New York City Travel Answers

The home of the very famous soup made by the Soup Nazi himself (but don't call him the soup nazi if you want any soup). Soup Kitchen International can be found at 259A West 55th street on the north side of the street between 8th Ave and Broadway. As on the show, you need to follow the rules to get soup. If you can't remember, here's a refresher: 1. Stand on line and have your order and money ready when you get to the counter. 2. Tell the Soup Naz-- er-- the soup guy your order and pay him. 3. Move to the far left to receive your order.

Be warned, though, the lines were verrrrrrrrrry long after the Seinfeld episode.... (but the soup is that good...)

I'd like to know moreeeee... which kind of soup???

Was the guy on the show the REAL guy?!

No, he's an actor...

Nope.... an actor....

Utttz: The soups aren't the same everyday, so there's always a variety...

and what about the nazi? I've never heard about that and I was in NY quite often a few years ago....

It's from the "Seinfeld" episode - you'd have to see it to get the full effect, but the short version is that this soup vendor yells and hollars at everyone if they don't follow his guidelines: go to the counter, order, move aside, don't ask questions, don't chit-chat. By the way the real soup guy was less-than-pleased about the episode - not only did he not appreciate being called a Nazi, but he was pissed off that he became a tourist attraction.

yes, a vendor like that usually do not like to have a lot of customers... we've got some like that around!

Well, I don't know how well the actor played him but he did come across as an "easily pissed off" kinda guy! Uttz... you have to watch the tv show. The fear on the faces of Elaine and George and the gang when it came to their turn at the counter is classic. Seinfeld is dubbed very, very badly into Italian. I've seen a few episodes on canale Jimmy here in Italy... not very funny at all. As with most other dubbed US sitcomes, it definitely loses its humour.

Honestly, I was always surprised that the show was so popular outside of NYC, because a lot of the situations are very local. Most of the locations are real and I know I personally have been in so many of the same situations. Obe of my favs was the subway episode - when Elaine is stuck in the subway was so realistic - I think I've had that same mental conversation many times... ;)

Honestly, I was always surprised that the show was so popular outside of NYC, because a lot of the situations are very local. Most of the locations are real and I know I personally have been in so many of the same situations. Obe of my favs was the subway episode - when Elaine is stuck in the subway was so realistic - I think I've had that same mental conversation many times... ;)

That was a good episode LOL I hear that much on Seinfeld is from real life?

Well it is a show about "nothing"!! Who else would write whole episodes dedicated to waiting all evening in line at a chinese restaurant? Or walking around lost in the carpark at the mall. While the rest of the cast have characters to play, Jerry Seinfeld kinda just is himself isn't he? He reminds me a lot of Garry Shandling.

I didnt know there was a REAL soup nazi! LOL. I still love that program now! thats made my day :)

The Soup Nazi is real! But I don't think that it's open now. It is called Soup Kitchen and open only during the late Fall and Winter times. The location is: 259A W 55th St. It's between Broadway and 8th. Avenue. Before you go there give them a call (212) 757-7730 to make sure the place is open. No, he want scare you, but may definitely "bark" something ;-) The picture of the place is on my New York page if you're interested to see what it looks like. Enjoy your soup (or should I say "No soup for you"?) Nathalie

The Soup Kitchen is not open now. I walked by this morning and the closed for summer sign was still in the window.

If you really liked Sienfield, then you might enjoy the Kramer Reality Tour. We did it a few years back, so I'm not sure if Kenny Kramer still does it or not. Here's the deal with it: Kenny Kramer was the inspiration for Cosmo Kramer (he and Larry David lived in the same building. ) He really runs these funny tours (that inspired an episode) and it's great. My favorite was a home movie he showed us of him filming Larry's head for the the "before" shot for a hair growth treatment which is almost exactly like the episode where George sends off to Asia for the stinky hair treatment. It's a silly tour and not the type of thing I thought I'd enjoy, but we really had fun. This is the number (if it's still good these years later) 212-268-5525.

I've been and it's great. I didn't move fast enough to the left, though, and got no fruit or bread!