On Saturday, Feb. 8, Jim Howe, organizer of the 2025 Chili or Chowder With A Chance For Chocolate Taste-Off, presented $100, $75 and $50 In Wellsboro Chamber Dollars to the first, second and third place taste-off winners respectively.
 
This was the eleventh taste-off held since the first one in 2015 and was part of the first Ice and Spice Winter Weekend in Wellsboro.

The 328 people who bought a $10 taste-off passport had the opportunity to try 15 or some of the 17 different types of chili and chowder beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday. They cast their votes and by 2 p.m. turned in their passports at one of the 15 taste-off locations. 
 
Taking first place with his “Slow Fall Chicken Chowder” is Justin Oberther, executive chef for The Roost at 83 Main Street. His recipe is based on the Slow Fall Chicken sandwich, a Roost customer favorite. 
 
“I’ve been cooking for 20 years and been in kitchens since I was 16,” Oberther said. “I was born and raised here in Tioga County.” From 2004 to 2010, he lived in North Carolina where he was a baker for about six years. “I managed to find my way back home and took my first kitchen lead job.
 
“I learned how to cook by listening to people who were in a position to teach,” said Oberther. The taste-off is the first contest he has ever entered.
 
Second place winner is Armando Gonzalez with his hearty but not spicy Los Agaves Chili. He is the manager and a cook for Los Agaves Taqueria, a Mexican restaurant that opened in July 2023 at 63 Main Street. Gonzalez has been cooking for 10 years. “A friend got me into it,” he said. “I entered the taste-off to help Second Chance shelter animals.”
 
Taking third place is Todd Webster who made a chili and chowder tasted at the Hillstone Farms Market at 76 Main Street. “I started cooking because I love to eat; I’ve been cooking for many years,” Webster said. “This is the first time I entered a chowder after playing with my recipe for a couple of months.”  In 2022, he entered a smoked brisket chili. In 2023, he entered “Hold The Beans and Cough Chili,” a traditional Texas-style chili made of all meat and spices and no beans. Webster entered it two more times after tweaking it, winning first place in 2024 and third this year. “I was in it to win it but came up short. I need to regroup and come back better next year,” said Webster.
 
The three top winners were each asked if they are going to enter next year’s taste-off and all said yes. “It’s a fun event and brings a bunch of people to town. I really enjoy it,” Webster said.
 
Proceeds from the sale of the passports will benefit rescued animals and programs offered by Second Chance Animal Sanctuaries.