I am a huge Seinfeld fan. In fact, that doesn’t even begin to describe it… I have all of their seasons (of course) but know most of them off by heart – my brothers and I watched Seinfeld on repeat pretty much solidly for about five years.
So it was fun to be in New York and imagine the gang there, but I didn’t want to do a tour or anything… I’d once been to the Chinese restaurant (scene of the famous Chinese restaurant episode, which most people probably won’t remember) and it was a bit of a disappointment. So I was intrigued but not too excited when I walked past the sign above. Could it be the original inspiration for the Soup Nazi? Surely not…
Half an hour later, my curiosity got the better of me and I was back to buy some soup – and see if they were, actually, the inspiration for Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi. And they were! That day the ‘friendly’ partner was working (I wonder if the unfriendly one ever works, or if fame has gone to his head?) but there were striking similarities – the same flavours, the same emphasis on homemade soup, the same bags with a bowl of soup and a chunk of fresh bread.
And how was the soup? Aside from the thrill of eating inspiration for one of my all-time favourite Seinfeld episodes? Delicious! I went for jambalaya, and it was quite possibly the most delicious soup I’ve ever eaten. Now, how much of that was in the recipe and how much of it because I was on a bench on a New York sidewalk, I can’t tell you. But you should definitely give it a try when you’re next in the Big Apple!