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A Cauldron O' Comfort Are you wishing for some soup of your own? Fear not. The best soup in all our cities is yours for the clicking. Try them, and be sure to let us know what you think!

Then, there is the nursery factor. A cup of steaming, slippery soup, garnished in the manner of our old Scooby Doo lunch boxes, is the epitome of comfort food. And since almost all of these soup havens deliver, even the busiest executive can indulge her lunchtime longing to be pampered and cosseted, all from a simple cup of soup.

The Soup Whatzee? Yes, the Soup Nazi. See, there was this episode of Seinfeld about a guy who sells soup, and he's really anal about how you must approach, order, and pay, and it was based on a real guy: Al Yeganeh of Soup Kitchen International, at 259-A West 55th Street. And you know what? In this case, BELIEVE THE HYPE. The soups are gourmet-quality, stunning, perfection in a coffee cup, scoring a staggering 27 out of 30 in the 1998 Zagat guide (that's higher than Le Cirque, okay?) and earning kudos from all sorts of curmudgeonly New Yorkers. High praise indeed.

Of course, the vibrant flavors and stellar quality of the soups being offered doesn't hurt either. No bouillon cubes or canned string beans in these $5.00 pints. Following the litany of this country's top restaurant chefs, the soup chefs cry, "Only the best will do!" Every place I called in New York City makes its own vegetable, chicken, meat, and seafood stocks, and all even care enough to get their bread from some of the area's top bread bakers such as Tom Cat and Eli's.

Then there is the dazzling variety. Most of these soup joints, down to the humblest little cart, offer a head-spinning number of choices. Mike's Take Away cart, on 45th Street, is a one-man operation that still manages to stir up four different soups every day, with the optional sourdough roll and salad (although unlike Mom, and some of the other soup shops, they charge extra for it). The daily offerings run from Country Captain chicken stew, to Mexican cauliflower with salsa, to potato rosemary. In the larger establishments, you can find from eight to twelve choices, certainly enough to satisfy soup lovers of every stripe.

All this is not to say that soup doesn't have its pitfalls. Since it's mostly take away or delivered fare, by the time you get up the elevator, take your coat off, and dig in, your soup is as often as not a little tepid. If you have access to a microwave, though, this is easily remedied. If not, ask for extra insulation (a double cup will do) on the coldest days.

And then hunker down and enjoy your soup, with all its lovely attendant baggage, regardless of the fact that it is a trendy thing to eat for lunch, whether owing to Seinfeld or not.