Meet Chef Stanley, Bistro’s Soup Chef

For Chef Stanley, the path to becoming a chef was anything but traditional. Before cooking professionally, he spent decades as a sheet metal worker with Local 12, helping install HVAC systems and even working on the copper exterior of Children’s Hospital. At night, he washed dishes at Bistro To Go, sometimes heading straight to the restaurant after long workdays. Watching the kitchen operate sparked something deeper. “I was sitting there at the counter… and the thought came to me, hey, I want to make soups.”

After more than ten years washing dishes, Stanley asked to contribute creatively. Paired with a chef and tasked with making wedding soup — “not the soup I would recommend first off for your first time” — he surprised everyone when the result was called better than Nikki’s own. “And the rest is history,” he says.

Stanley’s approach to soup is deeply rooted in care and technique. “I decided that I’m going to do one thing… I’m going to make the best of what I can do,” he explains. For him, soup is both craft and convenience: a way to “clean your fridge out,” build layers of flavor and refine your technique. He’s mindful that sautéing versus roasting vegetables changes the flavor of the soup, even if only slightly. It’s his meticulous attention to detail that lets him inch closer to making the “perfect pot of soup.”

His dedication has not gone unnoticed. Stanley has won multiple soup competitions, including two consecutive first-place finishes at Humane Action Pittsburgh, despite being, as he notes with a laugh, “a carnivore” competing in a vegan contest. He also graduated from Bidwell Training School with a 4.0 GPA at age 62, calling the experience one that gave him “dignity” and set him up for success.

Above all, Stanley measures success by reaction. “I just love to see the face of the person when they taste it for the first time.” For him, that moment is everything.