{"id":2453064,"date":"2020-01-09T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=318847"},"modified":"2020-01-09T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T19:00:00","slug":"soups-back-on-winterskol-warms-up-with-soupskol-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/soups-back-on-winterskol-warms-up-with-soupskol-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Soup\u2019s (back) on: Wintersk\u00f6l warms up with Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sly seasoning on social media whetted appetites last week: Soupsk\u00f6l \u2014 the warming culinary competition that for years served as unofficial kickoff to Wintersk\u00f6l, Aspen\u2019s longstanding \u201ctoast to winter\u201d \u2014 is back on after a three-year hiatus.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Jan. 10, the Aspen Chamber Resort Association in partnership with the Aspen Art Museum will host Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0 at SO Caf\u00e9. Trading chilly streets for the roof deck\u2019s cozy confines, the reimagined event will again be a competition, now among just eight to 10 local restaurants. Like AAM\u2019s popular open house exhibit receptions \u2014 which typically welcome 300 to 500 visitors over two hours \u2014 Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0 will admit the public for free as space is available. DJ Dylan will spin a soundtrack, and guests can enjoy drink specials by Woody Creek Distillers as well as beer and wine for purchase.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s Wintersk\u00f6l slogan is \u2018legendary past, visionary future,\u2019\u201d says Jennifer Albright Carney, ACRA\u2019s vice president of special events. \u201cSo when the Aspen Art Museum presented the opportunity to do this event with us, 2020 seemed time to bring it back in a new way, in a new location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia and Allen Domingos, chef-operators of SO Caf\u00e9 since the museum opened in August 2014 and owners of Epicure Catering since 2001, note that a chance for them to help revive a beloved community event is bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were never able to participate due to schedule,\u201d Allen says. \u201cOur next-door neighbor years ago when the event started was Reggie Barbour, chef at Boogie\u2019s for years and the mastermind behind Soupsk\u00f6l.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barbour launched Soupsk\u00f6l as a friendly competition among fellow chefs and restaurateurs in 2004. ACRA became involved in 2007, a year before Barbour passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 58. At its height in 2012, Soupsk\u00f6l drew 30 contestants, each asked to present about 4,000 tasting servings. By the final showcase in 2016, an estimated thousand-plus attendees braved glacial temps to stand in long lines for the promise of small sample cups of steaming soup, served from outdoor tents at sundown.<\/p>\n

Though details as of press time are slow-flowing, the winner of the coveted Reggie Barbour Memorial Copper Soup Pot will be determined based on a combination score from guest judges \u2014 69th Wintersk\u00f6l royal honorees Nina Gabianelli of the Aspen Historical Society and Mark Patterson of Paradise Bakery, plus Mary Barbour, Reggie\u2019s wife of 15 years \u2014 and public vote, \u201cin the spirit of the old, legendary Soupsk\u00f6l,\u201d Carney says.<\/p>\n

Originally, outgoing 2015-16 Soupsk\u00f6l repeat champion Meat & Cheese Restaurant and Farm Shop \u2014 sole confirmed participant as of this writing, aside from SO Caf\u00e9 \u2014 planned to enter its two-time winning recipe for Thai coconut chicken soup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I tried to take that soup off the menu years ago, people would stop me on the street to beg me to put it back,\u201d explains proprietor Wendy Mitchell. She complied after \u201ctwo weeks of protests from customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Sunday night, however, Mitchell switched gears. \u201cLittle change of plans,\u201d she wrote via email, \u201cwe are going to enter our Korean clam chowder, a new item on the winter dinner menu at Meat & Cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering SO Caf\u00e9\u2019s smaller capacity and ACRA\u2019s late announcement about Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0, Mitchell wants to ensure that folks who miss the event are still able to try Meat & Cheese\u2019s concoction another time. The Hopkins Avenue eatery serves both the Thai coconut soup and Korean clam chowder currently.<\/p>\n

While tight-lipped on SO Caf\u00e9\u2019s entry for Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0 \u2014 other than to say it will be fresh, colorful, and possibly vegetarian to fill that gap since someone should \u2014 chef Julia Domingos calls soup \u201cthe ideal Aspen dish,\u201d especially during the coldest Colorado months (find a favorite simple recipe, page 7).<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you think of anything else that is more soul-satisfying, potentially nutritious, and warmth-inducing?\u201d she asks. (Nope.) \u201cMost cultures seem to have a variation. The tastes, textures and colors are endless. Not to mention the medicinal qualities many believe the elixir contains, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is why Domingos crafts one new soup or stew for each weekly menu of just four of five items at SO Caf\u00e9. International fan-favorites include Asian dashi infused with shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, snap peas, and chewy udon noodles; Colorado beef chili with organic pinto beans grown in Delta, topped with crumbled cornbread; chicken tortilla toup with crispy tortilla strips; and vegetarian Moroccan stew with chickpeas, saffron, warm spices, served over couscous with labneh or tzatziki.<\/p>\n

Shrimp creole, featured recently, harks to the couple\u2019s hometown of New Orleans, from where they moved to Aspen 25 years ago. House-made Cajun spice, lemon and Worcestershire combine with tender shrimp and scallions over fluffy white rice pilaf.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, over the holidays, shrimp creole was always something we had after all the Christmas food,\u201d Allen shares. \u201c(Julia) puts a lot of effort into it. Stocks are all homemade; it\u2019s a very laborious process.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a little place guided by the Aspen Idea of mind, body and spirit, Julia Domingos cites meditative associations with the dish as a delicious draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to make soup because it is a satisfying study of creating a flavor profile, layering flavors from aromatics into a rich stock, and (practicing) patience for the soup to simmer into something special,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

If recent buzz for Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0 and 2016 turnout numbers are any indication, Aspen is ready to slurp it up.<\/p>\n

amandaraewashere@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sly seasoning on social media whetted appetites last week: Soupsk\u00f6l \u2014 the warming culinary competition that for years served as unofficial kickoff to Wintersk\u00f6l, Aspen\u2019s longstanding \u201ctoast to winter\u201d \u2014 is back on after a three-year hiatus. On Friday, Jan. 10, the Aspen Chamber Resort Association in partnership with the Aspen Art Museum will host […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 21:42:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}