BY WILLIAM R.
WOOD bwoodkalamazoogazette.com 388-8549 KALAMAZOO — This year’s Charity Gumbo Cook-off will have more chefs and — if the outdoor heaters work — more room to eat than ever before. Twenty-three chefs will participate in the fourth annual event, at 3 p.m. Sunday at Louie’s Trophy House Grill, 440 E. North St. That’s more than twice as many as the 11 who participated last year. Participation is limited to professional cooks. Tents for the popular event will be erected in the restaurant’s parking lot and outdoor patio area. Tents were available last year but were not used because the portable heaters didn’t work, organizer Bill Sarkozy said. Besides gumbo eating, the event will feature cooking demonstrations, a crawfish-eating contest, oysters on the half shell, door prizes and live music. Chef John Merucci, of Augusta’s Brook Lodge, will create ice sculptures for the day.
The event is a fundraiser for Ministry With Community, a downtown-Kalamazoo daytime drop-in shelter that provides food and services for the poor and homeless.