Soups On!

Small soup shop brings big flavor

Story and photo by Jen Dunkerley

Chris Dominianni, has been cooking since he was 17. After being n the restaurant business for over 10 years he decided he wanted to start his own place. When the idea of a French Bistro fell through because of economic reasons Dominianni got the idea to put the spotlight on a dish that is widely overlooked. Soup. That is how the Great Adirondack Soup Co. got started. “The concept for 3 soups daily and one vegetarian stuck in my head for a while, and I realized that soups were just a side show at most restaurants; so why not highlight them,” Dominianni says.

“I love this place, I come all the time for lunch with my friends. It’s a great place to just sit and relax between classes and whenever I walk in everyone is so nice,”

In June of 2003 Dominianni opened shop and has been at his current location in downtown Plattsburgh since 2005.“I love this place, I come all the time for lunch with my friends. It’s a great place to just sit and relax between classes and whenever I walk in everyone is so nice,” says Katie Walaska, a student at SUNY Plattsburgh. Walaska says she loves the soup and is always anxious to see what new specials they have.

All Adirondack soups start from scratch. The night before, the stock is prepared with a commercial soup base and everything else is done in-house. Dominianni uses a mire pox in all his soups which is a combination of celery, carrots and onions, all of which are sautéed and prepared the night before as well. The stock is brought up to boil for about 30-45 minutes and refrigerated until the next day. It then simmers for up to 3 hours along with what Dominianni calls a “spice blanket, (variety of different house spices) and everything else,  (vegetables, meats, noodles and beans, all which are from scratch) are added the day it is served.

Although all the ingredients are fresh and from scratch, Dominianni says that the recession has lead to him to cut his budget. “Soups are relatively inexpensive to begin with. Veggies don’t really change in price, which is one of the reasons I took this route. It was more economical.” Customer inflow has not been affected as well. Dominianni says that he has had to increase the prices of his soups recently but not by much at all. “ I think for the most part people are generally happy with what they are getting.”
“I only have been once but I loved it.” SUNY Plattsburgh student, Heather Winther says.  She had been wanting to go for a while and finally was able to this summer. “It was worth the wait!” The scenery, staff and food all impressed her and is “defiantly a place to recommend.”

“ I think for the most part people are generally happy with what they are getting.”

The shop has a wide variety of different soup styles, ones that Dominianni comes up with himself. “Inspiration usually comes from entree preparations from different cuisine styles (i.e. Beef burgundy with egg noodles and thyme or Cacciatore style chicken) and also other soup recipes that I have experienced and just adding a personal touch or two,” says Dominianni. And new soup ideas are on the way. 

There have been new concepts Dominianni has created like Caribbean spiced chicken vegetable soup and Portuguese style Chicken soup and German goulash. For the upcoming winter months, The Great Adirondack Soup Co. is adding rice and noodle bowls to their menu. Dominianni says it is a way to expand their menu and llow people to have a different kind of satisfying comfort food rather than the soups they offer. Pulled pork sliders are also making their way to the menu this winter, in order to insure something new for everyone.

And Dominianni has plans for the future. With about 200 recipes under his belt, Dominianni is currently working on a cookbook. Besides the new soup recipes, cookbook will consist of about 40-50 soup recipes and is said to come out in 2010.

Have you been to the Great ADK Soup Co.?