Are there any foods you just go crazy for, from one specific place? French Onion soup from DIA’s Denver Chop House in Terminal A is mine. Sure, it’s great French Onion soup (seriously, go try it. No one yet has been disappointed by this recommendation). But as food so often carries so much sentimental value, much of my fondness for this soup must have to do with the hours spent and realizations realized in the Denver airport, waiting on flights to or from Aspen. Still, I always get a bowl when I layover in Denver, even if I have to ride the tram to change terminals or order it to-go because there’s no time.
This time, there was time, and I leisurely enjoyed my soup. Then there was a table placard announcing To-Go Sipping Broth $4.99, so I ordered that. My waiter said they didn’t have it, but after I pointed to it on the placard, he disappeared to unearth the truth. Surprising both of us, he came back with a steaming mug with a tea bag in it. Broth.
I casually sip my broth. A giant, exuberant man comes bounding up to me “are you the one who ordered the broth?!” he says, staring at my table, knowing the answer.
He goes on to tell me that I am the first person to order the broth in the Denver Chop House and he’s so thrilled because he runs the restaurants in a bunch of airports (HMS restaurants, traveling nerds) and just put this new broth into all of them and is really excited about the product and here I should have some more bags so I can sip them later isn’t it great to just be able to have delicious broth with nothing but hot water?
T
he Art of Broth is a young company out of LA (their website still needs some work) selling vegan vegetable broth, chicken broth, and beef broth. The ingredients, honestly, aren’t the best—there’s both sugar and maltodextrin, but with a 15-calorie count, there can’t be that much. And when eating on the go, it could be much, much worse.
Or, you could have it as part of your “dinner” one night in your hotel. It’s called balance.