The popular restaurant 2 Chef’s Souparee in suburban Lake Worth Beach closed on April 25 after nearly 20 years in business.
Just how popular was the soup-centric restaurant located in a shopping center at the corner of Lantana and Jog Roads?
They literally had lines out the door their final week with loyal customers desperate to score just one more bowl before they closed their doors forever.
Opened in 2007, 2 Chef’s Souparee was run by Jane Mazzocchi who acknowledged “we have a lot of customers that are not happy.”
Mazzocchi said that the business was doing well, but their lease was up at the end of the month and that, oh yeah, she’ll turn 89 in June.
“It wasn’t like business was bad, it was just that I can’t do it anymore,” she said.
Though she said she just didn’t have the stamina to keep it up, she praised her staff for keeping them going as long as they did. “Everybody here has been great, all of my girls and the kitchen staff, they’ve been very good to me.”
Opened by her son Thomas Mazzocchi and a business partner (who left shortly after they started), Jane said she came on a few years later and eventually took over the operation.
“My son made up all the soup recipes and everybody seems to like them,” Mazzocchi said.
She said “we started out with 12 (soup varieties) and ended up with 22.”
Though her son created all the soup recipes, Mazzocchi said they stopped referring to them as the pots and ingredients became committed to memory.
Over two decades in business several soups proved to be favorites, among them the chicken soup, the butternut squash and her favorite the Zuppa Toscana.
Mazzocchi then paused and added the split pea to the list. “We make it just like an old fashion split pea soup, we don’t make gourmet. That’s our thing, our soups are not gourmet, they’re just good.”
They alerted their customers to plans to close on Saturday, April 25 with a sign in the front window. On Monday, April 20, the restaurant recorded the busiest non-holiday in their history and the rush didn’t let up all week, Mazzocchi said. Some showed up at 9:45 a.m., 45 minutes before they open.
While soup was in the name, the restaurant’s menu was more than that. They were also well known for overstuffed sandwiches like the roast beef, pastrami and turkey. Mazzocchi said that they made all their own sauces including a cranberry mayo and horsey sauce.
She said she’s proud of their restaurant and the soups, sandwiches and more they served for over a quarter century. And they were always intent on offering an affordable meal.
“We’re a family restaurant you know and we don’t have high-end chefs and all that stuff so we kept the prices fair.”
They had hoped to sell the restaurant but those plans fell through about two weeks before they closed.
“It was a good run and I’m proud of all that we did.”
2 Chef’s Souparee, suburban Lake Worth Beach
Where: 6338 Lantana Road, suburban Lake Worth Beach
Closed: Saturday, April 25
Information: facebook.com/2chefssouparee
Eddie Ritz is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at eritz@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Longtime soup and sandwich spot closes in Lake Worth Beach
Reporting by Eddie Ritz, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
