Christine Chiao

Kimchi jigae at Seongbukdong

If you ask an Angeleno of Korean heritage where you can find good kimchi jigae, or kimchi stew, more often than not you'll hear "my mom's." It's not out of any unwillingness to provide a tip, or maybe two. It's just one of those dishes that appear in a home cook's repertoire so often and in so many different renditions that many have their own definition of what's best.

The recipe is generally straightforward, calling for pork (usually pork belly), scallions, gochujang (red pepper flakes), tofu, and a lot of kimchi. The similarities often end here, with some adding ingredients like sesame oil and others listing fish sauce as a must-have. Thankfully, quite a few restaurants in Koreatown have the stew as an option on their menus, a relief for those of us who can't turn to our omoni's to figure out what ingredient is necessary and what's better left alone. Turn the page for three restaurants with their own distinct jigae take.

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The Original SoupMan

If one of your secret fantasies is to one day walk up to actor Jason Alexander and tell him that he can't have any soup, that day is almost here. Tomorrow, Alexander will be serving up soup samples from noon to 3:30 p.m. at Pavilions in Burbank. It's all part of a promotion for the nationwide launch of The Original SoupMan brand in grocery stores.

Alexander gained fame on Seinfeld, playing the role of bumbling George from 1990 to 1998. There were so many classic George moments (several involving food) that it's hard to pick a favorite, but one certainly has to be the "Soup Nazi," which aired during the show's seventh season in 1995.

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Rachael Narins

Lobster Nage at Bottega Louis

Winter in Southern California means it's time to put on a scarf and dish up some soup to ward of the chill, and who doesn't love a hearty bowl of the stuff -- maybe served with more than a lot of bread. It's a smart way to go as a full meal, and often for under $10.

Our efforts to find the best version took an interesting twist. The rules we set said that the soup must be on the menu year round -- sadly leaving many places out, since soup of the day and seasonal soups we know and love weren't considered. But the truth is that any self-respecting restaurant is going to have a soup du jour that's most likely worth trying. You just might not be able to get it whenever you want, and if you can't, it seems unfair to include it on a "best of" list.

Also, if there were more than ten viable versions out there of one style, we figured that type merits (or has already) its own list -- ergo, no ramen, pho, udon or tom yum gai. We've already listed our favorite matzo ball soups. And yes, we've done pho too. As for the others, maybe keep checking in.

That said, we did find a lot of fantastic soups to choose from that are on the menu all the time, so turn the page. And as always, we also want to hear where you get your favorites, too.

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B. Addison

Creamy pumpkin soup at BeirBeisl

Celebrating this year's Best of L.A. issue -- now out in print and online -- we're counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes.

16: Creamy pumpkin soup at BierBeisl.

It's true: autumn brings with it way too many pumpkin-flavored things. And, yet not enough pumpkin soup. Butternut squash seems to have become the fall soup of choice for many chefs, leaving the pumpkin to its fate in latte land.

But not at BierBeisl, Beverly Hills' Austrian den of sausage and schnitzel. This modest restaurant from chef-owner Bernhard Mairinger is home to some seriously cool food, including the best soup of the fall thus far.

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Flickr/SubtlePanda

pizza

You've probably heard of The Magnificent Seven, but what about The Salty Six?

The saltiest foods might not be the ones you expect (French fries? Pretzels? Flamin Hot Cheetos?), according to the American Heart Assn. The group has singled out the "Salty Six" -- common foods that may be loaded with excess sodium, which can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Some shockers: bread, chicken and sandwiches.

"Excess sodium in our diets has less to do with what we're adding to our food and more to do with what's already in the food," Linda Van Horn, a research nutritionist at Northwestern University and an AHA volunteer, said in a press release. "The average individual is getting more than double the amount of sodium that they need."

Turn the page for salt's Most Wanted.

