HAMILTON -- One night a year, the Hamilton area's best chefs arm themselves with pots and ladles and prepare to battle over the hottest question in town: Who has the best soup?
The Hamilton Rotary Club is gearing up for its third annual "Soup 4 You" cook-off, inviting 15 local restaurants to compete against each other to see who has the best bowl -- or at least a 4 oz. tasting cup -- of soup.
"Look at the weather. It's been cold and miserable," said Hamilton Rotary Club secretary Marie Varga, a co-chair of the event. "What feels better than some nice warm soup and camaraderie."
The event has rapidly grown in size with each passing year, Varga said. At the first Soup 4 You event in 2013, about 250 people turned out at Reynolds Middle School.
Varga expected some growth in 2014 but not the 350 hungry patrons who arrived at Sayen Elementary School. Restaurants were encouraged to bring 300 portions of soup each but, within 90 minutes, many were scraping the bottom of their pots, completely sold out.
This year, Varga has told each restaurant owner to prepare 500 portions.
"There's been very positive feedback," Varga said. "They've been to it once and come back again and are looking forward to it for a third time."
The rules are simple: Each attendee receives a poker chip and, after tasting as much soup from as many restaurants as they'd like, votes for their favorite. The results are tallied at the end of the night and a champion is crowned.
"It's that time of the year," Varga said. "Soup brings warmth and part of what we want to do is bring some warmth to the township."
Last year, the prize went to Mannino's 3, after owner Sal LoPresti cooked up a pot of cream of chicken with broccoli soup, a new concoction for the restaurant.
"Most people couldn't get enough of it," LoPresti said. "So many people enjoyed it that we started making it regularly. They're always asking us for it."
At Mannino's 3, the soup has become a point of pride, with customers visiting the Route 33 restaurant as word of mouth spread and others asking about the picture of LoPresti and Varga hanging on the wall.
LoPresti is still thinking of his best chances of retaining his title, but anticipates it will be a new recipe.
For Gino D'Amelio, the best result might be to return to an old faithful.
D'Amelio, owner of Mamma Rosa's, won the Soup 4 You event in 2013 with his "potato horseradish with bacon" soup, a prize he still touts to new customers as they walk into the Klockner Road restaurant.
"I have the plaque on the wall and I tell them: 'That's what we have, award-winning soup,'" D'Amelio said. "When you put it like that, they tend to order it."
Last year, armed with pots of cream of asparagus with roasted red pepper soup, Mamma Rosa's dropped to second place, falling to Mannino's 3.
D'Amelio has a few ideas on how to take back his title -- including returning to the recipe that won the contest in 2013 -- but he's keeping his plans under wraps.
"You just do the best you can and, whatever the results are, that's what it is," D'Amelio said. "You put it in the public's hands."
Other restaurants participating this year include Jersey Girl Cafe, Killarney's Publick House, La Pizza in Allentown, Mafalda, Mastoris Diner in Bordentown Township, Stone Terrace by John Henry's and Villa Barone in Robbinsville.
While it's the soup that gets people interested, it's the cause that gets them in the door, Varga said. The $10 admission fees for each attendee and restaurant registration fees go to the Hamilton Rotary Club's scholarship fund.
The club gives out scholarships to public and private high schools in Hamilton, including Trenton Catholic Academy and Mercer County Technical Schools.
"You do the best you can do and, whatever the results are, that's what it is" D'Amelio said. "There's no real downside to it. Everybody's a winner when they're doing it for charity."
The third annual Soup 4 You cook-off, sponsored by the Trenton Freedom, will be held at Steinert High School on Feb. 23 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.hamiltontownshiprotary.org.
Mike Davis may be reached at mdavis@njtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @byMikeDavis. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
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