I have been closely watching a new skyway location at 225 S 6th St called The Original SoupMan which was slated to open today at 11 AM. After being reminded when I got off the bus by a sign outside the restaurant, I asked if Kim wanted to join me for lunch to try out this new place. She agreed and asked that we do it at 1 PM but after a meeting was rescheduled (and later rescheduled again to tomorrow) we ended up there at its busiest time at noon on the dot.

As Kim and I walked up the line was nearly out the door with people, just like us, looking to try out this place. I have a feeling that many were interested in name alone as this store is loosely based on the NYC location that was mentioned in that fucking god awful show Seinfield (the Soup Nazi). They had been renovating the L-shaped space for a long while but had paper over all the openings so you couldn’t see in until today. It was cleanly decorated with some seating and plenty of space to line up. A sign with the Nazi’s likeness was situated by the main entrance and it displayed the soups of the day without any prices listed.

As we were waiting in line we squinted to try and read the menu from afar and were soon offered a small sample of New England Clam Chowder. Knowing that this is at least based on the NYC favorite, I figured that the NE Clam Chowder would have to be somewhat decent. While Kim thought it was good (she said she would not normally eat this type of soup) I thought it fucking sucked. It wasn’t as bad as canned but it certainly wasn’t anything I’d be clamoring to return for and it does absolutely no justice to NYC or the Soup Nazi. I guess that something is lost in translation in the ~1000 miles between NYC and Minneapolis. At this point were were about halfway through the line and could begin to read some of the menu items. I was absolutely shocked at how fucking astronomically expensive this lunchtime restaurant was. Who the fuck are they kidding charging anywhere for $5 to $9 for a cup of soup?!

As we continued our long wait (now stretching over 10 minutes), a man came up and began chatting with one of the staff members dressed in a white coat (those wearing white coats seemed to be management level) and the worker told him that the best soup they had available was the Lobster Bisque. For $8.99 for a cup and $10.99 for a bowl (even more for a pint obviously), that better have been their best soup and it better have been made with live lobster living in a tank in the front, served in a golden chalice and offered to you by someone wearing white gloves and a tuxedo. From what I could tell, no live lobsters and no luck with any of the rest of it either.

As we came to see the menu better, we saw that they were offering soup with a half sandwich for $3 more or $5 more for a whole. I’m not quite sure how they feel that they can compete with any of the other downtown locations such as Eddington’s or even Panera. I assume that they need to have exorbitant rates to cover the “Soup Nazi’s” name and the fact that they are mentioning “as seen on Seinfeld”. Now knowing the prices Kim said to me that this would be our last lunch there. I could only agree.

Their sandwiches are much more reasonably priced starting at $2.39 for a half and going up to $7.49 for their most expensive whole. I really don’t see why you would want to eat here as opposed to any of the 1000 other options nearby unless you were some sort of huge fan of that fucking terrible show and really thought that eating overpriced food would bring you closer to Seinfeld and the Soup Nazi himself.

They have a variety of sandwiches listed and include everything from Grilled Chicken Balsamic to a Mexican Burrito. Several are wraps, some are paninis and the rest are your typical deli-like usuals. The only one that popped out at me was their Egg Salad and Parmesan which I decided on before I saw that they were all pre-wrapped in plastic and sitting upright in a cooler in the front. Their paninis are probably your best bet as they are made to order.

All combos come with soup, sandwich, salad and includes a beverage, baguette, fruit and a piece chocolate. The fruit, for me, was not ripe but one of Kim’s coworkers who ate there this afternoon said that his was over-ripened and he wasn’t quite sure how you could be selling black bananas on your opening day. Kim’s orange was tiny and was just slightly larger than a Clementine. I believe that they also had some tiny apples but I might be remembering incorrectly.

Our original order came to just over $23, quite expensive for a simple lunch like you would see at Panera (and which would be much, much better) but for those that work in the building (just say you do, seriously) you get a 25% off card (no information required as of today at least) and that brought it down $5.25 to a total of $17.37. After paying, Kim found a flavored decaffeinated raspberry tea and I grabbed my pop. They have no caffeine free and sugar free options available and they only have caffeine free root beer. As I was getting my drink, Kim worked her way through the line and found a place to sit along the windows. My chair was half off the tile and half on an unsteady grate. I was a little uneasy sitting on it and tried my best to move the table a bit more forward (into the line) so that I wouldn’t have to sit like that. While I’m sure it’s safe, I didn’t appreciate the precarious nature of my seating arrangement none-the-less.

