I don’t mean for this blog to be about food, but since it is a blog about my thoughts and observations it’s only natural that food comes up often.

Today in Nashville it’s almost 100 degrees and with the humidity it currently feels like 111 degrees. So…. why am I craving soup? My minds works in strange ways like that. But, I’m not just craving any soup, I’m craving soup from a restaurant that’s been out of business for a few years now.

For some reason I’m craving the potato cheese soup from a restaurant called The Cooker.  The Cooker was a regional restaurant chain that had locations in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan and a few other states.  It was known for hearty portions of comfort food like meatloaf and pot roast (2 of their specialties) that tasted like home cooking.  It started in the 80’s, but I don’t think I discovered it until I moved to Ohio in the mid 90’s.  And while the meatloaf and post roast were extremely good, the potato cheese soup was out of this world!

For some reason, I’m in love soup.  Some of my favorites include the chicken tortilla soup from Max & Erma’s, the homemade baked potato soup from Cheddar’s, the beer cheese soup from a restaurant called the 356th Fighter Group in North Canton, OH (near the Akron-Canton regional airport) and of course the potato cheese soup from The Cooker.

The story of The Cooker is a classic tale; restaurant chain gets popular, begins to expand, goes public, expands too fast, economic slowdown happens, owners try to fix their problems by changing everything, patrons stop coming, chain files bankruptcy, they try to come out of it, they close.

In fact, I remember hearing the news the day The Cooker closed all of its’ locations in 2004.  They never even told the staff in advance.  People showed up for their shifts only to find the doors padlocked and a note on the door explaining the closure.

I’m not the only person who loves/loved The Cooker’s potato cheese soup.  Do a search on the internet, and you find lots of message board posts of people searching for the recipe or something similar.  I’ve been search for a few years too, but to date no luck.  I don’t think anyone has even been able to come up with a copycat recipe.  So for now, I’ll keep search… and dreaming.

Do you know anyone who has a recipe?  I’m ready to throw a batch together… even if it is almost 100 degrees out today!