Five Orange County burger makers vied for top honors at the inaugural Old Towne Burger Fest on Saturday, Sept. 13. Mike Obedoza’s Filipino pop-up, Banger Lumpia, wan named the festival’s first champion.
For Obedoza, the win was meaningful. “It was very emotional for me in that I was just grateful to be considered” to participate, he said, and “to be rewarded for something that represents purely who I am, and then for my community, I’m just so thankful.”
His burger is a deeply personal creation, one that “best represents who I am,” he said. As a Filipino-American, he created a burger that reflects both sides of his heritage. “I’ve taken all of these components and kind of deconstructed it into a smashburger,” he explained.
The patty is made from ground beef marinated like traditional lumpia, with soy sauce, garlic, carrots and onions. In addition to garlic mayo and pickled cucumber slices that mimic lumpia sauce, the burger’s crowning touch is a griddle-toasted cheddar cheese layer with lacy, crisped edges. To retain the “crunchy” and “crispy” texture of lumpia, he adds a deep-fried piece of wrapper. And for the “Cali component,” Obedoza uses fresh jalapeños and avocado for both “contrast of textures” and a nod to his Southern California roots.
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Picking up the people’s choice award was Jolly Burger for its classically composed yet perfectly executed smashburger.
Banger Lumpia and Jolly Burger competed alongside Pork & the Pickle, MoBites and Brew Krew Catering.
A handful of local notables judged the competition, including Orange Mayor Dan Slater, Sergio Contreras Jr. of @madeinorangecounty, Brandy Romero, who runs the Instagram account @theresnoplacelikeorange, popular food content creator Lily of @OCfeed, festival founder Cortez and me, Orange County Register food and restaurant reporter Brock Keeling.
“I love it. I think this is a great idea because burgers are so quintessentially American,” Slater said.
For Contreras, also a former Westminster City Council member, “it’s all about food” and how “people come together and gather around food.” He noted his appreciation for “small businesses that “get in on the action and showcase their passions.”
In addition to the burger competition, a handful of other pop-ups, like baked-goods purveyors With Love, From Scratch and Knead You Now appeared at the event.
Families, couples, college students, gastronomes ranging from Michelin stargazers to Chili’s Triple Dipper devotees, kids and a welcoming array of dogs (Chapman Crafted Beer is a canine-friendly space) gathered for the weekend celebration of burgers. Rock outfit Thelma and Louise performed a litany of rock songs and ’90s standards while guests milled about eating some of Orange County’s best fare.
Throngs of people showed up with a line stretched out the front entrance of Chapman Crafted, the family-owned microbrewery who hosted the event. At 11 o’clock when the fest commenced, Lily of OCFeed said, “There’s already a ton of people here, which is a great turnout. It’s amazing.” She added, “ I feel the first beginnings of fall starting to trickle in, which is the perfect time for burgers.”
Indeed, roughly more than one thousand people show up to the Saturday afternoon festival, much to the surprise and excitement of Old Towne Burger Fest founder Cesar Cortez, who owns and operates his own prize-winning burger pop-up El Brewjo.
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“I’m humbled by the support,” said Cortez, noting he had initially expected about 500 people “throughout the day, but it looks like we got 500 people in the first hour alone.” He added, “Old Town really is a community and it really showed its support today.”
The question on everyone’s minds: Will Old Towne Burger Fest return? All signs point to yes. “I certainly hope it continues,” said Mayor Slater. “I think it’s a great event.”
Inspired by his own experience placing in the LAist Tournament of Cheeseburgers in Los Angeles — El Brewjo took second place and third place in 2024 and 2025, respectively — Cortez decided to bring a similar competition/festival to Orange County. He created Old Towne Burger Fest to spotlight talented pop-up chefs who often lack the funding or physical presence of more established brick-and-mortar burger joints.