After some quick photos, I tasted my food. The soup, while meaty, was basically awful. I like goulash just fine but this, this was nasty and had the texture of shit. Kim’s bisque was also quite meaty but I didn’t find anything special with it. It wasn’t nearly as good as other similarly priced bisques that I have had in much nicer restaurants and neither were items I’d ever order again. My wheat baguette was ok and my egg salad sandwich was nothing better than I could have had anywhere else including my own kitchen. Kim’s panini looked pathetic especially when they wrapped it in lame foil with more face time for the Nazi. I didn’t even bother to taste it and I didn’t hear a peep about it from Kim. Kim pretty much refused to drink her raspberry tea and I gave her my root beer. Because it was decaffeinated, I sucked it up and drank the tea which had the distinct flavor of Vicks 44. Nothing like bringing back memories of being sick as a kid! Blech. The best part of my meal? The small square of Dove chocolate that was offered as a desert.

As you can tell, this isn’t looking good for The Original SoupMan in Minneapolis. Soon after eating I posted this to Twitter and it pretty much sums up what you probably already know in 13 words:

The Original SoupMan fucking sucks the cock, stay far the fuck away. Yuck.

Seriously, don’t come here, it’s not worth your time or your money. Eddington’s next door or any Panera kick the living shit out of this place and as Kim mentioned, “no unlimited breadsticks kills them right there.” I’m assuming that something has been lost in translation coming from NYC to Minnesota via a mass produced chain store because there’s absolutely no fucking way that the soups and sandwiches we had today were anything even close to being Zagat rated as the original store is. It’s seriously a scam.

After I finished work today I stopped in the little store across the way to nab a Fresca and some gum before going to get Kim from her office. The friendly cashier inside asked if I had eaten at the place across the hall from him and when I said I had he mentioned that he couldn’t justify spending that kind of money for soup but even so he mentioned that people said the soup was ok but the food was too expensive. I just shrugged and said I didn’t care for the food or the prices and moved along. Did you try The Original SoupMan yet? If so, what did you think?

Address:
The Original SoupMan
225 S 6th S
Minneapolis, MN 55402

See all the pictures from The Original SoupMan in Minneapolis on Flickr here (camera).

Following , a recommendation by Steve, I headed over to Zen Box Japanese Eatery located in the 6 Quebec Building. I checked out their menu ahead of time and noticed that out of their 20 options (not including sushi or side orders), 10 were fried. Knowing I wouldn’t be eating anything fried I headed over anyway.

I walked up and inside and most of the tables were filled. I walked up to the counter and looked over what they had in plain sight and chose their “Spring/Summer Special” which was some sort of buckwheat salad. According to the picture sign on the glass, which I promptly took a photo of so that I could recall the ingredients for my writeup, this special seemed like it included lettuce, buckwheat pasta, lima beans, carrots, and some sort of sauce. I was looking for something light, thus the desire for sushi in the first place, and this seemed light and crisp. Perfect. The guy reached in the back and grabbed a prepackaged container that was fairly nicely arranged and handed it to me. After snapping the shot of this display, I was oh so rudely informed that I was not to take any photos of their menu. I ignored the guy and just gave him a non-committal response and put the phone back in my pocket (Kim took my camera with her to Ohio this weekend) and moved along to the register with the guy behind the counter staring me down from the corner. Next time ask nicely, I am more than happy to abide by the wishes of an establishment while on their property. To those that operate Zen Box, I suggest retraining your employees on appropriate customer service skills, especially when enforcing your ridiculous ordinance which has worked out so well with other local establishments. I paid for my salad which without a drink came to $4.96. I grabbed some chopsticks and a to go container of hot sauce and exited the restaurant for fear of being told again that I was not permitted to take photos.

When I got back to my office I snapped some shots of the dish and then plated it. It looked quite nice both in the box and on the plate and I was looking forward to eating it. After looking at the blurry forbidden photo I found that the Spring/Summer salad was to include Romaine lettuce, sesame seeds, a sesame dressing, and some other stuff that I couldn’t read because my photo was blurry as can be. The lettuce looked and had the consistency of paper confetti. It literally had no flavor whatsoever. Perhaps I’m too used to eating organic lettuce from my CSA boxes but this shit was terrible. The buckwheat pasta was good and I liked the sesame sauce but found no additional seeds on top (perhaps they don’t want you taking photos of their menus for fear that they might have forgotten something and it makes them look as ridiculous as they really are). I really wished they had more pasta and more flavor to the dish. I’m glad I brought along the hot sauce to at least give it a bit more taste (especially after the pasta ran out) or else this would have been akin to eating wet paper.

