The Vine, a recently opened restaurant in downtown Peterborough, has been crowned the victor of Peterborough’s first-ever Caesar Fest.
Organized by the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), the celebration of Canada’s favourite cocktail took place during July, with 11 restaurants, cafés, and pubs featuring their own unique and savoury homages to this Canadian classic, including Caesar cocktails and mocktails and Caesar-inspired food dishes. Festival-goers were encouraged to vote for their favourites online.
With 800 online votes cast, The Vine — a new pescatarian restaurant at 165 Sherbrooke Street — was chosen as the winner for their Papa Tom’s Classic Virgin Caesar.
“Who knew that the new kids on the block would be taking home the trophy for the very first Caesar Fest,” says The Vine co-owner Tyrone Flowers in a media release. “We’re so humbled and we want to say thank you to everyone who came out to try our Papa Tom’s Caesar.”
The El P’s Kimchi Caesar was the second favourite, with The Dirty Burger’s Dirty Muddy Caesar coming in third place.
During Caesar Fest, the Peterborough DBIA hired local performance artist Naomi Duvall to play “Julia Caes-her,” a town crier for the festival who promoted interest on the streets and in participating restaurants by engaging the unsuspecting public.
“I appreciate how the community has been so engaged with my character and this program,” Duvall says. I had a lot of fun developing the persona” Duvall says. “I think it’s great that the DBIA took this opportunity to marry theatrical arts with the culinary scene to enrich the fabric of our downtown community.”
Caeser Fest will return to downtown Peterborough next summer. For more information, visit www.ptbocaesarfest.com.
