EDITED downtown event
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 16, 2015 1:50 AM
Not many people would consider putting watermelon on their burger.
Even fewer would grill the watermelon before pairing it with habenero pepper jam as a burger condiment.
But that's exactly what The Village Steakhouse did at Saturday's Battle of the Burgers and Cornhole Tournament at the Center Street Bazaar.
And it worked.
The Village Steakhouse took first place in the Battle of the Burgers competition, while Carl and 'Chelle's Grill Room took second and a married couple -- Brian and Amy Brown -- whose team name was Chillin' and Grillin', took third. A team consisting of Parker Croom, owner of Bad Dog Coffee Works downtown, and Will Sommerich, owner of Horton's Vintage in the Center Street Bazaar, came in fourth.
"We created a silver platter engraved with 'Battle of the Burgers' for the winner to give them something they might want to hang in their restaurant," said Center Street Bazaar owner John Buskey, who hosted the event.
Pete Kascsak, owner of The Village Steakhouse, said the recipe for the winning burger was formulated specifically for Saturday's event.
It consisted of a hamburger patty with a seasoning blend special to the steakhouse, feta cheese, grilled watermelon and habenero pepper jam.
"We just put our heads together and started thinking of things to put on the burger," Kascsak said. "Sometimes that's how the best things are created."
The judges of the event -- Majesty Rose, Joey Guevremont, Erin Buskey and John Kearney -- gave the winning burger rave reviews, scoring each entry on a scale of one to 10 in the categories of taste, appearance and originality.
"You'd never think pepper jam and watermelon would go well together," Kearney said. "But they did a hell of a job."
While the watermelon burger is not a regular menu item at the steakhouse, the judges said they would have to convince Kascsak to put it on the menu.
"People put pineapple on a pizza, so I figured we might as well try putting fruit on a burger," said The Village Steakhouse sous chef Charles Mills.
Carl and Michelle Lewis entered their restaurant's spicy ranch burger into the competition. The recipe consist of an angus ribeye hamburger patty that is ground and made in house, topped with spicy ranch, American cheese and various condiments.
"We square our loins off and use the endcuts to grind up into burger patties," said Carl Lewis, owner of Carl and 'Chelle's Grill Room. "It's a certified angus ribeye beef patty that we grind up and make ourselves."
Lewis said while their business is not downtown, they want to see downtown grow, which is why they attended Saturday's event.
Buskey said he put on the event in an effort to draw attention to downtown and give people a reason to stay in the Wayne County area on the weekends instead of going out of town to Raleigh or the beach.
"Once the street gets going we think it's going to blow up," Buskey said in reference to the completion of the Streetscape project. "Downtown is going to be huge. This is us doing our part to bring people to this area and encourage people to be a part of their downtown."
Buskey said he'd like to use his business' parking lot for the event every year in the future, and continue hosting the burger and cornhole event.
"This was us looking at what kind of event doesn't exist in the Wayne County area and creating it," Buskey said. "You have things like Beak Week and Pig in the Park, but this is unique. People are always looking for something to do on the weekends, and if nothing is going on then they're going to go out of town. So we're trying to do things to keep people downtown on the weekends. All the other businesses downtown, even though they might not participate in this event, they appreciate things like this because it brings people down here and into their businesses."