Soup is Love

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[This post by future Austinist contributor Ami]

But who needs love when the soup, salad, entrees, and desserts now available from Austin’s very own Soup Peddler are better than sex! (At least if memory serves - it has been a while since we’ve actually… well, never mind). It seems like everyone loves the Soup Peddler and we are no exception. After all, what’s not to love?

The Soup Peddler, formerly known by his birth name as David Ansel, represents everything that makes Austin such a great place to live (and eat). We feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about how he started out as an office drone (much like the rest of us) and then decided to break out and start delivering homemade soup on his bike to his friends and neighbors for a living (unlike the rest of us). In fact, we often wonder why we didn’t think of that, especially now that his business has grown exponentially and he has a published novel and many national write-ups and TV appearances under his belt. Not only that, but the Soup Peddler has recently expanded his offerings to include not only his famous soup, but also a variety of salads, entrees and desserts, all of which can best be described as fight-you-for-the-last-bite good.

Recently, we were fortunate enough to be the lucky recipients of an entire sample meal from the Soup Peddler’s new expanded menu. Our goodie bag included a full-sized order of an entire meal, which was ginormous and certainly large enough to feed at least four adults. Our tasty dinner started with gazpacho, which was a tantalizing pureed concoction of chilled tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and all kinds of other veggies and seasonings that blended together to form a perfectly tangy and refreshing soup for a warm – okay wickedly, intolerably, hotter than Hades – September day in Austin. Following the gazpacho, we tore into the couscous salad that was also served cold and consisted of an unusual and unusually tasty mix of Israeli couscous, pine nuts, diced yellow and red peppers, red onions, and seasonings that must have included some cayenne pepper to account for the slight, but noticeable kick. Yum! Then we moved on to the rosemary chicken that, after a brief stint in our oven, came out with a nice crispy skin and a delicious coating of olive oil and rosemary. Once we finished the chicken, we were already quite full, but that didn’t stop us from gorging ourselves on the decadent cream cheese brownies. Yes, plural. The rest of the meal was excellent – don’t get us wrong - but it paled in comparison to the brownies, which were much like potato chips in that, no matter how hard we tried to control ourselves, and even though each brownie was mutantly-large and probably had about seven zillion calories, we simply could not eat just one. Our bottom is noticeably bigger this morning as a result, but it’s well worth it. Whom are we trying to impress anyway?

Anyhoo, we are all thumbs up or forks up or snouts up or whatever is the highest form of praise for the Soup Peddler’s new expanded offerings. We were also happy to hear that he has a new expanded delivery area as well, so now most Austinites can get his tasty morsels delivered to their home or office each week with just a quick mouse click.

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the Soup Peddler’s creativity is expressed not only through his cooking, but also through his quick-witted and smart writing (much like ours, hah!). Each food item offered by the Soup Peddler comes with an informative and often hilarious description or story or explanation as well as serving suggestions. The brownies, for example, came with a label that wisely instructed the reader to “guard your stash jealously” and “eat in private”. Check out the website for more information about the whole Soup Peddler phenomenon and how you too can become a “soupie”.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.