A warm, nutritious bowl of soup is good for the soul — especially when it’s made of wholesome, locally sourced ingredients and cooked with care, like the ones at 100 Bowls of Soup.
This Herndon business has been supplying Northern Virginia customers with gluten-free, hearty soups for more than 15 years. And even beyond the soups that are for sale, the business offers people a chance to learn how to cook their own meals from scratch with a series of in-house cooking classes.
The Business
Owner Katharine Mardirosian started the business in 2009, drawing inspiration from her Romanian mother-in-law, who made fresh food from scratch every day and started nearly every meal with soup.
“I just had the idea that desire to create really, really nourishing soup — soup that I didn’t think was available where we are,” Mardirosian says.
As the business grew, it moved from Mardirosian’s home to a church kitchen, farmers markets, a shared commercial space, and then, finally, a storefront in Herndon. Now, the team at 100 Bowls of Soup keeps about 18 variations of broth and soup (many of which are vegan) in rotation, depending on the day.
Each bowl, whether it’s a simple chicken noodle, a tangy carrot ginger, or a temporary seasonal offering like the Lunar New Year chicken soup, is made gluten-free, with simple ingredients that are often sourced from nearby farms.
And the soups are made right out in the open, with a large prep table and kettles and stoves in the center of the shop.
“Part of our goal is to be very transparent about what we do, what ingredients we use,” Mardirosian says. “I’ve always enjoyed watching people make things and being able to see how things are made, so we like to give people who walk into our space that opportunity.”
Why is it called 100 Bowls of Soup? The name refers to the shop’s mission to give back to its community by donating at least 100 bowls of soup to Cornerstones food bank in Reston every week. Customers can donate additional bowls if they so choose.
The Classes
In addition to offering a multitude of soups for sale, the Herndon business provides a chance for visitors to learn how to make soups of their own — plus a few other dishes.
When they first started offering classes, around 2018, the focus was on teaching others to make soups, but the offering soon expanded to other cuisines.
“We started showcasing the talents of the chefs, who all come from different backgrounds, enjoy cooking different cuisines, love to cook and have just a breadth of knowledge and experience,” Mardirosian says.
After a break in classes for a few years during the COVID-19 pandemic, classes are back in full swing. This season, there’s a full roster that includes beef pho, chicken soup, plus Thai food and even French macarons.
“The idea is really to get people in our kitchen, cooking things from scratch, experimenting, really understanding how to create flavor, how to build flavor with maybe some ingredients that they’re not familiar with, and I’m doing it in a really warm atmosphere,” Mardirosian says.
Classes span about two hours with capacity for around 10 to 12 students (depending on the topic), and ingredients and equipment are included. There’s no experience needed — cooks of all levels of experience are welcome to attend and learn. Classes will enjoy a meal together at the end of each session and leave with a recipe (and oftentimes leftovers) in hand.
A schedule of all upcoming classes is available on 100 Bowls of Soup’s website. There will also be a chef’s table event on February 14, a multi-course Asian-inspired dinner served by two of the shop’s chefs.
100 Bowls of Soup: 279 Sunset Park Dr., Herndon
Feature image courtesy 100 Bowls of Soup
