Today DJ and I went to the Cabin Fever Festival in Mystic Village. It was a whim decision to go after I read about it in the New Haven Register. It is a "festival" that consists of various events geared toward children on the Green and at the Meeting House and a chowder cook-off. Restaurants in the area brought their chowder to be sampled at the shops all throughout the village. Tickets were $1 per tasting or 12 tickets for $10. I went with the $10. I thought and still think, it's worth it. The festival is from 12:00-5:00, so if you read it close to the time I post it, you may still be able to check it out. We arrived at the village at 11, which was a smart decision. We headed right to one of our favorite spots- Mystic Beanery. Since it was before the soup came out and I still hadn't had a coffee yet, we went right there. I love it inside there. It's a cute little shop. They have some baked goods such as, cinnamon buns, bagels, muffins, pastries, etc. They also have coffee, fancier coffees, and specialty coffees. They may even do some breakfast sandwiches. I just had a medium latte today- I needed to save room for the chowder. DJ had an Asiago bagel toasted with butter and a Shamrock Latte. He happily ate and drank all of it. I had a plain latte but let me tell you, it was delish. It hit the spot and was made fairly fast. They also sell little Coca-Cola trinkets in there. It started to get crowded in there and the chowder people came to set up their stand so we sat outside. I'm so happy that we were able to sit outside in February without freezing. We went into a few stores while we waited for the cook-off to begin!
I was so happy to go to this chowder cook-off. It's exactly what I wish I could get paid to do with my life. I felt like one of the judges on "The Taste." When you went up you gave you ticket and then were given a 3oz. Styrofoam cup with chowder. Now I know that that doesn't sound like a lot of chowder, but it was perfect. You could get about 3 or 4 spoonfuls of soup. I'm not positive of the places I tried. I will refer to my ballot to try to fill in the gaps. I just want to say - I wasn't crazy for any of them. There was no chowder that I felt like using a second ticket and going back for more. None of these chowders were as good as Chandler's Tavern at Yankee Candle. The chowders I tried were from, I believe, Soundings Lounge at Mystic Hilton, Casa Della Luce, Ocean Blue Catering at Mystic Aquarium, Stonington Stop and Shop, StoneRidge Retirement Center, and Flanagan's at Best Western.
My favorite chowder, though it was hard to pick one, would have to be Flanagan's or Casa Della Luce - if that was the one from Westerly, Rhode Island. It was so odd that they were all so different. One was a lobster chowder, which was pretty tasty but I felt like it wasn't really fair. I mean lobster vs. clam? We know the winner. Sounding Lounge brought two types of chowder. One was a seafood chowder (which was lacking in the seafood) and the other was a buffalo chicken and corn chowder. DJ tried the chicken and I tried the seafood. Well, we both tried both but he took the chicken and I took the seafood. The seafood broth was okay but there wasn't anything really in my scoop. The chicken was exactly what you would expect- chicken, buffalo sauce, corn in a soup form. Interesting. Points for creativity but not much. I think one of the places, though I might not have mentioned where it was from because it was so awful, was like a pulled pork. What the hell is that? I saw a red broth and was getting my palate set for Manhattan chowder and it was a BBQ pulled pork! Terrible. I just didn't see how it fit and pulled pork is not my favorite thing anyway. Why put it in a soup? Flanagan's was the only clear-broth, Rhode Island chowder. I give that my favorite because I prefer clear over creamy. My favorite creamy was from Casa Della Luce. It was milky more than creamy. It had a nice flavor and was oddly white but hey- I liked it. Oh no wait- the Westerly Rhode Island place I think had clam fritters in it, which was interesting. There was one right on the top to garnish but then there were more little fritter pieces in it. Odd and not my favorite.
Flanagan's was the last chowder I had. I think I ended it on a positive note. I also grabbed some delicious cinnamon sugar roasted pecan nuts from the General Store. I also went into Bestemors - the Scandinavian store. I tried some Swedish "Christmas Soda". It wasn't what I expected at all. It tasted like some sort of berry but I can't name which one. Then it just started to get ridiculously crowded. People had their dogs everywhere, their children on leashes, and every Sasquatch in the tri state area was there. I overheard a woman tell her son, "Remember we talked about our 'listening ears' this morning." Oh go you know what. "Listening ears?" I feel like she said it louder so people would look at her and think she was a wonderful parent. What happened to "If you don't listen you won't have ears at all"? At that point I just needed to go to the bathroom and go home, so that's what we did.
To sum up, it was a good day. I had cabin fever and it was nice to go outside and try some chowders. I wish it wasn't as crowded as it was but my recommendation is to go early and leave a soon as possible. I would have liked to see the owl demonstration but there were just too many people. I saw the ducks. That was nice. I won't go again but at least I could say I tried it out. Until my next bite...
No comments:
Post a Comment