‘It feels surreal.’ This Miami favorite wins Burger Bash for the third time
On a perfect Miami Beach night, under an almost-full moon, the burger crowns were bestowed once again.
At the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash — hosted by Rachael Ray, who hosted the first Burger Bash in 2007 — burger lovers and celebrity judges ate, drank, ate some more and voted for their favorite patties.
This year, a Miami brand with 10 locations and a burger pop-up came home winners, each with $2,500 and bragging rights for a year.
The People’s Choice
Award went to Pincho for its Jalapeño Delight, a Schweid & Sons prime burger patty topped with jalapeño jack cheese, jalapeño bacon jam, jalapeño bacon and cilantro jalapeño aoili on a butter brioche bun.
Co-founder Otto Othman was jubilant. Pincho also won in 2015 and 2019.
“It feels surreal,” he said, after the Pincho team engaged in several raucous “PINCHO!” chants. “I am so happy! We have been working very hard since 2019 to win this again.”
Unlike many other competitors, Othman said, Pincho competes with a new burger every year.
“We spend 10 or 12 months working on a burger,” he said. “We’re already talking about what we’ll do for next year.”
The celebrity judges — Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”; rapper Yung Gravy; Trina Robinson of WTVJ-NBC 6; rapper Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, formerly of RUN DMC; Enrique Santos of iHeart Latino; and model Kate Upton — chose another favorite. The Very Best Burger Award went to the pop-up Cowy Burgers, which served an Angus smash patty with American cheese, bacon jam, grilled onions and Cowy sauce.
Owners Daniel Machicao, Carlos Reveron and
Guillermo Felipe, all originally from Venezuela, were thrilled by the recognition. Cowy Burgers pops up around town at places such as J Wakefield Brewing in Wynwood and Prison Pals Doral.
“As soon as we saw it last year, we said, ‘We’ve got to be there next year, and we’ve got to win,’ ” Machicao said. “And here we are a year later, happy. Can’t ask for more.”
Reveron said they had been dreaming of victory for more than a year.
“I was checking WhatsApp earlier today, and a year and a half ago we were sending messages between us saying, ‘We have to be able to be at Burger Bash one day,’ ”
Reveron said. “We love so many other restaurants that were participating here today. It feels amazing to be holding the trophy.”
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival continues through Sunday with events across the Beach and other parts of MiamiDade. All net proceeds benefit the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University.