Speaking of soup…
UPDATE: I’m told Crock & Roll will have a ribbon cutting on Monday and will open for business officially on Tuesday.
Business reporter and Storefront blogger Jenny Kincaid Boone has reported that a soup restaurant called Crock & Roll is preparing to open in the 23rd Street Shoppes at Towers Mall. This week, I learned the official opening date is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 25.
Crock & Roll (great name) will be a mother-son operation for Bonnie and Charles Hooper. Mr. Hooper is originally of Salem and graduated from North Cross School before leaving Southwest Virginia to find work experience in New York and the West Coast. He has a lot of restaurant experience, so I’m hopeful that he’ll be able to make this work. His mom, Bonnie, is a native of New Orleans, and they plan to serve her chicken gumbo, along with many other varieties of homemade soup. The restaurant will also have fresh bread and salad.
In the news release I got this week, Charles Hooper says “We are looking to bring in the newest food trend – soup – to Roanoke ahead of the curve.” I guess I never realized that soup was a new trend. Perhaps it’s a trend in L.A., where he lived most recently, to devote restaurants entirely to soup. We used to have just such a restaurant — remember Howard’s Soup Kitchen? Mr. Hooper also said he noticed a lack of good quality soups in the area. I think they can be found here and there, but I do agree that it will be nice to be able to go to an eatery that concentrates solely on the quality of their soups and hopefully serves them HOT instead of tepid! Now there’s a restaurant pet peeve of mine!
The Hoopers plan to serve their soups in 15 oz. crocks, with bread, for $6.50 to $7.50. They will also serve savory bread puddings in the evenings, and plan to use some local ingredients. The hours will be Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
I think the Hoopers are smart to open while the weather is still cool, and I hope they have a good air conditioning system they can crank up in the summertime. Will you all try this restaurant? Do you think the location and the pricing will work? Any requests or advice for them?
January 20, 2010 - 10:27 AM
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Sounds like a wonderful idea, and definitely unique to this area. Love making soups at home, and it’s hard to find good ones in area restaurants. And served hot doesn’t seem to be the norm most of the time. My only questions is regarding their hours of operation. It seems like they are focusing mainly on the lunch crowd. Are they considering extending their evening hours if business is good? Many of us working folks may not be able to make the 7 pm closing during the week.
I absolutely love all bread puddings in all forms. I can’t wait to try this place!
I LOVE the idea of having a soup restaurant. I think the location will be okay, but I think the price is a going to be a little high for me to go by there on a regular basis.
Hi Lindsey,
I don’t write often as I live in Atlanta, but keep up with the happenings in my home town of Roanoke. I moved here in 1997 so Howard’s Soup Kitchen was still in business which I frequented. I loved their selection of soup and the soup plus pricing was excellent. I have yet to find anything in metro Atlanta which is 20 counties wide that compares. I will definitely visit Crock & Roll when I come in to visit family and friends.
As a personal note, you do a great job with your blog which I look forward to reading everyone’s comments at night when I get home from a difficult day at the office.
Greg
I will definitely check them out. I love soup!
My mom had a “Soup Tasting Party” last Sunday for lunch – she invited a few couples and each brought a different soup. Then we had small cups of each one and we got to try the different kinds along with some appetizers. It was really fun and I admit, I had about two servings of each one! We even had one person bring ‘made-from-scratch’ bread bowls!
nice..thanks for sharing
I’m looking forward to trying this out. Maybe they can do more with salads in the summer.
I made a Spiced Lentil soup in the crockpot last night. It was great! Soup is such a wonderful comfort food.
Howards was a great place! Good prices too. I have some chicken soup cooking at the moment in my slow cooker at home.
Lindsey – hope you can share some more slow cooker recipes soon.
I like the concept because I love soup, but I do wonder about the sizing/pricing. Maybe I’m just not thinking about measurements correctly, but a 15 oz. crock seems fairly big. I guess that’s the size of a can of soup, but I rarely eat an entire can by myself. I’d prefer a smaller portion option in addition to the 15 oz size. I would definitely try out the restaurant though. It sounds great for lunch, and I agree that this is the perfect time of year to open.
I think the owner’s statement about soup being a cutting edge trend is silly though. I’ve lived on the west coast too within the past two years, and if anything, I saw less soup there than here. I think it’s a classic food that will always be fairly popular, but I definitely haven’t seen soup restaurants starting to pop up all over the country.
The Soup Man (remember the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld) has locations all over the country now, not just New York. Kroger sells his frozen soup, it’s great.
Actually, this was a trend several years ago (early 90′s), and has made a return for a couple of reasons. Soup is a healthy eating alternative, and it also typically incorporates local produce into the menu. As for the portions being larger than some might desire, think for a moment about any restaurant’s portions. Do two, or even four people REALLY need to split a ‘blooming onion’ as an appetizer? Who needs a foot long sub for lunch? Don’t even get me started on ‘biggie’ fries, either. Almost all restaurants oversize their portions. The only exceptions are those who oversize their prices – i.e. the elite restaurants.
Soup in the winter is a great lunch, and in the summer, soup combined with a light salad or sandwich is a great meal, too.