Party with a Purpose: VSA Alabama Acoustic Soup
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 11:28PM I had such a good time judging the soup-off for the 5th Annual Acoustic Soup in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama! Great soup, great music, and a wonderful cause... VSA Alabama.
We've been talking about how much fun hosting a SOUPer Bowl Showdown for Super Bowl Sunday would be. Well, tonight's party was just that! Eighteen top restaurants and caterers battled it out for best soup. Here was the lineup:
AVO: Laksa, B&A WAREHOUSE: Potato Ham, BARKING KUDU: French Roux Gumbo, BISTRO PROVARE: Roasted Corn Chowder, BISTRO V: Chicken Andouille Gumbo, CENTURY RESTAURANT AT THE TUTWILER: Roasted Chicken Gumbo, CHEF U: Kohlrabi Ham Hock Soup, CRAZY CAJUN: Seafood Gumbo YaYa, JACKSON'S: Roasted Tomato Soup, LITTLE SAVANNAH: Chocolate Soup, LUCY'S COFFEE & TEA: Cheatin' on Winter Pea Soup, MAFIAOZA'S: Pasta Fagioli, MICHAEL'S STEAKS & SEAFOOD: Tequila Lime Chicken, OLEXA'S CAFE:Tomato Basil Bisque, TRATTORIA CENTRALE: Creamy Mushroom, WYNFREY HOTEL: Spicy Italian Lentil and Grilled Butternut Squash
My partner in crime for the night was my friend and rockstar cheesemaker, Tasia Malakasis of Belle Chevre. You've probably read some of my recent ravings about her deliciously yummy breakfast spreads. Anyway-- we got to sample every single soup at least once! And some, we had to try twice. We really took our job seriously... it was so difficult to select a winner because there were so many excellent soups!!
THE WINNERS!
I had my favorites narrowed down to a top five going in to the final judging: The Wynfrey Hotel's Spicy Italian Lentil, Michael's Tequila Lime Chicken, Crazy Cajun's Seafood Gumbo YaYa, B&A Warehouse's Potato Ham, and the Chocolate Soup from Little Savannah topped my list. Tasia had her own favorites. We compared notes and decided that we could not name just one! Our winners:
JUDGE'S FAVORITE: TEQUILA LIME CHICKEN by Michael's Steak & Seafood
HONORABLE MENTION: CHOCOLATE SOUP by Little Savannah
BEST TABLETOP DISPLAY: Olexa's Cafe, Cakes, & Catering
Guests were given a guitar pick when they arrived to vote. The soup with the most picks won the audience favorite.
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD: Wynfrey Hotel's SPICY ITALIAN LENTIL SOUP
VSA is a wonderful organization; they are dedicated to serving children and adults with disabilities and chronic illnesses through the arts. They provide therapy through art to many individuals, schools, hospitals, and other organizations. The national organization was founded by Jean Kennedy Smith and offers visual arts, drama, creative writing, drumming and rhythm, creative movement, music therapy, and art therapy programming. It's a wonderful cause and I am thrilled to have been asked to be a part of it all.
***Big shout out to Michael, Tiffany, Tiffany, and Megan for the wonderful experience!
Visit the VSA Alabama website to see all they do for those with disabilities.