This month is the one-year anniversary of the opening of the restaurant Muntean’s Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches at 1225 J St. George Muntean owns the restaurant with his wife, and while soup is the specialty, Muntean is no soup nazi. Entering the restaurant, a customer is likely to be surprised by a barrage of soup samples offered as he or she contemplates what to buy. Muntean said his generosity is a product of his Romanian heritage as well as his business philosophy. “Romanians are very friendly,” he said. “(This work) is my bread and butter. I offer the customer as much as I can if they are new here. I want them to choose something they like,” he said. Muntean’s offers 12-15 soups p

Freshii opened a new location in downtown Sacramento on April 11, and owner Eric Heffel said they are happy to be in the area. According to Heffel, there are about 12,000 daytime office workers and 3,000 residents in the surrounding area and only one restaurant within walking distance to choose from. “Freshii can now provide all of those people another choice,” Heffel said. Located at 400 Q St., on the corner of 3rd and Q streets at the CalPERS building, the newest Freshii location is providing a variety of items to patrons in the area including, but not limited to, frozen yogurt, freshly made wraps, soups and salads, and a variety of snacks and drinks. Menu prices range from $1.

French chef Daniel Pont has passed his tiny La Bonne Soupe Café on to a couple who bring the same passion for French cookery. Chef Ed Stoddard and his fiancée, Leah Brown, are not related to 72-year-old Pont, who sold them the downtown soup and sandwich shop he created and operated on his own for six years. Nor are they French. Starting Monday, the Midtown couple will continue to offer the same gastronomic experience, following in Pont's footsteps as closely as they can. Stoddard describes the food as good, honest French cooking and the place itself as a French cookery. "A cookery is a place where you don't just go to eat food. You go there to meet people and learn about food," he said.

Since stormy winter days have almost everyone thinking about soup, it's a good thing River City Food Bank's 8th annual fundraising event is just days away. As in previous years, Empty Bowls features some of the area’s finest restaurants serving up their best soups- all to raise awareness about hunger in the region. Everyone who attends Empty Bowls chooses from among 1,500 bowls, hand-crafted by Sacramento students and professional potters. The bowls represent people across the region who don’t have enough to eat. As many as one in seven people report that they don’t always have enough money to provide their families with food. After picking a bowl, attendees choose soup from one of these

A clean bill of health and an outpouring of customer support have prompted the reopening of a wildly popular downtown lunch spot, La Bonne Soupe Café. On Wednesday, owner Daniel Pont will resume serving the French onion soup Zagat rated as the best in the world only months ago, as well as the sandwiches and other food that earned his restaurant Zagat's top rating in Sacramento. The cafe passed a Sacramento County health reinspection Friday, nine days after a restaurant inspector closed it upon finding cockroaches. Pont, a renowned 70-year-old French chef, said Tuesday he's recovering from the stress and heartbreak that landed him in the hospital just before the first scheduled reinspect