Chowdafest 2015 Draws Record Crowd

This Sunday was definitely a “Souper” Sunday as throngs of people young and old descended on Sherwood Island State Park in Westport for Chowdafest. This year’s event drew the biggest crowd yet, but the spacious park was the ideal venue for restaurants from near and far to battle it out to see whose creations rule the rest.

We sampled our way through the various chowders and soups. This year’s contestants not only came from Connecticut but also Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and one came all the way from Seattle, WA.

Chef Ref, the official Chowdafest mascot, was out shaking hands and posing for photos.

The fun part, in addition to all the sampling, is that everyone could vote for their favorites to help determine the Chowdabest! And even though we hate to admit it, the out-of-towners from Pike Place definitely got our thumbs up for their New England Clam Chowder.

It was a well-fought battle from all the restaurants, but in the end someone had to be named champion. In the Soup/Bisque category, it was an especially tight race. Here are the final results.

New England Clam Chowder
CHAMPION: Pike Place Chowder, Seattle, WA – 9.4
2nd place: Sedona Taphouse, Norwalk, CT – 9.1
3rd place: Luke’s Lobster/Hurricane’s, NYC/Maine – 9.07

Traditional
CHAMPION: Dunville’s, Westport, CT – 8.58
2nd place: Stefano’s, Long Beach Island, NJ – 8.4
3rd place: GROW, Shelton, CT – 8.3

Creative
CHAMPION: Our House Bistro, Winooski, VT – 9.39
2nd place: Ri Ra, Portsmouth, NH – 9.02
3rd place: Smithsonian Chowder House, North Hampton, MA – 9

Soup/Bisque
CHAMPION: Simply Delicious, Norwalk, CT – 8.58
2nd place: Post 154, Westport, CT – 8.57
3rd place: Bobby Q’s, Westport, CT – 8.54

After indulging in samples from nearly all the amazing chowda entrants, we decided to cap off the afternoon with coffee ice cream cups from Farmer’s Cow.

The weather was perfect and it was just a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The record crowd hopefully means that a lot of money was raised for Community Plates.

If you’re sorry you missed out on the fun, don’t worry, there’s always next year. Get ready for Chowdafest on Sunday Oct. 2, 2016.