OK, the soup on the front page was from the Stockpot; mulligitawny is my favorite there. Some folks think the best soup of all is homemade. If that’s you, maybe you can share your talents…

The Cooking With Friends Club, a Montclair-based cooking community, is partnering with the Human Needs Food Pantry for their annual "Souper Bowl," set to coincide with the NFL Super Bowl on February 4. The Food Pantry will distribute soup made by Cooking with Friends club members to the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed, the homeless and the homebound. There are currently 30 members participating in the "Souper Bowl" and the club expects to deliver 50 to 80 quarts of fresh, homemade soup to some of our less fortunate neighbors.

Founded in October 2006, the Cooking with Friends Club currently has close to 100 members, who use e-mail and the internet to share cooking & menu ideas, swap recipes, and get together with one or two friends to cook, thereby enhancing existing friendships and forming new bonds.

If you want to get in on the soup and the good Samaritanism, there’s still time to participate in this "Souper Bowl" event. Visit the club online here.

While you’re here, tell us your favorite soup and where you get it from…

What’s happening to all the restaurants in Baristaville? First, tipsters alert us to the closing of Bloomfield’s well-regarded Formia, as well as the Village Cupboard. Now we’re hearing rumblings of a proposed sale of newbie Gaucho Steak Argentinian Grill. And worse, talk of another Italian restaurant coming to replace it (not that there’s anything wrong with Italian, but it’s not like they aren’t well represented already.)

If the rumors are true, all I can say is — please, don’t go. After having dinner on three different occasions, with three different groups of diners at Gaucho, and experiencing three incredible meals (and no service problems), could I have been just incredibly lucky? Maybe, but I’d be seriously bummed if Gaucho pulled up its pants and walked. Stay — I love those fries, the steaks, the ceviche, and those sinful dulce de leche crepes. Don’t give up on us baby, we’re still worth one more try. And we’re not the only ones who like you.

There’s a restaurant born every minute in Montclair, and Baristanet and David Corcoran of The New York Times are following them all closely. Joining other Barista newbies that have garnered Times reviews is Passionne, reviewed by commenters here and here. Corcoran likes the moroccan tagine with cod, the wild mushroom tart (agreeed) and the sound of silence — something a lot of chefs have trouble creating in some of Montclair’s crowded eateries…

For another starter, coquilles St.-Jacques, two large scallops were cooked just past translucency, then bathed in a creamy wine sauce under a mantle of seared Gruyère — a classic recipe, perfectly executed. A baked wild-mushroom tart also benefited from a cheese topping, but its outstanding feature was a crackling shell of buttered phyllo dough. Tapenade packed the punch of three kinds of olives; frogs’ legs were moist and garlicky; and the soup of the day, parsnip, was comfortingly sweet and mellow.

But the real cap to a meal here — if, like me, you’ve spent too many Saturday evenings in busy dining rooms with hardwood floors and tin ceilings — is the realization that you’ve managed to carry on a conversation without shouting or straining to hear.

There must be a secret, and there is: the undersides of all the chairs, Mr. Carrino told me, are fitted with sound-absorbent eggshell foam. You wouldn’t think it would work. But once again, at this dark horse of a restaurant, you would be wrong.

Walking past Cha-Ma-Gu-Dao on Glenridge Avenue, I was immediately sucked in by the stark Zen beauty of the place.  Cha-Ma-Gu-Dao, which opened two weeks ago, is part tea shop, art gallery, and oasis of tea culture. 

Owner Robert Scott travelled the world while cultivating a  passion for tea. Now, he brings Baristaville enough tea choices to last a lifetime. Listening to Scott describe teas – floral, full bodied, nutty, earthy – and discuss blends, growing regions and harvests – is like listening to a Napa valley winemaker.

Sit down for a pot ($4, and sold in bulk), but first look over the menu of 170 teas from all over the planet with names like Golden Nepal, All That Jazz, and Butter Truffle.  Don’t be put-off by the vast choices – Manager Miu Eng will guide you through the blacks, greens, florals, flavored, Oolongs, whites, herbals, chais and more.  Or you can start with a sniff test at the bar.  "If you like the smell, you’ll like the taste," she says… We opted for a mild vanilla-kiwi flavored green tea. Mmmm…

The display case of exotic sounding gourmet sweets is tempting. We tasted tea cookies made with lemongrass-ginger, green tea, black currant and earl grey tea ($3/plate). Showing unusual restraint, we skipped the sinfully rich dark chocolate brownies with mandarin orange.

If you are into teapot collecting, there’s a lot of eye candy here. Many museum quality clay and iron teapots are on display (and for sale). The finest handcrafted pots are Yixing from China and Kyusu from Japan.  You may want to think twice about serving tea from these showpieces…prices range up to $300.

Cha-Ma-Gu-Dao means Ancient Tea and Horse Trail, a trail linking southwest China to Tibet, also called the southern Silk Road.  Each month, look for their tastings of up to six different teas ($12), discover the 5,000 year tradition of tea, and go home with a goodie bag of tea samples. On Saturday mornings, bring the kids to an hour long tea party ($4/kid) with pure fruit teas, cookies, music and a book reading. And that’s just the beginning…Scott promises more tea events in future months. Warm up and chill out at 212 Glenridge Avenue, Montclair. Call for dates and to reserve, 973-746-0975. – Annette Batson