NEW YORK – The bisque is back.
The soup stand that inspired the Soup Nazi episode on “Seinfeld” reopened in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, six years after its famously brusque owner, Al Yeganeh, shut it down and licensed his recipes to a franchising company.
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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!”
But some things are different.
Yeganeh neither owns nor operates the store now. Like other Original SoupMan stores around the country, it is a franchise, although company President Robert Bertrand said Yeganeh remains involved in the business.
“He’s not going back there to dish out the soup, but he is still the heart of the company,” Bertrand said. “He still has a key. He handpicked the operator. His soups are his babies.”
There is even a webcam that allows Yeganeh to keep tabs on the place during business hours, Bertrand said.
Soup in Yeganeh’s kitchen used to be made on the spot, with ingredients so fresh and abundant, the line often stretched around the corner. Now, they are produced commercially.
Lohan reports for jail, ‘scared’ but ‘resolute’
LYNWOOD, Calif. – Whisked away to a women’s jail in an unmarked sheriff’s car after a brief hearing, Lindsay Lohan reported Tuesday for a 90-day sentence that the troubled actress likely will serve in isolation, and which may be significantly shortened.
Wearing dark denim jeans, a gray top, black corset belt and black jacket, the 24-year-old Lohan showed up at the Beverly Hills courtroom about 10 minutes late. After a short hearing, she rose and was handcuffed behind her back to serve her time for a probation violation.
Lohan was accompanied to court by her mother, Dina, and younger sister Ali, who wiped away tears after her sister was taken into a lockup.
Her estranged father, Michael Lohan, yelled, “We love you Lindsay!” as his daughter was led away. She was then taken across town to the Century Regional Detention Facility in the industrial suburb of Lynwood.
In court, Lohan was represented by her longtime attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, who had resigned earlier but never filed a formal motion with the court. Famed celebrity attorney Robert Shapiro said Friday that he had agreed to represent the actress, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel said Tuesday that he had told her hours earlier that he would not take the case.
Holley said after the hearing that Lohan had decided she did not want Shapiro to represent her.
“She’s stepped up, she’s accepted responsibility,” Holley said. “She’s scared as anyone would be, but she’s resolute and she’s doing it.”
Actress to promote women’s equality
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday appointed actress Geena Davis to a California commission established to promote women’s equality.
Schwarzenegger named the actress, 54, to the Commission on the Status of Women. The nonpartisan panel advocates for women and girls in areas such as education and access to health care.
Davis, a Democrat, has worked off-screen to reduce gender stereotyping. She is founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media and is a partner with United Nations Development Fund for Women.
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