The Souper Bowl

I was in the midst of a very large predicament. As I entered the restaurant I had two reasons to be afraid. The first one was that I was judging in a soup contest that was hosted by the New Shul, and I was not even close to competent compared with the other guest judges. Marco A. Moreira owns the much-respected Franco-Japanese restaurants Tocqueville and 15 East. Akhtar Nawab is the owner of Elettaria and has worked at Craft and Gramercy Tavern. And last, but certainly not least, Stephen Lyle is the chef and owner of Village restaurant, which hosted the event. There is a second thing I was afraid of: who I would choose as my winner. Many of my friends’ parents were entering, as was my mother. I had a conflict of interest.
However, I overcame my difficulties and began to judge. Here are the soups that were good, just not among the elite.
- The Minestrone soup was an interesting take on a contemporary favorite.
- The Steelers Broccoli and Cheese paid full homage to the Super Bowl qualifying team.
- Everything but the Kitchen Sink was a quaint soup with a strange name.
- Sanchocho de Gallina tasted like it had just arrived from a South American country.
- The Chicken soup was one of the better chicken soups, even though it was a tad bit salty.
- The Matzoh Ball Soup (thanks to Joan) had a perfect Matzoh ball.
- A Jew Married an Italian was a play on a most traditional Italian soup.
- The Chicken soup with Farfaline and Pesto was under-spiced, but still flavorful.
- Just the Broth was an interesting concept that was extremely under-spiced.
- The Herkimer New York Chicken soup was one of the more Jewish soups that I tasted, which is a compliment.
- Safta's Chicken soup had a good blend of broth, noodles, Matzoh ball and carrots.
- The Bean soup nicely arranged, but it was not really a soup, because it did not have a broth.
- The Mushroom Barley soup was well executed except for the fact that the barley was overcooked.
--The Pistachio Soup was so creamy that one couldn’t possibly eat a whole bowl of it.
- The Chicken Soup with Cabbage was one of the more spicy soups, and there was a little bit too much cabbage in it.
My three favorites over all were the Butternut Squash soup, The Carrot Ginger Coconut soup, and the Jewish Penicillin.
The Jewish Penicillin was the over all winner for the chicken soup category, because of its supreme taste, and its contrast between hearty and light flavors.
My mom made the squash soup, but since it was my mom, I could not give her the title, because it would seem biased. However her soup was refreshing, and it was an excellent feat on her part to pull off a squash soup as she did.
The overall winner of the contest was the Carrot Ginger soup, as it was the most creative and it had the most taste over all. It was made by my good friend Steve Fried who had no doubt been assisted by my friend Max, or the soup would not have been half as good. No, Steve is a wonderful chef, and his soup was scrumptious.
I was very content with most of the soups, and I thank the contestants for letting a child decide who gets the $65 gift card to Cowgirl Hall of Fame restaurant.