See You Next Thyme
Yesterday morning, SanDiegoVille posted this article, reporting that Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes, a soup and salad buffet restaurant founded in San Diego in 1978, had laid off its workforce and would not reopen its 97 locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The parent company (Garden Fresh) CEO John Haywood confirmed the announcement later that afternoon. The move makes unfortunate sense, as there is uncertainty of the future of self-serve style restaurants.
Me? I’m just over here mourning the loss and regretting I didn’t take that blueberry muffin to-go the last time I went.
Souplantation was by no means a fancy or cool place, or a “must-eat” for out-of-town guests. But it was nonetheless one of my favorite restaurants. It was affordable comfort food, an icon of suburbia, a welcoming place to take your time at dinner and hang out with family and/or friends. I always enjoyed watching the different things my dining companions ate and created with the variety of buffet items. One of my favorite discoveries about my husband when we first started dating was that in addition to making a regular salad, he’d always grab an extra plate piled high with mushrooms, broccoli, pickles, olives, and cauliflower.
What will I miss? Tuna tarragon pasta salad, asian ginger broth, albondigas (that they didn’t serve nearly often enough), cheesy focaccia bread, turkey chili and adding bacon, cheese, and green onions from the baked potato bar. And those fluffy, fresh blueberry muffins – but mainly the muffin tops because of the crispy edges.
Part of the joy of food is that strong tie to memories. What I remember most is weekday dinners spent with friends and long conversations over empty dishes, closing out the place because no one was rushing us out. Maybe a part of my sadness is not just the restaurant itself closing, but knowing that there are many things that will be missing from the “new normal,” whatever that is and whenever that comes. RIP Souplantation – miss you already.
