Nephew hopes to keep uncle’s ‘Soup Meister’ legacy alive in North Vancouver

Evan Paul has been on a shopping spree as he gets set to re-open a very well-known restaurant in North Vancouver.

For 27 years, Paul’s’s uncle Ralf Dauns built a loyal following at The Soup Meister in Lonsdale Quay.

“The legacy of the Soup Meister not carrying on was devastating to the family and Evan just came out of left field,” Daun’s sister-in-law Maggie Edwards told Global’s This is BC.

Customers remember those busy days before the restaurant closed.

“You’d have lineups back to here of people,” regular David Philip recalled.

“You’d be going through the queue with about 15 other people just looking for soups,” loyal customer Amber Morgan added.

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Late last year, Dauns lost his battle with cancer. Friends, family and former employees shared many great memories at his celebration of life.

“He was a very approachable man. He had a crazy sense of humor,” Edwards said.

“He was hilarious. Seinfeld and the ‘No soup for you.’ Everybody loved that,” Paul said.

Taking over a restaurant may not seem like a natural career change for a man who served in the Canadian Armed Forces for nearly 18 years. But Paul has a lot of experience in the kitchen.

“I’ve always had a passion for cooking. But it stems from my Grandma. My Grandma was a great home cook,” Paul said. “I remember watching a cooking show, and my Grandma said turn that off and come help me cook.”

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Ralf’s recipes were all in his head, but a former employee managed to write most of them down before he died to carry on his legacy.

“I don’t want to see it disappear. I want to keep it in the family,” Paul said.

With a few personal tweaks to the flavors, and a slight twist to the name, he hopes locals will be lining up again for a hot bowl at the new stand simply called The Soup Meister’s Nephew.

“Being a long-standing institution, I feel there’s a lot of pressure. I feel they are very big shoes to fill,” Paul said.

“(It has) 27 years so far, and hopefully another 27 under my belt.

To contact Jay Durant with a story idea for This is BC, email him details and contact information at thisisbc@globalnews.ca