The Original Soup Man - New York
Ooooookay.
Anyway, back in 1999, I had a wonderful shrimp bisque from Al Yeganeh’s Soup Kitchen International. I ate it in Central Park, where I happened to find a Broadway Show League softball game in progress. Footloose was playing The Iceman Cometh… That 1st base coach who looked like Tony Danza was Tony Danza. It was a fun afternoon.
On my way to a cupcake shop today, I discovered that while I was in California, Mr. Yeganeh was busy establishing a chain of The Original Soup Man shops (franchises available). I found the 3rd Ave & 78th St location.
Unlike his barebones soup stand of olden days, this was more like a small fast food place with counter seating on the window and softserve machines behind the counter. Upon entering, I was greeted by a friendly employee who then joined his two co-workers behind the counter. One of them — the one with the loudest voice in recent memory — was going on a tirade about how awful New York is, while the others listened on, bemused. After about a minute of alternating looking at each, one of them stepped forward to take my order — the one licking the softserve ice cream cone. I should have left. Instead, I got the $8.95 cup of lobster bisque, and all pleasant memories of that Shrimp Bisque Afternoon were cast in a shadow by this bad lobster bisque and that loud employee who wouldn’t stop talking… loudly.
The bisque had a strong red pepper flavor straight off, then a hint of carrot, and then lobster. Then I came across the stringy, almost grainy pieces of lobster that dotted — and ruined — the soup. The flavors of the lobster and vegetables in the bisque stabilized after a couple spoonfuls and were a pretty nice combination that still let the lobster flavor ultimately come through the most, but the stringy lobster didn’t let up. Consistency-wise, I thought that the bisque was too thick, and I wasn’t too thrilled by the small diced vegetables that accentuated its gloppiness. Maybe it’s just me, but when I see little air bubbles suspended within a soup, it bothers me.
I did, however, like the wooden tray that the soup was served on.
Btw, I can’t believe that the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld aired in 1995… 11 years ago!
July 27th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I am the owner of the 78th Street location. I sure wish I had seen your comments earlier. We pride ourselves on customer service and I would have gotten rid of that employee sooner than when he left.