A Search For Soup Begins

I have embarked upon a Search for Soup. The search began when I was at Fairway Market yesterday and, it being a hot June day I was looking for my favorite White Gazpacho, White Gazpacho is a lesser-known version of the classic cold Spanish soup. Typically thickened with ground almonds and including grapes but no tomatoes, the Fairway version was uniquely refreshing and my personal favorite. But when I couldn’t find it I was told that alas, that Upper West Side temple to gastronomy is no longer providing that particular refreshment. Horrors!
The loss of my favorite soup got me thinking about what has been for me the Holy Grail of Vanished Soups, the Peanut Soup that was served at the Lower East Side’s The Levee restaurant in the mid-1990s. The Levee was the offshoot of Great Jones Café, itself the brainchild of Phil Hartman, of Two Boots fame, and Rich Krasberg, the man who put Bobby Flay in the executive chef’s seat at Miracle Grill way back in 1988, when Bobby was just a Boy meeting a Grill.
The Levee was high Southern Gothic, kitschy in décor but rock-solid in its down-home, delicious food. While the whole menu was full of soul, the Peanut Soup was spectacular. That soup was a landmark, a jewel trotted out for visitors from Uptown or points beyond, in the days when the East Village was somewhat seedy. “Yes, we do have a homeless encampment in a public park, but we also have this soup,” I would say. It was thick and clung to the spoon with creamy peanutty goodness. It had chunks of vegetables and possibly chicken in it. When I was in college and quite poor, The Levee’s early bird special of Peanut Soup and BBQ chicken, served with crusty sourdough bread for what I remember as $9, was a most favorite payday night dinner.
One night, I arrived expecting my usual treat, only to be served a bowl of thin, barely flavored broth. Shocked, I asked to speak to the chef. I don’t recall if it was a man or a woman, but I do remember hearing words that fell with iron thuds to the table, as the New Chef explained that the Old Chef had departed and as the New Chef, Improvements Had Been Made. Including but not limited to the mutilation of my beloved soup.
I never went back, and will confess to a mean feeling of Schadenfraude when, maybe a year afterwards the restaurant closed. I was hurt, and felt betrayed by the Powers that Be that allowed the chef to leave and take her soup with her.
I lost my Peanut Soup, and now my White Gazpacho was gone. Enough is enough. I decided to track down these great Vanished Soups of New York. I was able to find a mention of The Levee in an archived New York Magazine article from 1989. While Rich Krasberg does not apparently have a Facebook page, this Phil Hartman (the restaurateur and art patron, not the late comic) was easily found from the Two Boots main page. He’s got his own contact me link. I’ve emailed Mr. Hartman, and we’ll see what happens. The results will be compiled in an article for publication but I’ll keep this blog updated as the search progresses.