BelAir Cantina and Ian’s Pizza announced Thursday the two restaurants will have a friendly showdown during the month of July. Ian’s Pizza will take a shot at creating BelAir taco-inspired pizzas and BelAir is shooting back with a pizza-inspired taco, available July 10-July 30.

What started as friendly banter on social media has evolved into a full on face off, of sorts, between the two restaurants. For a limited time in July, Ian’s Pizza will offer three pizzas inspired by popular BelAir tacos and BelAir will replicate one of Ian’s pizzas using their recipe and ingredients to create a specialty taco.

Ian’s Food Lab Expert, Jeff Bach, spent weeks creating three distinctly different pizza specials that were directly inspired by some of BelAir Cantina's most popular tacos. Gathering inspiration from many places for unique weekly pizza specials, this is the first time Ian's has partnered with a Mexican restaurant for this type of campaign. The lineup for the month of July includes: Korean Beef Pizza (7/10-7/17); Cochinita Pibil Pizza (7/18-7/23); and Port-Queso Pizza (7/23-7/30).

BelAir Cantina restaurants will offer the Smokey the Bandit Taco, inspired by the Ian’s Pizza of the same name, from July 10 through July 30. Chef and Partner, Noe Zamora said, “this is the first time BelAir Cantina has replicated another restaurant’s menu item and the process was collaborative and the results impressive. Our customers are going to love this taco!”

“In the end, the person who comes out the winner is our customer. We share an affinity with BelAir customers and know that people who like pizza often like tacos too. This was a fun way to engage with their customers and vice versa.  It’s less of a showdown and more of a win-win for everybody,” said Andy Johnson, Marketing Director, Ian’s Pizza Milwaukee.

“We’re excited about this matchup and are looking forward to borrowing some of Ian’s customers for a while. Taking one of Ian’s best tasting pizzas and giving it a BelAir taco twist is the best of both worlds in our opinion!,” said Kristyn Eitel, Partner, Toro, Toro, Toro.