Feb. 7, 2025

If you’re looking to continue the fun of January’s Downtown Burger Battle, there are four competitions going on this month.

Restaurants and bars in the Sioux Falls area are vying for titles with pizzas, tacos, sandwiches and more burgers.

Sioux Empire Pizza Battle

The inaugural Sioux Empire Pizza Battle features 11 locally owned and operated pizza places competing to see who has the best specialty pizza. Entries range from toppings such as birria and chorizo street corn to crab rangoon and pulled pork with onion rings.

Participating are Big Poppa’s Pizza, Boss’ Pizza & Chicken, Boston’s Restaurant & Sports Bar, Charlie’s Pizza House, Dareo’s Pizza, Invictus Pizza Kitchen, Marco’s Pizza, The Scapegoat, The Thirsty Duck, both Tomacelli’s locations and Valentino’s.

Each restaurant picked a charity to receive part of the proceeds.

To see all the pizzas and vote for your favorite, click here.

Bite-Sized Showdown

Seven small-town restaurants within a 45-minute drive of Sioux Falls are competing to see who has the best taco in the inaugural Bite-Sized Showdown.

Participants are Tailgators Grill & Bar in Brandon; Titans Tavern and Squealer’s Smoke Shack, both in Tea; The Taco Vault in Worthing; Chuds Pub & Grub and the Sports Center, both in Larchwood, Iowa; and Hatfield Roadhouse in Hatfield, Minnesota.

They’re being judged on flavor, toppings, meat, shell and presentation. Each restaurant will provide a QR code for casting votes.

 605 Rural Burger Battle

The inaugural 605 Rural Burger Battle will be a little easier for diners to try all the burgers compared with the 39 entries in the Downtown Burger Battle.

The six competing burgers at bars and restaurants north of Sioux Falls are Baltic Corner east of Baltic; Wooden Nickel in Crooks; Norby’s, Pinz and Prohibition Pub, all in Dell Rapids; and Safari Bar & Grill in Renner.

“As a group, we are very community-minded and are excited to provide a fun and exciting event for our community to attend,” said Sandi Sorum, co-owner of Safari.

She reached out to a dozen restaurants, and those that decided to participate this year helped organize the battle.

“We’ve had interest from other bars and restaurants in joining us next year, so we do plan to continue and have more communities involved,” Sorum said.

The burgers are being judged on flavor, patty, toppings, bun and presentation. Each location will provide a QR code for casting votes.

SouthSide Slamwich

The SouthSide Slamwich is back for its second year. This year’s contest includes 15 restaurants in Sioux Falls south of 41st Street from the east to west sides of the city.

The “local mom-and-pop shops” are competing with handcrafted sandwiches and will be judged based on a five-star rating from “Needs improvement” to “Outstanding! A sandwich that has truly mastered the game.”

Participants are 22Ten Kitchen Cocktails, All Day Cafe, The Attic East Bar & Grill The Barrel House, Daily Clean Food & Drink, Jack Rose Social Club, JJ’s Bar, Krav’n, Look’s Marketplace, Lucky’s on Louise, Roundhouse Brew Pub, Rush Bar & Grill, The Smoked Culture, TapHouse 41, Tinners Public House.

To view the sandwiches from participating restaurants and vote, click here.

The competition is sharing rave reviews on its Facebook page.