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Campbell's

The commemorative cans

In the early 1960s, Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup can paintings were a spectacularly ordinary counterpoint to any number of lush, sophisticated still-lifes of bowls of laboriously arranged fruit. Warhol wasn't about commentary. He was genuinely enamored of the commonplace and ubiquitous. And he actually did enjoy Campbell's, having once claimed in an interview to have consumed a can for lunch every day for 20 years.

How fitting then that to commemorate the 50-year-anniversary of Warhol's soup triumph, Campbell's is releasing -- for the month of September -- limited edition soup cans inspired by Warhol's creations.

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Flickr/Maxpax

Turkish coffee

When temperatures stretch into the upper 80s and 90s as they have in recent days, many people reach for a glass of lemonade, ice cream cones, or some coconut water. Others cling to the well-traveled notion that warm liquids actually provide more relief. Here's the rationale: Millions of people around the world -- from Iowa farmers to Bedouin herders -- accompany brutally toasty weather with sputtering cups of tea or coffee. Why?

The idea is that hot liquids make a hot person sweat more, encouraging the body to cool itself down, effectively rigging its internal A.C. to blast. So, even if you're purple-faced, miserable, and sweating through your clothes, you're technically, against logic, against what feels right, legitimately cooling off. We're sticking with slushies, but in case you're hoping to surf the heatwave with something steaming, we have some suggestions:

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flickr/plakboek

Did the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) cook up a soup controversy this week, when it warned consumers not to eat any soups sold at Los Angeles farmers markets from two different (and unrelated) companies? The health department says the soups, from One Gun Ranch and Organic Soup Kitchen, may contain the toxin Clostridium botulinum, which, if ingested, could lead to serious illness and even death.

There's just one problem --- no botulism has been found in any soups of One Gun Ranch or Organic Soup Kitchen. In fact, the soups have not even been tested for botulism, according to an email Squid Ink received from CDPH yesterday, stating: "CDPH did not conduct laboratory analysis on the soups."

The companies targeted by CDPH are reeling from the state's actions against their products.

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Flickr/Antonio CE

In tests, Campbell's soups had some of the highest levels of BPA

Campbell's Soup Co. has announced that it soon will stop using the notorious chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA, in the linings of its cans, the Environmental Working Group reports. The move comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to decide by March 31 whether to ban the chemical's use in all food and beverage packaging, as well as a decision by French lawmakers late last month to uphold a ban on BPA in all packaged foods. That decision is likely to lead to EU-wide legislation banning BPA, which would make it difficult for Campbell's and other U.S. food companies that use BPA to sell their foodstuffs abroad. (The Natural Resources Defense Council had to sue the FDA to get the agency off its, er, can. To date, the FDA has maintained that BPA does not pose a health threat at the levels at which it appears in canned and packaged foods. Many scientists and public health advocates, however, disagree.)

Although the company has not announced a specific timeline or released any further details of its BPA-free commitment, at a February shareholders meeting, Campbell's chief financial officer Craig Owens reported that the shift to BPA-free cans had already begun.

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Jim Thurman

Yunnan House Special Rice Noodle Soup

Yunnan cuisine doesn't get the kind of respect accorded to the cuisine from other provinces. It isn't included in the "Eight Schools" of Chinese cuisine, instead being relegated to a subset of its neighbor to the north, Sichuan. Adding to that, there are only 11 Yunnan-style restaurants in the entire United States -- but fortunately for us, half of those are scattered across the San Gabriel Valley. Yet even at these restaurants, the menus are dominated by Sichuan dishes, with only a handful of Yunnan items to be found. Of these few Yunnan menu selections, the best known is the "Crossing The Bridge Noodles," the signature dish of the province.

There are many stories about the origin of the name, with the most often repeated involving a wife taking soup across a bridge to a small island where her husband was studying for his imperial exam. By the time she'd reach the other side of the winding footbridge, the soup would be cold, the noodles soggy. The story goes that one day a layer of oil and fat kept the broth warm and adding the noodles and meats allowed it to cook to perfection on the spot.

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