Original Soupman/Crepe Maker opens at NorthPark

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — While most of the blahblah surrounding the Glorious Makeover of NorthPark Center has focused on Barney's et al, there's news just as big on the foodie front: The Texas arrival of The Original Soupman, the now-franchised chain launched by Seinfeld cameo-ite Al Yeganeh. He's not actually making the soup himself; he hooked up with some corporate types including a bigshot from Pepsi.

The Soupman's Web site is clever, w/ a pull-down "rules" menu that includes rules for press (e.g. "only some of the questions emailed may be answered") and rules for customers offered in 11 languages. (Dutch for "Pick the soup you want!": Kies de soep die u wil!)

At NorthPark, the Soupman is yoked to a concept from Florida called Crepe Maker ("home of the handheld crepe").

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Mike Orren, says:

I just made my maiden voyage to see the Soupman. Some reactions:

The collaboration with the crepe shop is weird. They share the same space and soda machine, but have separate registers.
The crepe place was overpriced and didn't look so good.
The soup was quite good. I had the chicken corn chowder. My wife makes better soup, but this was definitely better than you would ever get in any other food court restaurant.
Soup comes with a sizable hunk of bread and a piece of chocolate -- nice touch. Even so, it was pretty pricy.
I "combo'd" up, getting a three cheese panini. The sandwich took about ten minutes to come to fruition, even though it came out of a fridge premade and was then put on a sandwich press. Even then, the inside of the sammich wasn't melted.
No tyrannical Soupman here. Just a largely indifferent mumbling kid.
I'm not predicting a long life for the Soupman in this location. My slow service came even though I was one of only a couple customers during the time window. And on leaving at 12:30, there was only one person in line for soup, while Chick-Fil-A, Sonic and Which Which were packed.

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2 years, 10 months ago
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Teresa Gubbins, says:

great report! i had an odd experience while trying to extract info from the soupman-folk. i wanted to know: is there a separate phone # for crepemaker? the soupers' reaction was one of thinly-veiled scorn. "WE are NOT part of THEM." well excuuuse me. but when i called northpark mgmt, they said, "oh, they're one and the same biz." so: some inner strife within the soupman-crepemaker empire!

finding good soup is harder than it seems. i'll guess they ain't making it fresh on-site.

i was eagerly anticipating the wolfgang puck soup line, even tho it was canned - but that stuff is godawful too

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2 years, 10 months ago
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Sonya Grogg, says:

I hear ya on Wolfgang's soup...nasty, nasty stuff

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2 years, 10 months ago
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kyocera, says:

I first saw the place in northpark back in november it was just a coming soon sign.. then finally this March, I went and it was an experience, I stood at the front of the store trying to decide which place I should start.

I finally picked The crepemaker side, because off the top I observed how this guy name Quinton was going back and forth with changing his gloves and washing his hands since he was the only cashier on his side and he had a long line that was getting shorter and shorter by the second because that young man was whipping those crepes out like it wasn't anyones business.

Finally I came to the counter, he spoke in a friendly manner, how are you doing, I replied you are a expert, he laughed and said it gets hectic he was mild mannered gentleman, so I stood there in awe at the selections and he ask me was I ready to make a decision and I told him no its a big selection, and he replied in a friendly tone would I like a suggestion, and I said yes, and he replied what would I like, a dessert or an entree, I replied entree,and quickly he responded with 5 of the top sellers in the store, which is the opulence, raspberry chicken,caesar chicken,pesto chicken and Queen of hearts, and I looked at the menu and looked at each one he called out and they all looked tempting and I ask him which of the 5 you named do you like and he replied the Queen of hearts, I said I would like that one, he said okay and quickly spun the crepe and made it before my eyes, I was astonished how quickly he whipped it up and had it cooking,took his gloves off and proceeded to the cash register and took my order.

I didnt have a problem with the crepe prices because they are huge and well worth the price they are because they are very filling especially the one Quinton suggested.

I found the soup was way over-priced, I mean 8dollars for a combo( I could goto the store and get my own soup,bread,and sandwich combo for less than that make it at home, and it was 6 people on the soup side and it took people a good 10mins to get there order when, the crepe side had one cashier and the cashier was the cook as well and he was gettin out the orders out in a timely manner unlike the soup side.

Teresa, I had a chance to speak with Quinton on two different occasions about the split, its two different franchises one from New York and the other from Florida, a group of friends or something decided to invest into the companies and put the two together, he kept everything "real" with me, I asked him about a menu for the crepe's, he said ma'am we've been asking for menu's for 2months now, I dont know when we are getting any, but I will give you the web page, www.crepemaker.com, and one occasion, he cleared his side of the company of customers out and soup customers gradually came over to try and order the soup, one of the managers quickly shut that opportunity down by saying soups on this side crepes on that side, and Quinton just shook his head, and told them he can ring them up on the crepe side because the menu's of both companies are on his register but the powers that be are a bit cookoo, and assured the customers he could do it, but the managers will not let the crepe side interfer with their side,..and one of the customers said, well I came to you before and your register was offline and broke, and we had to order on the soup side..and Quinton, was like yeah see like I said cookoo...lol..and everybody laughed, and one of the managers got like an attitude and Quinton continue doin his job, he ended up having those soup customers come to his side and purchase crepes.

If we could stars on this site I would give it 5 stars out of 5 because the experince was joyful, and I am a frequent customer and I make sure my favorite crepemaker gets a 5 dollar tip each time out.