A Delicious Day Of Macaroni Magic In Downtown St. Cloud [PHOTOS]

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- It was a chance to sample some great food and determine whose cuisine reigns supreme in St. Cloud on Saturday. The Mac and Cheese Crawl made its Bold & Bright debut with ten downtown businesses fighting for top honors. There was mac and cheese with chicken fried bacon, Pad Thai-inspired mac, and more. Jules Bistro's mac featured Italian sausage and honey chipotle cheddar from local partners.

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Jules Bistro Owner Donella Westphal says the key to a great mac and cheese is the pasta:

"I think it's always important to have the right pasta, and nobody loves mushy pasta, and this one stands up over time even in the warmth of the heatwell. It's firm, it's got great texture."

Westphal says the pasta they use is from an award-winning small batch pasta company in New York.

The Red Carpet Nightclub had a buffalo mac and a ranch mac and cheese for people to choose from. Co-Owner and Chef Jamie Foster says he didn't originally plan to offer two kinds of mac and cheese:

"Actually, I had kind of decided to do the Red Hot Buffalo Chicken because of the Red name in it, and then, I thought well, if I'm going to do that, I should add a little spice to it, and I decided to add bleu cheese crumbles on one and then offered one with ranch dressing for the other people."

Foster says the Red Carpet is trying to get more involved in the community, and the mac and cheese crawl was a good way to do so.

How many people took part, and did it cost anything?

The Mac and Cheese Crawl was sold out, with 203 people attending. It cost $30 to do the crawl, and people got to sample four ounces of pasta from the participating businesses. MC's Dugout took home the top honor for best dish, with 7 West Taphouse in second, and Olde Brick House winning third.

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READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT