On The Soup Line

Read Kim Severson's story: Even at the soup kitchen, everyone's a critic.

The multicourse lunch that Michael Ennes cooked in the basement of Broadway Presbyterian Church last week started with a light soup of savoy and napa cabbages. The endive salad was dressed with basil vinaigrette. For the main course, Mr. Ennes simmered New Jersey bison in wine and stock flavored with fennel and thickened with olive oil roux.

But some diners thought the bison was a little tough, and the menu discordant.

"He's good, but sometimes I think the experimentation gets in the way of good taste," said Jose Terrero, 54. Last year, Mr. Terrero made a series of what he called inappropriate financial decisions,…