Santa Fe Souper Bowl XVIII
Santa Fe Community Convention Center 201 West Marcy Street
Saturday, January 28, 2012 11:00 am – 1:30 pm
Once a year, Santa Fe addresses the issue of hunger, because we know it exists in our community just as it does in others. How to make it fun? A Souper Bowl! For the 18th year, Santa Fe welcomes sippers and slurpers to taste the concoctions of the City Different’s best chefs, all to benefit the Food Depot, New Mexico’s food bank.
Participating restaurants are invited to compete in one the following categories: Best Cream Soup, Best Savory Soup, Best Seafood Soup, and Best Vegetarian Soup, and all of the chefs ultimately compete for the overall title of Best Soup. The list of food mavens is long and includes everything from the high end to caterers and pizza joints, and even a retirement home, all intent on keeping our fellow New Mexicans from going to bed hungry.
Soup lovers will find the following Santa Fe kitchens in attendance: Anasazi Restaurant; Blue Corn Café & Brewery Southside; Bon Appetit; Café Pasqual’s; Café Café; Chef Nuevo Caliente Catering; Dinner for Two; Jambo Café; Kingston Residence of Santa Fe; La Casa Sena; La Plazuela at La Fonda on the Plaza; Nath’s Speciality Catering; Palacio Café; The Pantry Restaurant; Pizza Etc.; Plaza Café Southside; Pueblo Deli; Real Food Nation and Supper Club; Red Sage at Hilton Santa Fe Resort & Spa at Buffalo Thunder; Rio Chama; Santa Fe Bar & Grill; Santa Fe Capitol Grill; Sup; Tune-Up Café; Turquoise Trail Bar & Grill at Buffalo Thunder; Whole Foods Market; Whole Hog Café; and the Zia Diner.
The bar is set high, since last year’s 2011 winner also won in the previous year, 2010, and is rated #1 on TripAdvisor for Santa Fe restaurants. That’s Jambo Cafe, where owner Ahmed Obo says that his winning soups, Black Bean and Sweet Potato from 2011 and Chicken Peanut from 2010, fly out of the restaurant as fast as they are prepared. So not only is this a benefit for the Food Depot, Santa Fe diners also score by discovering new culinary adventures, and restaurant chefs have the chance to create new devotees.
Attendees can taste 4 oz. of soup at as many stations as the belly can handle, and the Boy Scouts will be on hand as runners to collect the ballots from each table. A scoreboard will keep a running tally, so that the fans can keep tabs on who’s ahead. Hmmmm, wonder what are the odds that someone will have created a betting pool? There will also be a silent auction with some tasty items, soup recipes to try at home, cookbooks for sale, and even a cooking demonstration by chef Megan Tucker of Amavi.
Advanced tickets are available online at $25 for adults and $10 for children from 6-12 years of age. Tickets will also be available at the door for adults,$30, and children, $10. Sponsors santafe.com and Hutton Broadcasting will also be giving out Santa Fe Winter Fiesta passes to those who help meet the food-scarcity challenge by attending.
Does this sound tasty? All you have to do is put your money AND your mouth together at the Santa Fe Community Convention this Saturday to indulge in this great cause!