Vote for your favorite during annual South Side Soup Contest

Carmella Salem and Michael Alberter, co-owners of Carmella’s Plates and Pints on East Carson Street, South Side, know how to beat winter’s chill with a hearty bowl of homemade soup.

They also know how to beat the competition in two out of four categories in the South Side Soup Contest, a community fundraiser for the Brashear Association and the South Side Chamber of Commerce.

Their Asparagus Soup with Crispy Pancetta, Parmesan Crumb and Paprika Oil won the People’s Choice and Most Unique Soup awards in the 2019 South Side Soup Contest.

Other winners included Double Wide Grill, Best Vegetarian Soup honors for its Tomato Bisque with Smoked Gouda, and Cafe du Jour, People’s Choice runner-up for its Q*berts’s Stew-Bert (Cuban Style Pork Shoulder and Black Bean Soup). Victory Pointe received the Best Host award.

This year’s South Side Soup Contest from noon to 3 p.m. Feb. 22 will pit 26 restaurants, cafes and kitchens against each other to determine which soups please the palate of participants.

Participants decide the winners

Part of the fun of attending is in voting by text for the best in four categories: People’s Choice, Best Vegetarian, Most Unique soup and Best Host location.

At Carmella’s, Salem said their new executive chef, Matt McClelland, will be preparing his Smoked Cheddar and Broccoli Soup for the event.

“The beauty is we’re smoking the cheddar in-house,” she said, “with crispy broccoli as a garnish.”

The real beauty in the contest, in its 16th year, according to Kristi Rogers, board president of The Brashear Association, is in fulfilling its mission to help local people. Participants are asked to bring a nonperishable food item or household item to help stock the Brashear Association Food Pantry.

“I always feel it’s important to remind participants that the South Side Soup Contest is not only a fun, family-friendly event, but that its more important mission is in supporting our greater community through The Brashear Association and the South Side Chamber of Commerce,” she said. “Since 2005, food and household donations to the Brashear Food Pantry have been a vital component to the contest’s success.”

Honoring Brashear Association’s namesake

The event’s social responsibility also will be highlighted this year as organizers honor the 100th anniversary of South Side resident John A. Brashear’s passing as part of its T-shirt design, and they celebrate the 10th year of being a “green” and environmentally sustainable event.

“John A. Brashear, the namesake of The Brashear Association, was an accomplished, self-taught scientist and astronomer, but it was his humanitarian efforts which provided the framework for the social services and programming that The Brashear Association is known for today,” Rogers said.

Volunteers will be wearing the T-shirts that also will be for sale during the event at the South Side branch of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, one of the soup stops, for $20 each.

New restaurant and host location participants this year include: Doce Taqueria, The Vault Taproom, Carmi Soul Food, Benny Fierro’s, STORExpress, The Colombian Spot, 23rd and Vine, Natural Healing and Wellness Center, Jade Facial Lounge and Vapor Galleria.

Participating restaurants also include: Bonfire Food and Drink, Café du Jour, Carmella’s Plates and Pints, Carson City Saloon, Cilantro and Ajo, Cupka’s Cafe II, Dive Bar and Grille, Doce Taqueria, Double Wide Grill, Emiliano’s Mexican Restaurant, La Palapa, Le Petit Chocolat and Café, Local Bar + Kitchen, Mario’s South Side Saloon, OTB Bicycle Cafe, Piper’s Pub, The Pub Chip Shop, Ruggers Pub, The Smiling Moose, Stagioni, Tres Rios, Twelve Whiskey Barbecue, The Urban Tap and The Vault Taproom.