Soup Comes to Park Place!

Some of you might have noticed that a soup place has moved in to where Uncle Louie G is for the winter.

The place is called the Soup Bowl of Park Slope and it has been serving up its homemade soups there since the beginning of December.

The soup-only café is an offshoot of one by the same on Seventh Avenue near Ninth Street, which Chef Richard Gussoff opened two years ago.

According to Here’s Park Slope, Gussoff is a Park Slope native who moved back to the neighborhood a few years ago. Over the past two decades he’s been the chef/owner of three Manhattan restaurants, Pietra Santa, Rachel's American Bistro, and Sag Harbor, all in Hell's Kitchen.

For the past several years he’s been chef at the Upper West Side’s Pier I Café. But Pier I is only open in the summer. And, since soup has always been a specialty of Gussoff’s the winter soup business was a perfect fit, according to Here's Park Slope. 

The menu is extensive, with more than a dozen offerings available each day.

Today’s soups, which are listed daily on the cafe's webside, include Lobster Butternut Squash Bisque, Serious Split Pea, Turkey Chili, Chicken Pot Pie with Corn Bread Crust, Kielbasa Vegetable, Shrimp Bisque, Portobello and Braised Red Onion and eight others. (See them all at Soup Bowl’s website, where each shop’s offerings are listed each day).

On a visit Friday, I tried two. The Lobster Butternut Squash Bisque was delicious. Though I would have preferred pieces of lobster in it, the seafood flavor comes though strongly and is a nice balance to the sweet butternut. The Lentil Smoked Bacon was straight-up fantastic, with just the right amount of spice and a smoky bacon flavor.

Soups cost between $2.99 for an 8-ounce cup to $10.49 for the 32-ounce size.

The café has several small tables, but the vast majority of the business is take-out. There is no delivery.

Those looking for a sandwich or piece of quiche to go with the soup be forewarned. This place is about soup and only soup.

As Gussoff told Here’s Park Slope after he opened the South Slope branch, "I want to do one thing, and do it well. There's no point in being a jack of all trades, but master of none."

The Soup Bowl of Park Slope, 178 Park Place, is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. 718-965-4237 (same number for both shops).