The presidential food fight

You’ve seen the posters, you’ve seen the platforms — but have you tasted the food?

As part of running for president and chief executive officer of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union, candidates created signature meals to serve at Wilf’s Pub for the duration of the campaign period. This year: the Vanzerotti and the Murdrock & Roll Burger, courtesy of candidates Tyler Van Herzele and Tyler Murdock.

Both dishes offer unique spins on existing menu items.

The Vanzerotti is a classic Wilf’s pizza folded in half and then stuffed with Laurier’s official meme food: spin dip.

The Murdrock & Roll Burger is topped with onion rings, cheese, bacon and Murdock’s favourite: rock and roll sauce.

Presentation

Right off the bat, both dishes have immaculate presentation. The Murdrock & Roll is served open-face to reveal a healthy stack of onion rings and cheese. With curly fries on the side, this dish recalls the hockey hair days of Murdock’s past.

The Vanzerotti features an elegantly curled seam, bronzed to perfection. In keeping with this hair theme, the Vanzerotti is paired with regular fries reminiscent of Van Herzele’s straight hair.

If you squint a little, you can just make out the candidates’ faces in their respective dishes.

It’s a close call, but the Vanzerotti takes it for presentation with the beautiful seam.

Creativity

Judging by creativity, the Vanzerotti should probably be disqualified for its use of spinach dip. As delicious as this cream cheese concoction is, it has been combined time and time again with various Wilf’s dishes. The Murdrock & Roll threw a curveball with the inclusion of rock and roll sauce, a modestly popular wing sauce.

Murdock takes this round by default with his wing sauce and burger pairing.

Taste

This isn’t even fair.

The Murdrock & Roll burger was pretty good, albeit a little dry, but we can’t discredit Tyler Murdock for that. In concept, this burger should work. Rock and roll sauce is my choice wing sauce, and I’ve always enjoyed the Wilf’s burgers, but sadly this dish failed to leave a mark.

With so many toppings at play, the rock and roll sauce taste faded beneath the beef, cheese and onion rings. I respect the effort, but this recipe could use some tweaking.

The world stood still the moment I took my first bite of the Vanzerotti. Background noise became muffled by a humming, warm buzz in my ear.

The glazed and gleaming crust cracked with a crunch, to reveal the oozing, cheesy interior. I looked to the sky and knew. This is the one.

Without a doubt, no contest, the Vanzerotti is the better tasting of the two and is arguably the best thing I’ve had at Wilf’s. It is unapologetically rich, heavy and comforting — the perfect kind of pub grub.

Closing Statements

If this was Iron Chef, Van Herzele would take the top prize without a doubt.

Despite my love for the Vanzerotti, I hope this inkling has no bearing on who you will vote for. Read the platforms, talk to the candidates and get informed. Keep food out of politics.