The soup ladels were in constant motion Thursday for the return of the Soup Kitchen at St. Clair College.
From New England clam chowder to bacon cheeseburger soup, St. Clair College Culinary Arts students honed their skills to prepare a menu that satisfied the community's love of soup.
Celebrity Server Dan MacDonald of AM800 dishes out a cup of tortellini soup during the inaugural Soup Kitchen at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts on Feb. 27, 2025. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
"This is St. Clair College's way of helping bring back the community to the downtown core," said Joe D'Angela, Senior Director of the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts, Advancement, and Campus Partnerships.
Andromeda Dean was one of roughly 700 guests who attended the event, hosted at the Skyline Ballroom within the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts in Downtown Windsor.
"I love it. I love the venue, I love the cause, and I love soup - and I think everyone does," Dean said between bites of her favourite - cream of mushroom soup. "It's comfort food, and in the middle of the winter, everybody wants soup, and everybody likes to try different kinds. So, I think this is the perfect event to bring people here and enjoy something for a good cause."
Celebrity servers were brought into the fold to dish out the variety of soups, including The Tea Party drummer Jeff Burrows, Essex Region Conservation Authority CAO Tim Byrne, Members of the Windsor Police, Essex-Windsor EMS, Windsor Fire and Rescue, Realtor Dan Gemus, City Councillors Renaldo Agostino and Mark McKenzie, and Adriano Ciotoli and Dan MacDonald, both cherished alumni of distinction at the College.
"It's a phenomenal sense of community with great people. You bring people and you bring soup together, it makes things work," said Coun. Agostino. "This is where the people are during the day, so why not have lunch where the people are? Go to the people and the people come to you."
The inventive array of soups were prepared under the watchful eye of Executive Chef Carmine Incitti and his team of Culinary Arts students. Vegetarian options were also available, including a crowd favourite, the vegetarian enchilada soup.
"Part of the partnership is to have the culinary students, with their traits and their skills, produce soups for the event. We're always going to include them as a nice showcase of what our program actually delivers," said D'Angela.
Tickets were $15 apiece and event proceeds will ultimately benefit seven or eight student scholarships at St. Clair, D'Angela added.
"I love the reason for it. In this day and age, with the cost of everything rising, students can use any help they can get towards a post-secondary education," said Adriano Ciotoli, co-owner of Windsor Eats. "It's getting people into the downtown. It's getting people into the city and it's getting eyes on the skills of the Culinary Arts program at St. Clair as well."
"It's kind of a win-win-win."
D'Angela said it was such a resounding success, the Soup Kitchen will become an annual event, and he's looking at adding additional events, offering up different items such as chili and pasta.
"It's about bringing the downtown community and the lunch hour back to one common place for all of us," he said.