I’m sure that their other offerings are better, especially if you’re into fried foods, but unfortunately I will not be back to try their sushi. I know of at least two other places nearby that serve meals packaged nearly the same way and for similar prices and I will have to find out if they are any better or have the same retarded rules about photo taking.

While I won’t be back I would like to hear more about their sushi. If you’ve eaten it, please post below. Maybe someone else that doesn’t take photos of every single little thing they eat (heh) will want to enter this establishment and try it out.

Address:
Zen Box Japanese Eatery
6 Quebec at Skyway Level
601 Marquette Ave, Suite 204
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phone:
612.341.3313

Hours:
10:30AM - 2:30PM

See all the pictures from Zen Box Japanese Eatery on Flickr here (mobile).

Some people that Kim works with decided it would be fun to have a Thursday night happy-hour get together every other week this summer and because I work next door she figured she’d ask if I wanted to come along. This week they decided to head down to the 8th Street Grill and Bar which has happy-hour specials between 3PM and 7PM.

Kim and I usually work until around 4 but since I was busy working on something a little past my usual quitting time, I didn’t even get out of my office until 4:15 and after some futzing around with our bags, we headed down to street level at around 4:30. We walked in the open-air bar at around 4:40 and being that it wasn’t quite yet prime happy hour time the place was almost deserted except for the crowded patio area. We sat down at the bar even though there were plenty of tables open in the rest of the place. The bartender came over and asked if we wanted to see a beer list but I was so close I could read the taps myself. They had a nice selection (similar to Panino Brothers’ setup) with about 30 or so tap beers along one wall and another 4 or 5 around the corner. I decided on their Flat Earth Porter (apparently their “seasonal” tap although I’m not quite sure why a porter would be in as a summer seasonal) and Kim ordered a Stevens Point Root Beer. There was a list of their daily happy hour specials hanging above the bar and Thursday read $3 St Paul beers. Their tap beers are normally $3.50 at happy hour so I decided to stick with the St Paul beers today.

The waitress let us know that in addition to the reduced price on the taps that they also offered $2 off appetizers. After just having our drinks for a bit, while the waitress scurried around helping others, we asked for a menu and eventually we ordered their Roasted Red Pepper Hummus as well as an order of onion rings. Kim has been craving onion rings lately I guess and I have always enjoyed red pepper hummus — especially when I was on my diet not so long ago…

The service was friendly but it took a bit to get served even when prompted by the bartender asking if I wanted another. I ordered a Summit Hefeweizen and as soon as I did the bartender ripped the St Paul specials sign down off the overhead sign. I was a bit perturbed and then concerned that she was going to try and charge me $3.50 a tap. I had the photo evidence to prove my case but I ended up paying $3.11/beer (taxes?). I figured the Hefeweizen would be a nice summery drink and while I don’t jump up and down over Summit’s heavy clove taste, I made it through ok ;)

Right after I got done asking Kim, “how fucking long does it take to make onion rings and a batch of hummus up,” they both appeared in the hands of another server. Kim just shook her head at me in disbelief and told me I was being a grumpy bastard… The roasted red pepper hummus was tasty, a tiny bit spicy in the back and looked like it was not straight from the plastic container. It had a nice orange color and might have passed for raw pumpkin if I hadn’t tasted it. Even though there were plenty of warm and soft pita slices to dip with I ended up using them all, with hefty doses of hummus, before the hummus itself was gone. I used the spoon to get the rest — yes, I actually enjoyed it that much. Kim’s onion rings were large and looked nice and golden but had a slight fishy taste from what I imagine could only be oil cross contamination. Kim asked for a side of ranch and the container that came out was entirely too small for the size of the onion rings. She was disappointed that she had to finish off her three or four remaining rings with inferior ketchup — I would have been fine taking over for her but next thing I knew they were gone; so much for that idea.

Overall, eh. The food was ok for appetizers (mine was great but the fishy onion rings brought it all down to the “ok” level) but I certainly wouldn’t rush back again with so many other choices in town. While the beer selection is good you’re probably better off at The Depot for their happy hour specials at $2.50… It was far less crowded over there, the service was more prompt because of it, and the menu was more restaurant-like rather than bar foodish. Guess it depends on your mood and your location.

When it was all said and done we ended up paying $23.99 before tip for two appetizers, two beers and two root beers. Not bad but nothing to get all atwitter over. We probably won’t be back anytime soon. We are planning on hitting happy hour once or twice a month this summer and should have a steady stream of reviews for all of you working downtown — keep checking back or subscribe for updates.

See all the pictures from today on Flickr here (camera).

Address:
8th Street Grill and Bar
800 Marquette Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phone:
612-349-5717