ChowdaFest 09 Raises Enough to Feed 15,000 for CT Food Bank

Over 4,000 delicious votes were cast at the 2009 ChowdaFest over Thanksgiving weekend at the Unitarian Church in Westport.  After every bowl was emptied and every spoon was licked, it was determined that the champion chowder was served up by The Ginger Man of Norwalk and Greenwich, and the best soup was produced by SBC Restaurant and Brewery of Stamford and Norwalk.

It was tight, though.  Each vote counted, and the decision was made by the slimmest of margins.  In the top chowder category, Ginger Man's Sweet Potato Clam Chowder narrowly beat out soup-winner SBC's Holiday Seafood Chowder, which received second place honors.  Rory's from Darien took the third spot in the chowder category with its Classic New England Clam Chowder.  The contest was won by a whisper; single digit vote counts separated all three restaurants.

As to the soup category, it was topped by SBC with a mouth-watering Thanksgiving Bisque (so close were the totals that SBC nearly took two titles).  Newcomer Liquid Lunch of Shelton and Milford came in second with Roasted Artichoke Chicken Gorgonzola.  Soup Alley of Norwalk and Wilton, which took the honors last year with Lemon Chicken & Rice Soup, came in a very close third.  Altogether, 22 Connecticut restaurants participated, doing good for the community while getting some exposure for their tasty concoctions.

Kids' votes counted just the same as adult votes, but they were also tallied up separately to see if they had their own favorites.  It turned out that the young people particularly liked Ash Creek Saloon's (Norwalk/Bridgeport) Three Cheese Pizza Soup and Bobette's (of Milford) Mac & Cheese at the Ritz in the soup category.  As to chowders, they chowed down O'Neill's Pub (Norwalk) New England clam chowder and Mansion Clam House's Rhode Island clam chowder.

We caught ChowdaFest inspiration and founder Jim Keenan on the phone as he enjoyed a well-deserved break in San Antonio after the competition.  He said he was extremely pleased.  "There were people coming in and out of the door all day long with smiles on their faces," Keenan said.  "We doubled everything we did from last year.  There were twice as many restaurants represented, and we collected twice the donation." 

Hundreds of gallons of soup and chowders were sampled over the two days as almost 1,400 people came to participate as eaters and judges.  The event proceeds were donated to Connecticut Food Bank for the second year in a row.  Connecticut Food Bank expects to serve 300,000 people this year throughout the state. 

"We kept hearing how much people liked our chowder during the event so we felt we had a great chance," said manager Kerry Brady of The Ginger Man. "We had the restaurant TVs tuned in to Cablevision to hear the live announcement [Saturday] night, and the whole place cheered when we saw we won."

Marc daSilva from SBC Restaurant & Brewery admitted, "We were disappointed when they announced we finished second in the chowder category, but then the restaurant exploded when they announced we won the soup title.  All the people at Chowdafest do such a nice job making this event happen.  It's our second year and it's becoming a big deal."

Chef Michel Nischan, a two-time winner of the James Beard Foundation competition, came along from the Dressing Room Restaurant in Westport as an expert judge, in case his vote was needed to break at tie.  Serving along with him was last year's chowder-winning chef Executive Chef George Llorens from Stew Leonard's. Their votes were to be used in the case of a tie, but weren't needed. 

"What a great community event this has become" said Llorens.  

And the experts proved that the people have good taste:  Chef Nischan's secret ballot was revealed to indicate that Ginger Man's entry was his top chowder choice.  He singled out the Organic Celery Root soup from Tavern on Main as his soup favorite.

Attendees were asked to bring along an item of non-perishable food, and in return received a ticket to a raffle.  The winner, who remained anonymous, chose DaPietro's in Westport from one of several participating restaurants at which to spend the $100 certificate.

Lucky "chowda heads" who came, tasted, and voted hailed from all over Fairfield County and beyond, as did the participating eateries.  Valencia Luncheria of Norwalk was a last-minute addition to the roster that also included Ash Creek Saloon, Black Rock Oyster Bar, Blue Lemon, Bobette's, Conte's, DaPietros, Fifty Coins, The Ginger Man, Liquid Lunch, Long Ridge Tavern, Mansion Clam House, O'Neill's, Roger Sherman Inn, Rory's, Rowley's Tavern, Soup Alley, SBC Restaurant & Brewery, Sunset Grille, and Tavern on Main. 

Founder Keenan said, "None of this was possible without the great support and cooperation of the Weston/Westport Department of Health, the Unitarian Church for hosting the event again, Cablevision and Success Printing & Mailing for sponsoring it, the myriad of wonderful volunteers, the media for helping promote it and of course, all the chowda heads who came."

Keenan is already working on how to make the event bigger and better for next year.  "At the end of the day, 15,000 more people will be fed by the Connecticut Food Bank," he said.

Now that's a win all the way around.