New business: Market Street Soup n Salad born from fresh concepts and good friendships

He’s worked in construction his entire life. She’s worked as the business manager for her husband’s Jasper medical practice. But, friendship brought Greg Kane and Rachelle Rader together to create Huntingburg’s newest eatery, Market Street Soup n Salad.

The friends opened the new restaurant specializing in fresh all-you-can-eat salad and homemade soups as well as specialty sandwiches at 312 N. Main Street—at the Huntingburg Opry Hall beside Market Street Park—last week.

So, how did this all come together?

“We know each other from church,” Greg, 52, explained. “Dottie, my wife, and Rachelle are best friends and we played in the church band together. Rachelle’s husband and I have played in bands together also.”

One evening when the couples were together at Greg’s house, he was talking about an idea he had for a soup and salad restaurant.

“This is an idea I’d been bouncing around for years,” he said. “I used to live in Houston and Houston has a lot of all-you-can-eat salad buffets like this and I hadn’t seen one in this area and felt it could go well here especially with the youth.”

He was looking for someone else that could help out with his idea.

“I said ‘what about me,'” Rachelle, 51 piped up.

She had backed away from her duties at her husband Andrew’s office to be a grandmother but soon found herself getting antsy to do something new. “I always thought it would be really cool to be part of running something in downtown Huntingburg,” she explained.

With the improvements currently underway, the pair saw the location next to the park and near Fourth Street as a great location to place the new restaurant.

Greg has a relationship with David Wayne, the owner of the Huntingburg Opry Hall, through music as well. David had approached Greg about putting the restaurant there after a previous restaurant there closed. The location seemed perfect for the new business partners so they signed the lease and began renovations.

Now, visitors will be met with an inviting atmosphere featuring reclaimed barn wood and steel-siding with homemade lighting created from glass jars. They added a dividing wall to separate the dining area from the soup and salad bar.

The kitchen, where Greg plans on spending his time, has also been expanded.

What about the food?

Market Street Soup n Salad will feature an always-fresh array of vegetables and fruit. “Each day we will have two or three lettuce mixes, all fresh vegetables,” Greg said.

“No dumping out of cartons,” Rachelle added. “And we will always pick the best ingredients.”

This means the salad options will vary by what’s in season and available locally. Visitors could come two days in a row and have completely different options on the bar.

In regards to soups, Greg says they will be homemade and vary each day as well. “These are recipes we have gathered,” he explained. “Ones we have in our homes or I’ve called my mom.”

Options will include tomato basil, chicken tortilla, potato leek, Tuscan sausage and a Houston specialty, barrocho bean soup. “It means drunken beans,” Greg said about the soup he expects will go over well around here with the Latino flavors many residents prefer.

The pair decided the restaurant will also carry a special sandwich, like a panini or a Cubano, each day that can be an option for someone that doesn’t want soup and salad. Or it can be paired with a salad as half a sandwich.

“I just grew up with a lot of options in regards to flavors and we want to bring that here,” Greg explained.

For example, Rachelle and he have been perfecting a sandwich they liken to an Asian-inspired po’boy. “It reminds me of a Vietnamese spring roll,” Greg said.

Market Street Soup n Salad is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; closed on Mondays. They can be reached at 812-684-9010 and have a Facebook Page and website.

Besides offering a new option in regards to restaurants, Greg and Rachelle are looking forward to being part of the future of the city.