On Saturday night, in the heat of the kitchen of the Delta Grand, the 2 finalists for the title of Stone Soup Chef worked their magic.Before an audience of 150 people, Chef Paul Cecconi of Local Lounge and Grille, and Chef Bernard Casavant from Manteo prepared a decadent choice of soup from some amazing ingredients, featuring the best in BC seafood.
Chef Bernard chose a Mediterranean theme, and Chef Paul went with a Thai theme.
Our judges for the evening, colleagues who had been eliminated in the preliminary rounds had a tough time. In the end, Chef Paul emerged victorious, by the narrowest of margins - just 1 point!
And after tasting their creations, the audience had a chance to vote for their favourite soup. Chef Paul was a double winner, receiving the Peoples' Choice Award.
This was the very first Stone Soup Chef event, and it would not have been possible without the help of our generous sponsors - Astral Media, Kelowna.com, Erin O'Reilly, PostNet, GFS, Sysco,Spatula Media,Paul Cotton Films,SpeedPro Signs,Green Croft Gardens and The Delta Okanagan Grand Hotel. We thank you all so very much.
Each of the chefs will be contributing their soup recipe for our Stone Soup Cookboook, along with some other favourite recipes, and some tips and tricks for making great soup!
At the end of the night, Kelowna's Gospel Mission was also a big winner, as we raised close to $13,000 towards the purchase of a new walk in freezer!
We are looking forward to next year - and Stone Soup Chef will be even bigger and better!!
Bon Appetite!