A Night That Will Live in Beefy Infamy
Just when I think I’ve seen the best the Omaha restaurant community has to offer, it manages to raise the bar yet again. That happened again Sunday night.
Block 16 hosted its third Burger Fight, an event that invites three of Omaha’s best chefs to craft signature burgers. The chefs serve slider versions of each creation to hungry customers, who vote on which they think is best. The concept is incredibly fun, and it created real buzz around the Omaha community. Nearly 200 voters took part, and lines began forming about half an hour before the doors opened.
And I honestly don’t know how many cities could’ve pulled it off.
Before we get there, however, let’s meet the contenders. Chefs Nick Strawhecker (Dante, Forno), Paul Kulik (Via Farina, Le Bouillon), and Dario Schicke (Dario’s Brasserie), all titans in the Omaha restaurant community, battled hand-to-hand (patty-to-patty?) for the belt. These three are all incredibly talented and lead some of Omaha’s best restaurants; handicapping the event coming in was next to impossible.
Each diner was asked to blind taste test 3 sliders. Here were the contestants:
Burger #1: Smash patty, caramelized onion, tomato and smoked paprika sauce, smoked provolone cheese
Burger #2: Smash patty, American cheese, umami sauce, special spread, lettuce, tomatoes, onions
Burger #3: Beer cheese, cucumber frisce, pickled radish, egg yolk sauce
Choosing which to vote for was borderline painful, as all were delicious. Burger 3 had the most interesting and creative components, but I felt they didn’t work quite as cohesively as the first two. I respected the serious effort went into Burger 2; I was told post-voting that the chef had slider versions of Shake Shack’s buns flown in for the event. The buns were indeed the highlight, pillowy and with just a touch of sweetness, and the two halves remained attached, creating a bit of a burger pocket.
But the winner, in my mind, was Burger 1, which got a major boost from the smoky tomato sauce. I’d eat that slightly tangy and sweet sauce off a sandal; on a delicious burger patty, it took me to Cloud 9.
Oh, and there was a fry bar, complete with fountains dispensing gravy, cheese sauce, and ranch. This event was an incredible treat for the taste buds alone.
Burger 1 emerged the victor, and Nick Strawhecker was awarded the Burger Belt. But while there was a winner, there were no losers in this event.
That’s because a food community came together. Think about it: one restaurant (Block 16) brought three other chefs into its space to host an event. All these places, in theory, are competing with one another for customers. If someone chooses to go to dinner at Dante, they’re not spending their money at Block 16 or Dario’s. That’s an opportunity lost for the latter two restaurants.
By introducing diners to other chefs, Block 16 hypothetically risked costing itself business. The same goes for the other chefs, who promoted the event and, by extension, their competitors.
But the Omaha restaurant community doesn’t see things that way. Not everyone is best friends, but for the most part, this collection of chefs and restaurants embraces each other and celebrates in shared successes.
Could this type of collaboration happen in other cities? Maybe. I don’t have enough knowledge to say it can’t. But I have trouble believing too many places could bring together several competitors (again, in theory) to work together on one event. It was fun to see Nick, Dario, and Paul jokingly harass each other and engage with patrons.
And by holding this event, Block 16 brought the Omaha food community together. Among those present: Sarah Baker Hansen, the former food writer for the Omaha World-Herald; Stacy Winters, co-founder of the Omaha Food Lovers Facebook group (now more than 12,000 strong); Dave Zorko, co-host of the Faturday Omaha podcast. I even got recognized by a few readers (thank you so much to everyone who said hi!). I got to have conversations with other people who love Omaha and food that I may have never otherwise gotten to interact with.
And that’s what truly made Burger Fight III so awesome. Yes, the burgers were tremendous, and the fry bar was a unique treat. But this was something that brought chefs, writers, fans, and just hungry citizens together in one place, something that doesn’t happen often. And I find that really special.
Thanks to Block 16 for hosting an amazing event, and major props to Nick, Paul, and Dante for creating some incredible burgers. Omaha owes you a lot.
Now let’s get Burger Fight IV on the calendar. Omaha (and my stomach) is ready for a rematch!