Soma was packed to the gills on Monday night as chefs, foodies and journos convened for the Houston Chowhounds Ceviche Throwdown.

After a slight change in the throwdown formula last month, when chefs and mixologists had separate competitions to create an entree and a drink using Maker's Mark bourbon, this ceviche throwdown followed the original formula. Eleven chefs presented dishes of fresh fish for the judges, situated away from the hubbub in a private loft, while the crowds ate passed samples and a buffet of the French-Japanese fusion prepared by the Soma staff — varying from a summer salad and barramundi sushi to layered ratatouille and braised ribs.

At the end of the night — which between ticket sales, silent auctions on-site and an online auction raised over $30,000 to benefit Gulf Coast fishermen — judges Greg Morago of the Houston Chronicle, My Table's Teresa Byrne-Dodge, Américas chef/owner Michael Cordua, El Meson owner Peter Garcia, and New Orleans Times-Picayune restaurant critic Brett Anderson narrowed the field to the top three dishes.

In third place was Kata Robata's Hori-san (Manabu Horiuchi) with a Texas peach yuzu seafood ceviche with gobo chips.

Isaac Alvarez of the newly opened Ocean's took second place with the restaurant's signature Ocean's ceviche, a modified classic concoction of red onion, olives, manzano chile, orange juice, avocado, shaved parmesan and cilantro.

The winner and new champion of the ceviche throwdown is Alex Padilla of Ninfa's on Navigation, with his salt-cured barramundi and live sea scallop ceviche with fresh-squeezed citrus, passion fruit and truffled sea salt.

The next throwdown is scheduled for October. It will be a battle of which high-end chef can earn stripes with the best street food.