Openings

The Soup Bar Opens Next Week in El Segundo

Photo: Tatiana Arbogast

The little strip of restaurants hugging El Segundo’s Grand Park Plaza looks more and more like it could form the future lineup on the next season of America’s Next Great Restaurant, with cute little lunch-friendly one-offs like Stix and Straws meant to be cloned, from their easy-to-read menu selections to their catchy signage and cute little character icons. Joining the row next week will be The Soup Bar, another tight concept just begging to branch out beyond this beach city.

Our first instinct is to dub it “The Subway of soups” for its daily selection of eight fresh soups from chef duo Michelle and Peter McKinney. But a recent Craiglist ad looking for “Souparistas” obviously gives us strong Starbucks vibes.

But the shop is doing its own thing and the soup here isn’t just for those who are a little long in the tooth. They appear to be ingredient-intensive blends that include red pepper corn chowder, summer minestrone, white bean chicken chili, butternut squash with chili and lime, and vegan wild mushroom, as well as four constants that are always on the menu.

What is possibly for more senior eaters? Well, its website encourages people to take a lunchtime shuttle there and there’s a weekday happy hour offering 10% off the soups, though it starts at 6:00 P.M., not 4:30 P.M.

The first Soup Bar opens early next week, likely Monday or Tuesday. And if soup in of itself proves to be a popular draw, we expect The Soup Bar could have ambitions beyond El Segundo. Stay tuned and check out the full May schedule of menus online.

The Soup Bar, 310 East Grand Ave. El Segundo. 855-768-7227.

The Soup Bar Opens Next Week in El Segundo