The people have spoken. Sixteen contenders are moving on. Our Ultimate Pittsburgh Fish Fry competition is just getting warmed up.
With more than 1,460 votes tallied, round-one balloting is over and the field is noticeably smaller now. We’ve gone from a jumbo-size portion of 32 contestants to a more manageable — but still very generous — Savory Sixteen.
The church quadrants (city and suburban) led the voter turnout, as expected. But the eateries quadrant and the fire halls & social clubs quadrant showed a real knack for turning out the vote, too.
Click here to download and print a high-resolution PDF version of the bracket to see how all those matchups played out.
Key results:
- In the fire halls & social clubs contingent, Swissvale Fire Department won its matchup in a landslide.
- In the eateries category, Rockefeller’s Grille in McKees Rocks put up quite a fight, but Keith Heinritz Katering in Trafford eked out a victory.
- Mount Washington’s St. Mary of the Mount scored a lot of love in the city churches category.
- St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Monroeville led the suburban churches.
Key takeaways:
- St. Mary of the Mount might be an early — very early — favorite to win it all.
- Don’t sleep on Emil’s in Rankin, which came in second in the eateries division.
- Expect some nail-biters between the fire halls and social clubs in round two.
- Same ^ goes for the suburban churches.
Now, who’s ready to do it again?
In round two, your votes will help determine the Elite Eight (or should we say Elite Ate, har har), by deciding the top two finalists in each quadrant.
Get your votes in by noon on Tuesday, March 10 — vote as many times as you’d like. And meet us back here on Thursday, March 12 for the results.
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