Stopping by Shockoe Chef
Halligan Bar and Grill was a big winner at Shockoe Chef Showdown.
Vendors at Shockoe Chef Showdown.
Our reviewer tried a fruity sorbet from Soul Ice.
Our intern paid a visit to the second annual Shockoe Chef Showdown in Shockoe Bottom this weekend. She came back with this review:
From the fine tasting cuisine to a handful of sweet shopping opportunities, Shockoe Chef Showdown at the 17th Street Farmers Market provided a fine time over the weekend.
Some of the participating chefs hailed from restaurants such as Café Gutenberg, Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant, Chef MaMusu’s Africanne on Main, and Bottoms Up Pizza. With a wide variety of dishes to choose from, I had a hard time deciding what to try next.
But I am glad that I got to try the fried green tomato with corn salad from Café Gutenberg. Wow, this was delicious! The hot fried tomatoes were tangy and crispy and the corn salad was quite refreshing for a hot summer day. I was also surprised to try BBQ ribs from Bottoms Up Pizza.
Bottoms Up Pizza makes ribs? Who knew?
When I further inquired about the ribs at Bottoms Up, I was told that they do serve them at their restaurant and they’re interested in trying something new.
I also tried a fruity sorbet from Soul Ice. It was a cool and refreshing treat with strawberry, banana and mango flavors.
To be honest, I was a little surprised at the low attendance to the foodie fest. It was a hot day, which could be part of the reason that the attendance wasn’t as high as I expected. But the up side was that there were no lines and it was easy to talk to the chefs at the stalls.
Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom restaurants competed in three main categories: the best meat dish, best vegetarian cuisine, and the most decadent dessert. The winners are:
Meat: Halligan Bar & Grill, the winner
Café Gutenberg, second place
Veggie: Café Gutenberg, the winner with fried green tomatoes and corn salad
Julep’s, second place for their vichyssoise
Dessert: Mark Anthony’s, winner with fried apples & strawberries
Halligan’s, second place for their key lime pie
Market Basket Competition: Café Gutenberg
Tyler Billups is a senior at Henrico High School where she is in the international Baccalaureate Program. She has been interning for Richmond.com this summer and last summer.
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