Stone Energy Gumbo Cookoff

The 2nd Annual Stone Energy Gumbo Cookoff was a huge success last night, even with stiff competition from elsewhere in the community...

Sounds on the Square in Abbeville; Rhythms on the River in Lafayette; Clint Black at ACA; 2-for-1 Happy Hour at the Hole-in-Da-Wall: even with all of these huge events elsewhere last night, the gumbo cookoff was still packed!

Wayne Toups was magnificent, entertaining what was no doubt one of his "fullest' crowds ever (there may have been larger crowds, but with 100 different pots of gumbo to sample from, these people were FULL!!).

It was a tough competition when it came to the gumbo, too.  One of the participants, Shelby, told me "it's the gumbo my grandmother taught me to make" - and I'll have to say, slurping that juice off of the spoon made me feel like I was in Erath!

Paul told me that his secret was "road kill" - but I knew that he was pulling my leg.

Of the three I tried, the seafood gumbo I liked the best had shrimp, crab and the tiniest little oysters in it... and it was good!

And, though I didn't try all 100 gumbos, the one I liked THE BEST was cooked with a hen, with bones and skin and all.  Byron Richard told me that THAT was the way his family has always done it and, I'll have to say, it was the closest gumbo to what I grew up with!

The judges must have been hating their time there, getting to eat free gumbo and all...

Congratulations to the Stone Energy team, they won the "People's Choice Award" for the second straight year.  Other winners include:

In the Seafood category:

1. Maxum Industries
2. Doerle Foods
3. Stone Energy - Deepwater

In the Chicken and Sausage category:

1. Supreme Services
2. LA Valve Source
3. C&C Technologies

The real winners tonight were all of the organizations that are helped by United Way of Acadiana.