A local pizza shop owner brought home some hardware from The California Pizza Challenge earlier this month.
Sean Dempsey, a Watertown native and member of the United States Pizza Team since 2017, took first place in the Three Cheese Challenge and earned runner-up for Best Traditional Sauce.
Danger Von Dempseys is locate
d in the Brookings Mall off 22nd St. near Hy-Vee. It will be celebrating its second year in Brookings at the end of the month.
Competing for the United States Pizza Team, Dempsey has traveled around the globe participating in international competitions in Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and more.
The Watertown native says traveling has taught him a lot about business and pizza. These events have given him new ideas and a chance to learn from other experts in the field. They are skills he has brought back to his restaurants in South Dakota.
One of his favorite parts about competing is, “to bring our staff and give them this eye-opening experience.”
Before becoming an international competitor, his passion for cooking began 26 years ago, when the original Danger Von Dempsey’s opened in Watertown, he says. Dempsey was 13.
“I like to say I grew up in the back kitchen,” he said.
While he always had a passion for culinary, pizza quickly became his specialty.
“Pizza gave me a canvas,” Dempsey said. “Something to be fun and creative with.”
Dempsey’s creativity is reflected in Danger Von Dempseys menu and the restaurant is known around Brookings for its unique pizzas.
According to general manager Richard DeGraw and assistant manager Jason Vossler, one of their most popular pizzas is The Jackrabbit. The pizza features an alfredo base, chicken, bacon, tomatoes, black olives, peppadews (a type of pepper) and hot honey drizzle.
At the Brookings location every month employees, who Dempsey calls pizzaiolos (an Italian term for pizza maker or pizza chef) compete for a spot on the menu. This month’s winner is the Santa Monica BLVD, which includes a queso base, carnitas, guacamole, pico de gallo and sriracha aioli drizzle.
Besides competing against each other, the staff regularly compete in online competitions. These involve sending pictures of pizza and attaching recipes, breakdowns and inspiration for their dishes.
The restaurant updates the menu every three to four months. Coming this fall/winter, the menu will feature more pastas and heartier dishes. Employees say they saw success last winter experimenting with more than just pizza and hope to offer more specials this year.
Looking ahead at the next few months, Dempsey said he hopes to add Detroit style pizzas to the menu. These pizzas feature a deep-dish style that includes caramelized cheese edges.
On the competition side Dempsey plans to compete again Oct. 25 in Columbus, Ohio. From there he will gear up for international competitions starting the end of March.
