Thanks, Au Bon Pain!

I absolutely love having a main-stream chain restaurant experience that clearly spells out what's in the food and which clearly wants ME to eat at their restaurant. I would not trust the cashier at a place like this to be able to answer questions about gluten and what's in the soup base, but I trust this label. And here's a thing that would likely turn off an unrestricted diner: I know that their soups come in big plastic bags from the Mother Ship. I've seen it with my own eyes. They are not creating them from scratch in the kitchen. And because they aren't, I have a high level of confidence that they can successfully pour a GF soup from a bag into a crock pot thing without cross-contaminating it.

And, I like their soups. This curried lentil and rice number was very enjoyable, if not terribly memorable. It was perfect for a fast weekday work lunch with a colleague. My meal of soup and a small soda was around $7.50 -- I think the soup itself was $5. Since I usually take my lunch, it was a splurge for me, but quite affordable. (Also, since it's counter service, no tipping.)