Dish it on: Second Ormond Burger Week to start Saturday, May 4

The second Ormond Burger Week event is taking place Saturday, May 4, through Sunday, May 12. Seventeen local restaurants are competing, up from last year's 14.

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Which Ormond Beach restaurant has the best burger?

It's up to the community to decide.

The second Ormond Burger Week event is taking place Saturday, May 4, through Sunday, May 12. This year's weeklong competition — founded by members of Realty Pros Assured and Realty Pro Title — features 17 local restaurants, all showcasing an off-menu original burger to compete for the title of the town's "Best Burger."

Like last year, all burgers will cost $10 dollars and those who wish to participate in voting for the competition must either download a passport and print it at home, or pick one up from one of the participating restaurants. Participants must try at least five burgers to be able to vote.

Carly Krajewski, of Realty Pros Assured, said she looks forward to seeing how the  restaurants do in the competition. 

"I love the excitement of the chefs," Krajewski said. "They are what gets me excited because they're so excited to show off their burger."

Particularly, she said, the chefs from restaurants who participated last year. Of the 17 restaurants, 11 are return competitors, and Krajewski said some have been thinking about what burger to submit since last year's competition.

"They're really excited to put their new spin on a different burger," Krajewski said. "[It'll] be very hard to choose your favorite."

Pumphouse BBQ returns to defend title

Returning this year to defend its "Best Burger" title, and add another trophy to their display, is Pumphouse BBQ. Owner Rob West and his chef Bryan Brymer won last year's competition with their rendition of a Cuban burger. 

This year, Brymer said they wanted to submit a burger that featured their barbecue and brisket. Thus, his "Triple 'B' Burger" was born.

The burger is made up of an 8-ounce burger patty topped with pepper jack cheese, chopped brisket, applewood smoked bacon, 1000 island homemade dressing, lettuce, tomato, onion and a pickle on a toasted bacon brioche bun, according to ormondburgerweek.com.

"We just tossed ideas around all year long joking about it, saying 'Oh it's coming up. Nine months, eight months,'" Brymer said. "We enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun here for us to do at the Pumphouse. It was a lot of work, but at the same time, it was a lot of fun."

Since winning last year, Brymer said they've seen an uptick in their overall burger sales. Customers will see the trophy and ask about it, and some are swayed to order a burger.

We love Burger Week. We think it's a great addition to the community for restaurants. Everybody gets to try new things and go to different restaurants. It brings everything together in the community so that people experience something new and we love that for us and for all the restaurants around here." — ROB WEST, Pumphouse BBQ owner

The Cuban Burger is now on their permanent menu — and doing well, Brymer said.

"We still sell those things like hotcakes some day," he said.

Brymer added that he's looking forward to tasting the burgers at the other restaurants for Ormod Burger Week as well. Looking at this year's list of burgers made him hungry, he said.

"It was so cool seeing how the other people, what they put out there for the burgers and how interested they were," Brymer said. "I feel like maybe everyone didn't realize how fun it would be last year, and maybe this year, they're a little more into it."

Pumphouse BBQ is also celebrating a milestone: the restaurant will be hosting a grand opening for the expansion of their space on Friday, May 3. The bar is now three times the size of what it used to be, West said, and there's more seating.

"We love Burger Week," West said. "We think it's a great addition to the community for restaurants. Everybody gets to try new things and go to different restaurants. It brings everything together in the community so that people experience something new and we love that for us and for all the restaurants around here."

Greg Hunter, of Speedway Custom Photo Lab, takes a photo of Lulu's Oceanside Grill burger entry for the competition, the Baja Burger. Courtesy photo

Community excitement

The six new competitors this year are LuLu's Oceanside Grill, Pirana Grill, Steer In Burger, FUGU, Fat Paulie's Wicked Awesome Eatery, Granada Family Diner, Tango's Ormond Beach and Alexander's.

Getting restaurants to participate was easy this year, Krajewski said. In fact, she had a restaurant from as far as Daytona Beach Shores reach out, interested in participating in Burger Week, which she turned away.

Ormond Burger Week committee member Skye Russell said a lot of people reached out asking when Burger Week would take place this year, and what restaurants were on the list.

"People actually know about it from last year," Russell said. " ... We have more new restaurants participating, so that's exciting — That they want to do it."

Billie Jo Kaler, who also serves on the committee, said she's most looking forward to seeing how restaurants prosper from the event. The new rule that the burger must be an off-menu offering has also generated excitement, she added. 

"I don't think I really realized what a success and what an impact it made on the people in the community, until I started watching foodie groups," Kaler said. "And they're asking, 'Is Ormond Burger Week happening? Has anyone heard from Ormond Burger Week?'" 

All the while, she said, the committee was working on bringing the event together. They were even sitting in a meeting when they mayor texted Kaler asking about Ormond Burger Week.

"I think because it's the second year, and it has more notoriety, we have more new restaurants," Kaler said. "To me, it's exciting."

Ormond Burger Week committee members Carly Krajewski and Yana Marchenko, try the Grind Gastropub's new burger entry for the competition, Kona's Kobe Burger. Courtesy photo


 

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