Soup Nazi...err, I mean...Man

One of the most famous characters from Seinfeld is the "Soup Nazi." Like so many show ideas, this was based on one of Larry David's real-life experiences. The character was modeled after Al Yeganeh, a real life Soup Man who owned a soup place in midtown called, Soup Kitchen International. He had a strict set of rules and if you didn't follow them, he refused to serve you. This happened to Larry David and they used the experience for the Seinfeld episode. The original Soup Kitchen was closed for years, but it Yeganeh recently re-opened it at the original location at 259 W. 55th Street. Let's go see if there's soup for us!

Look, up in the air...SOUP!

He changed the name from Soup Kitchen to Soup Man in a nod to the Seinfeld character, even though he sued them over the charaterization of the character. The lawsuit was later dropped, but he got a boatload of publicity, which is all he probably wanted anyway.

There's a crowd out front and no one is in a proper line, why is Al not enforcing his rules? Could he have mellowed out through the years?

The soup's change daily and here's today's liineup.

And of course there's T-shirts for the tourists.

No wonder there's no rules being enforced, Al's not here. She told me he pretty much just manages the place now.

Since there's no place to sit there, I went to a nearby McDonald's, got a drink and sat down.

I got the lobster bisque and a large bowl is ten bucks. Not cheap, but you do get bread and an orange. Okay, let's try it out!

Holy shitballs, it's the best lobster bisque I've ever had! Shortly after I finished a manager threw me out for bringing in outside food! I pointed out that I bought a drink, but since it was empty, he told me I had to leave because it was crowded. I'm finishing this up on the sidewalk. I'm thinking of a new character now, Ronald McDonald the Nazi!