A Battle of Flavors Across Vermillion
There’s nothing more uniting than bringing the community together on a friendly battle between restaurants. The Vermillion Area Chamber & Development Company (VCDC) established Vermillion’s first pizza battle.
Restaurants in the area will feature pizzas of their own creation throughout Feb. People can visit participating businesses and cast their vote later in the month on the VCDC’s LiveVermillion app or by scanning the QR codes at each restaurant.
The idea for starting this competition came after two successful summers of Vermillion’s Burger Battle. Although many of the participating restaurants offer burgers or sandwiches as part of their menu, pizza is not an item that is usually made in these restaurants. Therefore, this competition is an interesting challenge for the restaurants as well.
“We are not a pizza place, so I came up with something that we can prepare quickly […], and it’s not a traditional pizza,” Jim Waters, head chef and co-owner of Café Brule, said. “We do a lot of fusion cooking, so I wanted to balance the ingredients.”
Their Brule Birria Pizzette blends ingredients like shredded birria, cotija crumbles, pepperjack cheese and more to bring its unique flavor to life.
Café Brule is not the only one experimenting with ingredients in their pizza dish. Restaurants like the XIX Brewing Company and Mamacita’s are thinking outside the box by offering options different from the usual pizza. XIX Brewing Company is competing with their pizza rolls, and Mamacita’s entry is a pizza birria, made with tortillas instead of dough.
“The cooks decided on the pizza birria because in Mexico City and other states of Mexico, there’s always a lot of creativity on the ingredients and pizzas they make,” Julio Reyes, an employee at Mamacitas, said. “We wanted to showcase that as well.”
The Vermillion Pizza Battle is not a simple competition, but an opportunity for every participating restaurant to showcase its creativity in different ways. Ultimately, every dish is a reflection of the work and effort put into their own businesses. Community members have until February. 28 to try the pizzas and cast their vote.
