Chilled soups a cool escape from summer heat at these Palm Beach restaurants

In this heat, you’d think no one wants to hear, “Soup’s on!” But wait: Luxuriant soups are having a deliciously welcome effect at Palm Beach restaurants — they’re cooling diners off.

From vegetable-powered gazpacho to vichyssoise and cucumber-mint, a variety of chilled soups are having their day in the hot sun. They’re cold and refreshing and full of flavor.

“Everyone is really enjoying cold soups during this balmy time,” Jose Duran, co-owner of Acqua Café, Pizza al Fresco, Al Fresco and Renato’s, told the Daily News. “And they’re not only refreshing, but often healthy as well.”

“You have to serve them super chilled and when you do, there is nothing better on hot days,” Alain Krauss, executive chef at Café L’Europe, said.

So what cold soups are tops right now in Palm Beach and where are they offered? Grab a spoon and read on …

Pizza al Fresco14 Via Mizner

It may be the perfect summer repast at Pizza al Fresco: starting a meal with chilled soup, followed by splitting a thin-crust pizza with a friend.

More: Palm Beach dining: Sizzling specials to get you through the summer

With quality ingredients a top priority at the restaurant (after all, its nearby sister is renowned Renato’s), Pizza al Fresco featured a watermelon gazpacho earlier this summer and now it’s offering as a periodic special chilled cucumber-mint soup ($13 a bowl) until the weather cools a bit by the end of September.

Both chief ingredients, cucumber and mint, are associated with coolness — and they’re “refreshing,” Duran said. “So far, the cucumber-mint soup has been popular.”

Le Bilboquet245 Worth Ave., Via Encantada

Though Le Bilboquet is oh-so chicly French, it currently features a chilled Spanish soup: gazpacho, that classic tomato-based soup featuring cucumber, onion and other vegetables, plus garlic, olive oil and more.

Guests this summer at Le Bilboquet have enjoyed various versions of gazpacho, including one poured over an assortment of chilled seasonal melon morsels.

But traditional gazpacho is what’s now offered ($16 a bowl) and it’s adorned with house-made croutons and micro basil.

Café L’Europe331 S. County Road

Though cold soups weren’t part of his childhood in France’s Alsace, Café L’Europe executive chef Alain Krauss has been a lover of chilled soup throughout his adulthood.

And during summers in Palm Beach, “I love them and love making them,” he told the Daily News.

At Café L’Europe, Krauss and co-executive chef Benoit Delos have served various chilled soups, such as cucumber-mint and curry coconut.

Currently featured: traditional gazpacho, plus a white-and-green vichyssoise — a twist on the classic satiny smooth French potato-leek soup in which Krauss uses both the white and green parts of the leek.

One or both of the soups can typically can be found on appetizer selections on Café L’Europe’s three-course summer prix-fixe menu, which is $62.

La Goulue288 S. County Road

The soup for which La Goulue is locally known is “soupe a l’oignon gratinée,” but for many patrons, the hot Gruyere-topped onion soup is rivaled these days by a refreshing option in steamy weather: vichyssoise.

Vichyssoise has been a hit all summer at La Goulue, where fans of executive chef Gwen Le Pape’s chilled leek-and-potato soup include the French bistro’s sommelier Xavier To Van Trang.

“Vichyssoise is such a delicious and sophisticated soup that combines simplicity with elegance,” he told the Daily News. “It has a creamy texture and mild flavor, and it’s so refreshing.”

A bowl of La Goulue’s vichyssoise is $16.

More: Café Delamar closes for August vacation, to reopen Sept. 5

Café Flora240 Worth Ave.

With most of its seating outdoors at umbrella-canopied tables in a shady Worth Avenue via, gazpacho — perhaps with the addition of chilled shrimp — is a go-to warm-weather choice for many patrons.

“Everyone wants this kind of cold and flavorful dish right now,” said Pamela Lomba, who owns the restaurant with her husband Heinrich Lowenberg. “Just talking about the gazpacho we make has me wanting to eat some, so I really do understand why our guests love it.”

The vegetable-rich gazpacho at Café Flora is $14 a bowl. At lunch, you can make a light meal of it with the option of adding jumbo shrimp ($3 each).

Café Boulud301 Australian Ave.

From chilled pea soup to chilled corn soup with smoked paprika and cilantro, Café Boulud’s mastermind Daniel Boulud has created irresistible cold soups for years.

Ditto in Palm Beach for Café Boulud’s executive chef Dieter Samijn, who’s currently featuring two cold soups.

Chilled melon soup with goat cheese and basil is an appetizer selection on three-course prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus, priced at $49 and $72, respectively.

Café Boulud’s a la carte menus currently feature bright green-hued gazpacho verde ($20) with green tomato, cucumber, avocado and Marcona almonds.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Chilled soups a cool option at these Palm Beach restaurants