There’s a reason more men are loitering by the ladles this week at Souper Jenny on East Andrews Drive in Buckhead.In honor of Valentine’s Day, it’s Aphrodisiac Soup Week at the soup, salad and sandwich shop.
All week, chef/owner Jenny Levison and her theatrically inclined staff will be ladling up piping hot love potions, along with belting out showtunes during lunchtime rush.
Featured soups include Spicy Lovers’ Tomato Soup, chock full of ingredients to inspire you to get horizontal with someone special. As Levison explains, tomatoes have been known to increase, um, blood flow while red chilis can stimulate nerve endings.
“For Valentine’s week, we’re pulling out the big guns,” says Levison. “No one should come in here unless they’re ready to fall in love.” As proof that her aphrodisiac-enriched broths work, Levison and her staff will be attending a wedding this June of a former employee who met his wife at Souper Jenny. Cracks Levison: “I mean, what else could it have been other than the soup?”
Meanwhile, Levison’s love affair with “Today” hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb continues unabated. On March 22, she returns to the NBC morning show for her eighth visit to introduce the pair to creative variations on Souper Jenny’s famous matzah ball soup, just in time for Passover.
So which one of the chardonnay-swillers makes the better sous chef during her cooking segments? “Probably Hoda,” dishes Levison. “I’m pretty sure Kathie Lee doesn’t cook ever.”
Levison spills that the pair’s wine consumption is all too genuine during that fourth hour of “Today” as well. “Oh, it’s real, all right!” she says. “I was a little worried when they announced their New Year’s resolution was to give up wine. I’m hoping they’ll be back on the bottle when I’m there in March. Now that I know they’re drinkers, I’ll be sure and fortify my recipe with something special for them!”
