BELFAST – If you're not looking for it, it's easy to miss. The small unassuming location at 118 High Street in Belfast sits directly across form the Belfast Co-Op. Inside there isn't much more. Two small tables, one in each corner, that can accommodate five people tops. That's where the ordinary stops. Daily Soup it says on the sign and from it comes maybe some of the best soups and sandwiches on the planet.

Courtney Sanders is the owner, chef and operator of Daily Soup.

Her kitchen is unadorned, with a sink and a stove, stainless steel stock pots, a prep table and cooking utensils. Nothing fancy, just a very practical space to practice her craft.

"Everything is fresh and made from scratch," she said. "Very little comes out of a can. It's all prepared fresh and homemade."

When she says fresh, she means just that. Homemade chicken and vegetable broth, homemade mushroom broth, even the beans are made fresh.

Sanders said she was not a trained chef, but rather comes from a family that loves to cook.

"I'm mostly self-taught, but come from a background of people who waste not, want not," she said. "The stock from the beans you don't throw out. You use it as a base for another kind of soup. Don't throw out the ends of your vegetables; you make vegetable stock out of it."

Sanders family background taught her to make everything from scratch. There's a difference and you can taste it.

There's something for everyone, be it vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and even fresh steaming bowls for meat lovers.

"I have an ability to siphon out of a book what the very best recipes are," she said. "For some reason, I can just look at it and say that is going to be good."

Daily Soup is open 11:30 a.m. till 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. And they sell out almost every day.

"We also offer specials," she said. "Sometimes its an Indian dish, sometimes pasta, it just depends on my whim and how much time I have to add to the menu."

Daily Soup can seat five people comfortably.

"Sometimes there's more and we can seat maybe three people at the counter if they are really determined to eat here," she said. "That's in the winter time. In the summer we have four tables we can put outside. And in the summer we have a lot of tourists."

People call in orders and pick them up.

"It's mostly people who work in Belfast," she said. "They'll come in and pick up their soup and/or sandwich and take it back to work for lunch."

Sanders said one of her more popular sandwiches is not really a sandwich at all.

"It's called grilled bread with sautéed greens and white beans, "she said. "It's extremely popular. We use Universal Bread Bakers from Waterville. It's a lovely, yummy, crusty European type of bread that we grill."

Kale is sautéed with garlic and onions with red peeper flakes added. Homemade cannellini beans, cooked from scratch of course, are added and a little of their broth for added flavor.

"That is served over the grilled bread and we sprinkle parmesan cheese on top," Sanders said. "People come in just for that sandwich."

All the sandwiches, unless requested are finished in a panini grill.

"I always try to have a cold sandwich, as well," she said. "Tuna salad, egg salad or chicken salad and we'll do seasonal sandwiches, too. In the summer we do a lovely BLT. We do that at the height of summer when tomatoes are at their best. There's just no sense in making a BLT in April."

Salads and sweets get rotated on the menu, as well.

"The beet salad is always on the menu because it is popular," Sanders said. "It has a sherry vinaigrette and feta and right now we have a Greek salad which seems to be very popular, too."

Jim Mays, from Rockland, happened to be eating at the restaurant. He said he heads up often to Belfast.

"It's a very Waldo County, Belfast-oriented place," he said. "It feels like family when you come in here and then there's the restaurant. People know each other and you can come in here and find out what's going on in Belfast. The food is great and it's always homemade."

Mays said he enjoys his drive to Belfast and said he likes to drive that way every couple of weeks.

Sanders is originally from Atlanta, Georgia and has lived in New York City.

"I was a professional ballet dancer in American Ballet Theater," she said. "I lived in New York from the time I was 16 until I was 31. In 1998, my husband and I moved to Belfast and we have three children."

Find them on Facebook and catch the daily menu there as well, facebook.com/dailysoupbelfast/