Tag: 210311

Order now for outdoor SouperFest

Roasted Red Pepper & Butternut Squash Bisque from O Steaks & Seafood, Hungarian Mushroom Ale from the Concord Food Co-op, Smoked Brisket Chili from Georgia’s Northside — those are some of the soups on the menu for the 12th annual SouperFest, and you can only get them if you order ahead.
The event, hosted by the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness, will be held Saturday, March 20, at White Park in Concord.
In the past, Souperfest was held inside a school and brought in 800 to 1,000 attendees. Thirty-five soups were prepared mostly by home chefs and served to hungry patrons.
“People just had as much soup as they wanted,” said Greg Lessard, board vice chair of the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness.
This year, eight local restaurants will be preparing the soup, which must be pre-ordered on the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness’s website, concordhomeless.org. Anyone placing an order will select a half-hour window of time to pick up their soup.
With last year’s SouperFest getting canceled in March, Lessard said, soup orders are already pouring in for this year. The other five options are Pumpkin Apple Bisque from The Barley House, Clam Chowder from The Common Man, Vegetarian Chili from Hermanos Cocina Mexicana, Lentil Soup from The Works Cafe and Miso Noodle Soup from Col’s Kitchen.
“It’s a wonderful selection. You’re hard pressed to say ‘I’m only taking two of these,’” Lessard said. “The choices are so great you just can’t say no.”
Col’s Kitchen is a new face in Concord’s restaurant scene, having just opened in August. O Steaks & Seafood, meanwhile, has been participating in SouperFest since home chefs made up the bulk of the competition.
All proceeds from SouperFest will benefit the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness.
“[The Coalition] has a number of different programs that support people that are experiencing homelessness,” Lessard said.
These programs include an emergency winter shelter, a resource center and more.

SouperFest: Hosted by Concord Coalition to End Homelessness
When: March 20, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
Where: White Park, 1 White St, Concord
More info: concordhomeless.org/souperfest-2021

Featured photo: Hungarian Mushroom Soup from the Concord Food Co-op. Courtesy photo.

Hotbox to open soon in Manchester

Like many Granite Staters at the onset of the pandemic, Pedro Gonzalez of Manchester started cooking at home more often. Fast forward nearly a year and now he and several of his family members and friends are about to open their own eatery on the West Side, focusing on Latin soul and street foods with a New York City bodega-style storefront.

The concept of the Hotbox — fondly referred to by Gonzalez as simply “The Box” — began on a whim last spring with positive feedback for his family’s home-cooked Spanish meals.

“Restaurants were closed … and so our friends would come over and they’d be like, ‘What are you guys cooking? Can I grab a plate?’ We didn’t expect money or anything, so of course we were like, ‘Sure!’” said Gonzalez, a native of Bronx, N.Y. “Then we started showing our plates on social media, and it just took off after that, like wildfire.”

Gonzalez and his wife Kelli, daughter Ally, mother Sonia and family friends Kelley Richard and Kalley Mihalko all now have a hand in cooking or baking different items for the Hotbox. The original plan, he said, was for them to expand their newfound catering venture into a food truck before that later shifted to a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They found their current spot, most recently occupied by Rita Mae’s Restaurant, last August.

Hotbox’s menu will feature a variety of Latin soul and street food items, some of which will be available all the time, others on a rotating basis. Options may include chicken, beef or pork guisado, or a tomato-based sauce, with servings of rice and beans.

“Guisado is very popular in the Spanish community,” Gonzalez said. “We can do a Jamaican-style jerk chicken guisado, or we can do a hot Mexican guisado with spices. … We can do guisado with any meat, but the most popular one we have is our chopped chicken, which we cook in a sauce with onions and peppers.”

You’ll also find several types of empanadas and burritos, as well as Cubanos and fresh pressed sandwiches called “bobos” — the name, Gonzalez said, is a reference to Joseph “Bobo” Benedetti, who founded Benedetti’s Deli in Haverhill, Mass., in the early 1960s.

“I grew up literally five minutes from Benedetti’s Deli,” he said. “We’ll have massive subs, just like the ones I grew up eating.”

But Hotbox will offer more than just Spanish food — an ever-changing a la carte menu Gonzalez calls the “flip-flop” will be available to those who walk in, where you might find everything from pasta dishes to fried pork belly, half-chicken or shrimp. Once one “flip-flop” option is gone, he said, a new one will take its place.

Gonzalez said all kinds of unique dessert creations are expected too. One of the most popular options among their catering customers has been a layered “Oreo lasagna” cake.

Takeout and curbside pickup will be available, while between four and six tables will be set up in the eatery’s dining room by reservation only. Up to six people per party can reserve a table.

“We’re not trying to rush you out of here. We want to have it be a very intimate experience with your party when you come in to eat,” he said. “Our plates are big, too, so there will be leftovers.”

The front of the store will look similar to that of a bodega in New York City, with a few small grocery and household items for sale, as well as marinated meats, cold cuts and more.

Hotbox will be open for lunch and dinner to start, but Gonzalez said the plan is to branch out to serving continental breakfasts, omelets, breakfast sandwiches and other similar options.

Hotbox
An opening date announcement is expected in the coming weeks. Follow them on social media for updates.
Where: 280 Main St., Manchester
Hours: TBA
More info: Find them on Facebook @hotboxlfe or email [email protected]

Feautred photo: Jerk chicken plate with white rice and marinated onions. Courtesy photo.