Holy guacamole!

Today was one of those rare occasions where it was raining in San Diego. Good thing my morning plans were taking place indoors. Today was the 7th annual Guacamole Bowl at Balboa Park. For $5 at the door you got a bag of Mission Tortilla Chips and some stickers for voting for the best guacamole.

The event took place inside the Balboa Park Club and several hundred people were in attendance. All funds raised were to support Sports for Exceptional Athletes, a non-profit group that helps special needs athletes.

My roommate attended the event with me. When we walked into the big open room, we both looked at our bag of chips and said we should have brought some more from home. We worked our way around the room walking counter-clockwise. There were four different categories of competitors: law enforcement, Kiwanis, open and professional.

Medals to be handed out to the winners.

Or first favorite guacamole came at one of the first tables we stopped at. The CH(i)Ps threw down a pretty spicy guac with jalapenos. It was the perfect blend of avocado flavor and spiciness.

Our first favorite, the CHiPs and Dip spicy guac.

There were some so-so guacs and some that we could have done without tasting (one with mango and another with some crazy homemade mayo).

One of the cleverly decorated booths (and team members), but with so-so guac from South Bay Kiwanis.

Our favorite team name was an open category group called Our Lady of Guac who had pictures of Mary with glowing avocado surrounding the booth. There weren't a ton of professional teams but the standout was Marieta's Grill in Escondido. I'm now interested to see what other delicious food they serve there. A road trip might be in my future.

Ultimately my favorite guac came from a Kiwanis group. This team roasted most of their vegetables and it gave the guacamole a great smoky flavor without using too many crazy spices.

A winner in my eye.

We were at the event for just over an hour. Before we went I read over the event Web site and saw that Calavo donated some 2,000 lbs of avocados! We tasted probably about 25 different guacamoles (maybe a total of 2 avocados each). By the time we walked out the door we were very happy we didn't bring any extra chips because someone would have had to carry us back to our car from being too full. All-in-all, a great way to spend a rainy Saturday morning. And who knows, maybe I'll start perfecting my own guac recipe and enter in the open category next year. Yum.