New York ( CNN ) -- Get in line , have your money ready and move to your extreme left -- Al Yeganeh , `` the Original SoupMan , '' is back . He reopened his famed soup store Tuesday in midtown Manhattan . Yeganeh and his Soup Kitchen International first rose to fame after he was caricatured in the long-running NBC-TV show `` Seinfeld '' as the `` Soup Nazi , '' a cranky and demanding soup-stand cook who bellowed `` No soup for you ! '' to customers who did n't follow his strict rules for ordering . Yeganeh , who first opened his shop in 1984 , closed the store six years ago , but kept the lease to pursue franchise opportunities and a line of frozen soups with the Original SoupMan brand . Loyalty to the brand apparently has not faltered . Avid soup fans lined up around the block Tuesday during New York 's steamy heat wave to get a taste . Greg Packer secured the first spot in line by getting to the storefront at 5 a.m. `` I love Al . I love soup . And I ca n't wait for that first bowl of soup , '' said Packer , who chose chicken vegetable . Daniel Hank , also in the line , said he did n't care if it was 90 degrees or 90 below outside -- he would wait for his favorite soup , the lobster bisque . `` It 's like there 's an entire lobster in the cup . You open up the top and a claw comes out and strangles your taste buds . It 's so special , '' Hank said . Chef Dan Rubano , who mentored with Yeganeh , was at the store a day before its opening , helping to set things up . `` We are keeping the original recipes and adding more to the menu , '' Rubano said . Although Yeganeh did n't stop by for opening , Rubano said he 's expected to make sporadic appearances . According to the `` Seinfeld '' Web site , Yeganeh was at first unhappy with the publicity from the `` Soup Nazi '' episode and was quoted as saying he threatened to `` smack '' comedian Jerry Seinfeld 's face . Seinfeld , whose title character was banned during the `` Soup Nazi '' episode , declined to comment on the store 's reopening . CNN 's Jennifer Rizzo contributed to this report .
Soup Kitchen International reopened Tuesday . Al Yeganeh was made famous in an episode of `` Seinfeld '' His midtown Manhattan store had been closed for 6 years . The soup kitchen is a nonprofit organization that provides food to the homeless and hungry people who live on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where it opened its doors in 1995.