Feb. 2, 2021

What are the odds? A business known for pizza has won the Downtown Burger Battle.

Papa Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza brought home the big award with its burger The Uptowner.

It’s a half-pound ground chuck and brisket patty seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. Add a “healthy smear of cream cheese” mixed with diced jalapenos, banana peppers and shredded cheddar on the bottom of a fresh pretzel bun.

Melted cheddar and Munster cheese top the burger with wood-fired pineapple tidbits and thick cherry wood smoked bacon drizzled with sweet chili sauce. It’s served with a handful of fries, a fried pickle spear and a side of ranch.

Papa Woody’s is in the Jones421 Building at 421 N. Phillips Ave. This is the first year it has participated in the Downtown Burger Battle.

Owners Steve Blumke and Lisa Esser started the business as a food truck before graduating into a storefront at Jones421. They expanded this year to add overflow seating across the hall and persevered through the pandemic.

“It’s absolutely overwhelming,” Esser said of the win.

“We are just trying to participate in everything that’s going on downtown, and we are going to find a way.”

The menu includes a variety of wood-fired pizzas and appetizers — but usually no burgers. They installed a flattop grill so they could participate in the contest.

“It’s been so much fun, the support, the camaraderie,” Esser said. “We tried a bunch (of other burgers) ourselves.”

Blumke also personally cooked more than 1,000 burgers.

The Uptown also will become a new addition to the menu.

Ready to try it? Or eat it again?

Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

This year’s Downtown Burger Battle drew a record two dozen restaurant participants and got a big boost from MarketBeat, which pledged to donate $1 for every burger sold to Call to Freedom.

“This has been the biggest burger battle we have ever had,” said Sadie Swier, community outreach coordinator at Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.

There were more than 11,000 votes, compared with 7,000 last year.

In second place was Chef Lance’s on Phillips with the “MarketBeat Burger” and Blarney Stone Pub with the “Golden Porker Burger” followed in third place.

A special group of people strategized to eat all 24 burgers, Swier said.

The 42 “burger brawlers” will receive special promotional materials and “beef bucks” from the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association.

The total burger count will be released by the end of the week.

Five years later, pioneering downtown building is nearly full