Seinfeld 'Soup Nazi' - Al Yeganeh, Re-opens The SoupMan

by NowPublic Staff | July 20, 2010 at 02:25 pm

718 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

The Soup Doctor Re-Opnes: Al Yeganeh Inspired the Soup Nazi Seinfeld Episode
Al Yeganeh for a time in 1990s had the most famous soup shop in New York City if not the world.

The SoupMan was famous in New York for its fine, tasty soups and its strict, abrasive owner, Al Yeganeh - all of it immortalized by Jerry Seinfeld in the 'Soup Nazi' episode of Seinfeld.

Six years after it closed in 2004 The SoupMan re-opened Tuesday, still owned by not tended by Al Yeganeh.

More than 100 people were waiting in line for the noon reopening of the tiny storefront, including a few regulars who remembered the days when Yeganeh ladled broth and imposed discipline from behind the cramped counter.

Much about the shop was the same as in the days before "Seinfeld" made the place famous, including its strict ordering rules, now posted in nine languages.

"THE LINE MUST BE KEPT MOVING. Pick the soup you want! Have your money ready! Move to the extreme left after ordering!"

It seems Al Yeganeh never really liked Seinfeld.

Yeganeh, who banned Jerry Seinfeld from his stall after the "Soup Nazi" episode aired in November 1995, lives just a short walk from his original soup stall, but did not show up for a ceremonial cutting of a zucchini to reopen the venue.

"That's his mystique," said Bertrand. "He's an artist and all artists are a little bit eccentric. This is his passion, he takes pride and he takes his soup very, very seriously.

But while the "Soup Nazi" character made his famous, "he's never embraced Seinfeld,"

Source: msnbc.msn.com