as well; you could tell that someone had gone to a lot of work.  The vegetables hadn’t been cooked to mush; they were still slightly firm, which I like.  It had a great flavor, and a slight kick.  I would definitely buy this one again.    

I have also tried the Slow Cooked Beef and Toasted Barley Soup a classic, comfort soup. The ingredients were listed as: Tender butcher’s cut beef, pearled barley, onions, celery, carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, garlic, fresh herbs, rich stock, a splash of orange juice, kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

They suggested pairing this soup with a warm baguette and soft, high quality butter with a sprinkle of fleur de sel. It was also sugguested that this selection would pair nicely with a Belgian Ale.

The tender butcher’s cut beef turned out to be ground sirloin. I was surprised and disappointed.  To me it was like eating a “loose meat” sandwich with vegetables in it, in a thin hamburger juice broth, not the "rich stock" I was expecting.  I guess I’m just not used to having hamburger in my soup.  It wasn’t that it was bad; I guess I was just expecting something different in a heartier beef broth. 

I’m going to continue checking this place’s website this winter.  I love the concept, high quality “home-made” soup to go.  I just have to reheat and eat.  It makes an easy Sunday night dinner.

Parkville on the Med

Odd little place, it seems that it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be.  The facade from 9 Highway looks like a decaying riverboat.  When you walk in, you walk down a hallway that has little rooms on the left with windows so that you can see that they are stuffed full of Native American paraphernalia.  A hand written sign on each window reads; “Not for sale, for display only.”  The dining area is a large, rather open area with a bar in the center surrounded by booths and tables.  There is an eclectic menu offering, American or Mediterranean cuisine. 

Our little trio tried the Chicken Noodle soup and the Lentil soup.  Both were very good and obviously house made.  The celery and carrots in my chicken soup were still a bit firm, I liked that.  The chicken had a nice flavor as did the broth, although it had slightly too much cracked black pepper for my taste.

I went with the Chicken Kebab.  It was served over saffron rice.  The pieces of chicken were huge, nicely seasoned, juicy and tender.   

My 17 year old chose Lahamei Pasta as his entrée.  It is lamb (you can also choose beef), with tomatoes,
onions and green peppers over linguine pasta in a zesty tomato fresh garlic dill sauce.  This sounded like it would be spicy, but it turned out to be sweet.  He didn’t like it and ate a couple of pieces of my chicken and the tomatoes from my plate instead. 

My spouse had the Be Dejaj.   It is the same marinated grilled chicken that I had on my kebab, so it was good.  It also comes with tomatoes, onions and green peppers but is served over Humus or Baba Ghanouj instead of saffron rice.  My spouse asked to have it served over half Humus and half Baba Ghanouj.  We enjoyed eating it with the pita wedges provided.

The only thing we did not like here was their house wine.  I had a Cab and my spouse a Merlot.  Both were beyond awful.  It’s as if they had been uncorked and left to sit out for a week.  Mine tasted like it had gone to vinegar.  I took three sips and left it.  My spouse’s was no better.  This must not be a wine drinker’s place… 

Although this isn’t may favorite Mediterranean place.  The food is not bad.  I will admit that my favorite item was the chicken noodle soup.  I wanted to buy a quart of it to take home.  The lentil soup is also good as was the chicken on this visit.

We had a great time here, just like we always do.  I wish you could have been here with us.