Vendy and Burger Brawl Winners

Back-to-back for Blue Duck.

This week saw two big food competitions go down in Philadelphia. On Saturday, Philadelphia’s food truck scene was saluted with the Vendy Awards. The “Oscars of food trucks” named Foolish Waffles the best food truck; SeoulFull Philly as the rookie of the year; and Underground Donuts for Best Dessert.

Then on Sunday, the Burger Brawl took over the parking lot adjacent to Xfinity Live as 54 restaurants competed for the title of best burger. There were three awards on the line, the Judges Choice, the People’s Choice and new this year, a cocktail competition.

Village Whiskey’s Frenchy Burger

Yours truly was among the thirty judges who narrowed the field down via a blind tasting to choose Village Whiskey’s Frenchy Burger as its winner. Jose Garces’s burger palace served a burger with sauce au poivre, black truffle aioli, cabernet grilled onions and Gruyere cheese wowed the judges.

The people went with Northeast Philly’s Blue Duck, claiming the People’s Choice for the second year in a row. After winning with his pork roll burger in 2014, this year Kris Serviss went with the Blue Jawn; duck and beef patty, red onion jam, Maytag blue cheese, mesclun, duck cracklins and served on a brioche bun.

In the cocktail competition, Aldine’s Greg Diamond took home the honors for his bourbon cocktail with elderflower liqueur, blackberries and lemon juice.

Burger Brawl drew more than 4,000 people to the event and raised an estimated $200,000 for Philadelphia public schools.