Basically: You must visit La Casa de las Sopas right now. This restaurant is an east-side Indy hidden gem. Literally, these guys are serving the best soup (sopa) in all of Indy. I can honestly say I have not had soup this delicious in a long time. This is one of those times when I want Yelp to offer more stars, because I want to give this place even more than five stars.
I wish I could say that I found La Casa de las Sopas myself. But really, it was a tenacious friend who found La Casa de las Sopas for me. You see, I was in search of albondigas: a Mexican meatball and vegetable soup. It's a simple dish, and pretty common in Latin communities. I wanted to eat it on a meaningful day: the anniversary of my mom's death, because albondigas was her favorite food. But it was surprisingly difficult for me to find a restaurant in Indy that served this dish.
But lo: La Casa de las Sopas emerged from a deep-dive search! These guys are hiding in plain sight. They are posted up in a cool mid-century modern building right off of Shadeland Avenue and 38th Street. They aren't on Yelp (well, now they are) and they don't have a website, but they're there on the east side, quietly making the best Central American / Mexican soup in Indianapolis.
My server did not speak English, and I only spoke a little broken Spanish. So keep that in mind when you visit! Maybe have Google Translate pulled up. I ordered the albondigas, and she told me, "No." Then pointed to the menu and said "yes" to the soup they did have. What?! You mean I came to this restaurant on the day my mom died to eat a special soup, and now I'm not going to eat that soup?! Somewhat dejectedly, I ordered the caldo de res (beef soup). I asked in my most primitive Spanish: "Albondigas otro dia?" (Another day meatball soup?) She said tomorrow.
But then a few minutes later, like magic, the server emerged from the back and said, "Albondigas, yes!" I got so excited that I think I clapped my hands and danced in my seat. My albondigas dream would soon come true.
Now that I think about it, I might have looked so desperate for Mexican meatball soup that the server might have asked the kitchen to make me some. If so, ay dios mio! What service! I don't know what happened in between me being sad at the possibility of no albondigas soup and receiving my albondigas soup in front of my face, but it was nothing short of a miracle.
There really are no words for the albondigas soup at La Casa de las Sopas. It was even better than the soup my mom made -- especially the broth. I could have just drank the unctuous, meaty broth by itself. There were several big rice-studded meatballs in the soup. The soup also had chunks of potato and carrot, all swimming in that beautiful broth. On the side, you get a dish of rice. I suggest taking a spoonful of rice and dunking it in the broth and eating that comforting spoonful in one bite. You also get homemade corn tortillas. The tortillas looked and tasted like they were freshly pressed and pan fried. My entire albondigas dish was so much more than I expected in every way.
The restaurant itself is so pretty. Flowers and vines hang from the ceiling, and there are selfie spots with neon signs to take photos. And the restrooms! I don't usually comment on the restrooms at restaurants unless they're extraordinary, but the restrooms here are spotless. The whole restaurant is spotless, really. You can tell that these guys put a lot of thought and effort into decorating and creating a space to enjoy delicious soup. read more
