The split personality food take-out window at the corner of Second and Washington streets will soon undergo its seasonal metamorphosis. For the last six months, the Soup Hut has been dishing out eight types of freshly prepared soups daily. But the owners of the tiny eatery announced this week that they will do away with the soups March 31 to make space to serve flavored Italian ices for the summer. The move will complete a cycle that began last fall when the then-Ice Hut shelved its Italian Ice machines and put in eight crock-pots filled with soups prepared daily. In addition to changing its menu, the small eatery also changed its name to the Soup Hut. The imminent re-arrival of the Ice Hut has left soup lovers scrambling to make preparations for the summer. “We have a number of customers who buy a few gallons of soup every day that they then go home and freeze,” said Vera Cannizzo, the Soup Hut/Ice Hut manager. “But we just don’t have the space to continue to serve the soups and the ices.” For the last six months, a short line has formed religiously under the take out window’s small awning as residents waited for their bowls of soup and the gratis rolls and peppermint patties that accompany them. The success of the operation has delighted the eatery’s owners, who took a chance when they abandoned their ice-makers and flavor-filled toppings in favor of a set of soup receptacles. “There are three other Ice Huts in New Jersey,” explained Cannizzo. “The franchise in Nutley tried to serve soups, but they were not as successful as we have been. We’ll definitely be bringing the soups back next winter.” Although Cannizzo said that she does expect the soup operation to return in much the same form that it has operated over the last six months, she did say that one thing would change. “We are going to try and have a delivery person with a car,” she said. “Right now we have a lot of people coming in from Jersey City for soup and they would prefer if we went to them in the future.” In addition to changing the signs that grace the front of the establishment, Cannizzo said that the establishment’s nine employees will soon put a few tables out on Washington Street to complete the Soup Hut-to-Ice Hut transformation. The Ice Hut is expected to open April 8.
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