Reilly's Daughter Brings Back Original South Side Irish Soda Bread Contest

OAK LAWN, IL -- Time to break out grandma’s old recipe for Irish soda bread – or grandma, herself – and enter Reilly’s Daughter’s Original South Side Irish Soda Bread contest this Saturday, March 5.

Registration starts at 11 a.m., with judging taking place at 1 p.m. The grand prize is a trip for two to Ireland.

• Also on Patch: Reilly's Daughter Makes Triumphant Return to 111th Street

For over 20 years Boz O’Brien’s Irish Soda Bread Contest reigned supreme on the South Side during the month of March. Families would gather at Reilly’s Daughter and root on their mothers and grandmothers as they sliced up their yeastless wonders to be judged by a South Side pol of Irish descent.

Since the O’Brien sons’ triumphant return to 4010 W. 111th St. (111th Street and Pulaski Road) in Oak Lawn, the young lads are bringing back many of their old man’s traditions, except for the one where bar patrons smashed up black-and-white television sets during Howard Cosell’s Monday Night Football broadcasts. That tradition belongs to the legends.

The Irish Soda Bread contest is back, however, and Reilly’s Daughter has an afternoon of wholesome family fun planned, including an appearance by singers Terry McEldowney and Whitey O’Day. We’re sure there’ll be a chorus or two of “South Side Irish” as O’Reilly’s kicks off its Mardi Gras of St. Patrick’s Day events.

“It’s always a good afternoon to come out and support moms and grandmas and cheer them on,” owner Dan O’Brien said. “We’re trying to get the word out to as many people as we can.”

Judging the entries will be a host of South Side VIPs, including Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury and former Reilly’s Daughter bartender, 19th ward Alderman Matt O’Shea.

“People get pretty creative with their breads,” O’Brien said. “One year a lady baked a ten dollar bill into her bread hoping to bribe the judges.”

So get out the salt, baking soda, flour and buttermilk and start baking because anything else added makes it a tea cake. You may want to throw a ten spot in there too in memory of An Gorta Mor.