When Ben LeBlanc, 37, worked in finance, the most important part of his day was finding a tasty lunch, but he was often disappointed.
“I was like, ‘F, man! Nobody makes great soup,’ ” says LeBlanc, who lives in Tribeca and grew up as a food lover in Louisiana. “It’s always an afterthought.”
LeBlanc is looking to change that with Good Stock, a new fast-casual restaurant with locations in Midtown (inside Urbanspace Vanderbilt food hall, 230 Park Ave.) and the West Village (31 Carmine St.) focusing on soups and only soups. The shops serves up steaming cups of short-rib chili, tomato bisque and fried-chicken gumbo, and each is thoughtfully garnished the way it would be at a fancy sit-down restaurant — with scallions and cheddar, Gruyere croutons, scallions and Crystal Hot Sauce, respectively. There are also exotic specials — for the grab-and-go lunch world — such as rabbit pot-pie soup topped with a biscuit, as well as kimchi stew.
Per Se and Bouley alum David Santos is in the kitchen, cooking up unique, complex stocks for the soup bases and making the kimchi and biscuits from scratch. Ingredients come from top suppliers, including D’Artagnan meats, Napa’s Rancho Gordo beans and Bien Cuit, a Brooklyn bakery that provides the crusty slices of bread that come free with the soups.
City sippers are appreciating the effort, lining up at Urbanspace Vanderbilt, where Good Stock is one of the most popular stalls and often sells out of popular specials.
Says LeBlanc: “There’s no reason you can’t make soup with great ingredients and proper technique.”
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