The results are in and the winners announced! Over 500 people braved the cold and rain this past Saturday for the Uptown Waterloo Business Improvement Area’s (BIA) first ever Uptown Comfort Food Crawl.
The three-part event was held at a few Uptown Waterloo restaurants with the Chili Cook-Off at Kentucky Bourbon & BBQ, the Mac ‘n’ Cheese Challenge at Abe Erb Brewing Company and the Soup Showdown at Prohibition Warehouse.
There were many new competitors this year including: Copper Branch, Kentucky Bourbon & BBQ, Little Mushroom Catering, Marbles, Abe Erb Brewing Company, Huether Hotel, Duke of Wellington, Little Mushroom Dining Lounge, Seven Shores, Prohibition Warehouse, Beertown, Taco Farm, The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro, and Café 22.
“This year was our best since we started the Chili Cook-Off nine years ago,”” shares Tracy Van Kalsbeek, Executive Director of the Uptown Waterloo BIA. “We were completely blown away by the number of people who attended, and, because of everyone’s generosity, we raised close to $5,000 for our charity partner the KW Humane Society – just incredible!”
Celebrity judges Sarge from 99.5 K-Fun, Food Columnist Andrew Coppolino from CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, Dana Shortt from Dana Shortt Gourmet, City of Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky, Regional Chair Karen Redman, Jennifer Campbell from Country 106.7, Paul Herriot and James Sebastian Scott from 570 News and Rae Kelly and Laura Geddes from Virgin Radio presented the Judge’s Choice awards to: Little Mushroom Catering for their delicious chili concoction, the Duke of Wellington for their yummy macaroni and cheese and to the Huether Hotel for their tasty take on the time-honoured tomato soup.
Coincidentally, this year, the People’s Choice awards also matched the judge’s selections.
The events were part of Waterloo’s annual Winterloo Festival.