Fans Vote Our House Bistro Chowda-Madness Champion

Westport, CT – Mirroring college basketball's March Madness, Chowdafest presented by Stop & Shop held its own bracketed competition pitting the sixteen all-time best competitors to ever have entered Chowdafest. Nearly 30,000 votes were cast over four weeks resulting in three-time champion Our House Bistro of Winooski, VT being named best who has ever competed at Chowdafest.

Our House Bistro was ranked 3^rd overall and has won the creative category at Chowdafest for the last three years in a row. They will be looking to win a new category this fall as they are switching to the New England clam chowder category where a fellow 3-time champion will be waiting for them: Pike Place Chowder of Seattle. Pike Place Chowder competes in chowder competitions all over the country and has earned the unofficial title of America's Favorite Chowder. This will be the first time that the two crowd favorites will go head to head in the same category.

Just like March Madness, there were upsets along the way such that only one of the top four ranked restaurants actually made the final four which included Our House Bistro, Sedona Taphouse, Southport Brewing Company and Dunville's restauarants.

Chowder fans who have been to the event over the past decade showed their love to their all-time favorites, including some restaurants that no longer compete. Sedona Taphouse in Norwalk was the Cinderella story of the competition as they upset everyone up until the final match against Our House Bistro.   

“This was a fun way to stay top of mind with all our fans,” said Jim Keenan, event director. “Our fans are exceptionally passionate about chowder, soup & bisque all year round  Of course, the debate about who is the all time best will start all over again after we see who wins this year. Every year the competition gets stiffer and the 11^th annual Chowdafest is no exception” 

The sixteen restaurants included in Chowda-Madness included #1 seeded Crab Shell restaurant in Stamford, #2 seeded Pike Place Chowder of Seattle, #3 seeded Our House Bistro, #4 seeded Dunville's of Westport, #5 seeded Old Post Tavern of Fairfield, #6 seeded Donovan's of Norwalk, #7 seeded Gingerman of Greenwich, #8 seeded The Clam Castle of Madison, #9 seeded Southport Brewing Co of Milford, $10 seeded Sedona Taphouse of Norwalk, #11 seeded The Spread of Norwalk, #12 seeded Gray Goose of Southport, #13 seeded Simply Delicious of Norwalk, #14 seeded BRYAC of Bridgeport, #15 seeded Smithsonian Chowder House of Northhampton MA and 16^th seeded Chef's Table of Fairfield.

For additional information about Chowdafest, please visit www.chowdafest.org or email event director, Jim Keenan at chowdafest@gmail.com. Chowdafest, presented by Stop & Shop, is sponsored by: AAA Northeast, BlumShapiro, Cabot Creamery, Chica de Gallo, City Carting, Clover, CT Bites, Copp's Island Oysters, Even Hotel, The Farmer's Cow, HamletHub, Harney & Sons Tea, Local Food Rocks, Lowe's, MINI of Fairfield County, Mohegan Sun, New England Coffee, OmnomCT, Peapod by Stop & Shop, People's United Bank, Polar Beverages, Tate's Bake Shop, WEBE 108, Westminster Bakery and Yankee Magazine.