I went to the annual Chowderfest at Long Beach Island on Sunday October 4th, 2009. Click here to see the official site where they announced the winners or to get general information. I went with my boyfriend and his father and since we had VIP tickets, we were able to get in at 10AM, an hour earlier than everyone else. We went around once to the red and white tents to take a quick sampling of the different chowders. After whittling down our lists, we went around again to retaste some of our favorites. I didn't really care too much for the Red Manhatten Clam Chowder so I wasn't sure which one to vote for. I ended up voting for the first one I tried, Antoinetta's, because it was the only that didn't seem to taste weird or spicy to me. However, I was able to narrow down my choices of the White New England Clam Chowder to two restaurants. I enjoyed both California Grill and Panzone's. Both had a wonderful creamy and thick chowder that I absolutely loved. The first time around I was leaning towards Panzone's; however, after retasting it, it didn't taste as good. When I tried the California Grill chowder again, it was consistent in flavor. I ended up voting for California Grill instead of Panzone's because of this.
By the time we finished tasting, they were letting the rest of the people in, so we voted for our favorite red and white chowder in the area outside the chowder tasting tents. Then we decided to look around the food vendors a bit before heading out. My boyfriend recently introduced me to these huge, round, and flat pastries called "elephant ears" that a bakery on the island called "Crust & Crumb" sold. They had a tent where they were selling their baked goods and had the elephant ears for sale. Of course, being that it was a special event, they were charging more than they usually do at the bakery ($5!), but these things are sooo good that we just had to buy one. I would have posted a picture of it but....we broke it up and ate it before I thought about it!
Anyway, we left afterwards and checked the results of the Cook Off online. My favorite, the California Grill won first place for the white and Stefano's won the red. You can see the results with the Runner's up and various other contests here. All in all, it was a fun day with lots of delicious chowder and a yummy elephant ear!
