How this local restaurant reinvented a classic Columbus dish

A local restaurant decided to take a unique spin on a classic Columbus dish.

Parker’s Pantry, 1815 Garrard St., has been selling their popular Country Captain Soup for over seven years, and its popularity has only grown.

Parker Mullins, co-owner of Parker’s Pantry, told the Ledger-Enquirer that the Country Captain Soup often sells out and customers even preorder the soup the day before it’s on the rotating menu to ensure they get their fix.

“People call, and they want 16-ounce containers and 32-ounce containers, and then they’ll just come pick it at their convenience,” Mullins said. “Our soups usually do sell well, but for [the Country Captain Soup] to be almost gone with it being pretty warm outside, it’s a good thing. I guess people like it.”

The soup is a “light” version of the traditional Country Captain, a curried chicken stew.

“We had to do our version that works for lunch with people on the go,” Mullins said.

The soup is made of ingredients similar to the stew: chicken breast, tomatoes, green peppers, rice, curry and thyme. The Country Captain Soup is not as spicy as the stew, though. Mullins said she uses vindaloo curry, a tangy curry with a base flavor of vinegar, garlic, ginger and red chilies, instead of other spicier versions. Mullins uses this for a “warm” spice flavor.

“To me,” she said, “that’s what makes it ours.”

Mullins got the idea to create Country Captain Soup from her mom, Susie Dismuke.

“I grew up eating Country Captain,” Mullins said. “My mother suggested [the soup] because she wanted to have it. She said, ‘Why don’t you make it as a soup?’ So, we tried it.”

Parker’s Pantry usually serves Country Captain Soup once a month. Their soup calendar is posted during the last week of the month on their Facebook and Instagram pages.

About Parker’s Pantry

Parker’s Pantry opened in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mullins said she always has “loved to feed people,” and her husband, Brad, encouraged her to turn her dream into reality.

“My husband said, ‘If you don’t try, you won’t know, and if it doesn’t make it, it doesn’t mean you failed. It means you tried,’” Mullins said. “That’s a hard pill to swallow, but he was right.”

Mullins said she feels like running a restaurant serves a bigger purpose — helping the local community celebrate big events or make difficult times easier by providing food.

“I didn’t anticipate we’d get a lot of calls when someone’s lost a loved one,” Mullins said. “They need a quiche. They need to feed people. We also get to help people celebrate and cater on the weekends, and so that’s a blessing. We get to do people’s life events, babies, weddings, engagements. It’s really very gratifying.”

Mullins also expressed her passion for serving “good food.”

“If you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, where God leads you, then it’s gonna work,” Mullins said. “Whatever it is, and I think that’s what happened here. I really do. I love it. I love people. Feed them good food. That’s our motto.”