Monday, January 30, 2012

Buffalo Soupfest 2012

I was lucky enough to score a free pair of tickets to Buffalo Soupfest at The Millennium Hotel in Cheektowaga (right next to the Walden Galleria Mall) so we made it a family afternoon and went down to check it out! Thanks to Yancey's Fancy for the pair of tickets.

This event is relatively new to the Buffalo food festivals, and is always held in January (and this year was on the perfect snowy Sunday!). Admission is $5 to get in the door, (children under 10 are free) and then you purchase soupbucks which cost $1 each. All the soup samples run between 1 - 2 soup bucks for small but filling samples. Most of the participants also have the option to purchase bigger containers of soup to take home for around 5-6 tickets.

All the restaurants/participants were in the ballroom area, and also another atrium area in the hotel. We bought in for $20 worth of soup bucks, and were able to get a ton of great samples.

My overall pick for top soup of the day was: The Wellington Pub's "Steakhouse Cheddar & Ale". It was absolutely nomtasic and it was a kid favorite too, as Jacob wanted another sample!! (We also took two quarts of it home with us) I was excited to see there was a pierogi soup, but the broth and flavors fell flat. Some of the other ones we all enjoyed were "Beef on Weck" from Danny's Restaurant, "Poutine" from Torches, "Spicy Artichoke and Pepper" from Brodo, "Chicken Dumpling and Noodle" from Savory's, and "Black Truffle Creamy Mushroom" from Crooked Door Tavern.

Overall, the atmosphere inside The Millennium was great. It was a fun afternoon and another great way to showcase the delicious food Buffalo has to offer. The only gripe I heard about the day was that it was too cramped, which I agree with, and the restaurants did not always have their soup types displayed properly, makig it was hard to see what each place had until you were right up to their table.

Soup Fest organizers should be proud of this newer Buffalo tradition and I'm sure in the years to come will continue to expand.

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