The feast begins seconds after the King or Queen introduces the competing knights. Course one is a thick slice of Texas toast-style garlic bread, heavily toasted on a flat-top grill with garlic butter and parsley. The exterior provides crunch, while the crumb stays soft enough to compress between greasy fingers. It arrives piping hot, often sporting deep grill marks.
Immediately behind the bread comes the tomato bisque soup. Poured from large metal carafes directly into your handled metal vessel, this is consistently ranked by visitors and food writers as the standout element of the entire evening. The soup is rich, creamy, noticeably sweet, and aggressively seasoned with garlic and onion powder.
Drinking hot soup from a metal bowl requires strategy. The metal conducts heat quickly, turning the rim scalding hot for the first three minutes. Diners learn to dunk their garlic bread into the center to cool the perimeter, then lift the bowl by its curved metal handles to sip directly from the edge. It carries a velvety texture closer to a smooth purée than a brothy soup, coating the palate before the heavier proteins hit the table.
