Chow Down Video

Video from the 3rd Annual Chow Down for Charity held at Steve's Snappin' Dogs...

Chow Down!

I have won a hot dog contest by 1/2 but I had not lost a hot dog eating contest by 1/2 until the 3rd Chow Down for Charity.

The Chow Down for Charity hot dog eating contest finals took place at Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs in Denver. A big shout out to my posse there to cheer me on. And they did cheer very loudly. Thanks to them I finally broke through at a Steve’s final and was 2nd. Behind Jimmy Mares. By ½ hot dog and bun. Ahead of Toothless by 1 hot dog and bun.




There were 8 eaters who had previously qualified to eat in the finals. The contest was 8 minutes long, and the hot dogs had to be eaten together. No dunking, thankfully, and no separating the dog from the bun. The gathered crowd counted down, and it was on. Jimmy, Mark, and I were more or less even throughout the contest. I think I was hitting the water too much. I know I chipmunked too much throughout. At the end I had just enough room to get the rest of dog #10 in my mouth and, with Mark on my right side, cram a bit of #11 in too so I was able to secure 2nd. I did not realize I was as close as I was to Jimmy’s 11. Had I known that then maybe I could have done something.


But my 10.5 is good, even though losing by ½ feels pretty shitty. In the 2008 finals, I did 8. In the 2009 finals, 9 was my number. In 2010, 10.5! So while Jimmy decreased 15% from his 2009 total, and Mark decreased 13% from 2009, I went up by 16%.

Some other links:

Westword #1

Steve's Snappin' Dogs

Westword #2

CDFC Results

Full Chow Down for Charity results:

1. Jimmy "The Jimineater" Mares 11
2. Andrew "A-Bomb" Lane - 10.5
3. Mark Sutherburg - 9.5
4. Bryant Gilbert - 6
4. Ryan Lucchese - 6
4. Paul Danek - 6
7. Joe Chapmann - 4
8. Mike O'Neil - 3

Scotch Egg Contest

Scotch Eggs are on the menu for the Scotch Egg Eating Contest at the Argyll Gastropub. This is the first contest I've gone in to without eating the contest food beforehand; but eggs are good. So is sausage. And fried stuff is delicious.


The Scotch eggs at Argyll have a twist over the usual eggs. Take a soft-boiled egg, wrap it in sausage,coat in bread crumbs, deep fry it, and it's done.


12 of us sit down at the table. Some local celebrities, some chefs, Steve (of Steve's Snappin' Dogs) and some regular people. We each get a plate of 10 eggs, a clear cup of water, and a napkin. 7 minutes on the clock.

On go, I do. The eggs are really good. The outer crust is not too hard, the sausage wrap not too thick, and the yolk pops just right and is some really effective lube. The eggs are somewhat rich, but not too over-powering.


You know how I eat in these things. Not Juliet-debris at all, but stuffed cheeks and yolk on my hands and face. Some of the competitors are grossed out. Ha! Most people eat between 1 and 7 eggs. Steve downed 7. The Argyll executive chef did 8. Martini-swilling Garret ate 10. Me, 13 1/2. And Garret ate his 10 really cleanly.


But a win is always good. And I ate a new food. Good cause + good food = good times!

The food editors at the Westword and 5280. They were really disgusted. By me! Hooray me!

Be sure to check out the full gallery of photos. And the video. T-bonz, you kick ass! Oh, and big ups to our rabbi who was in attendance.

Fat Brothers

Last weekend: hot dog eating contest at the 1st year anniversary celebration on Fat Brothers, a great spot for some great food in the close-knit town of Fort Lupton, Colorado.

It was hot. The high temp in Denver that day was 102, and the plains are usually hotter. So it was hot. But there was a tent set up, and thankfully we ate under that and not out in the sun.


The contest was also a fundraiser for the Fort Lupton fire department. 10 people - including Steve Ramirez who was in Colorado on business - stepped up to down some hot dogs. 7 minutes. The dogs were boiled, and the buns were perfectly soft and delicious. I like my wiener in soft buns.

Dogs getting set up

My plate after

Dang

The top 3:

Chico 11
A-Bomb 9.5
Steve Ramirez 8.5

Mezcal Video

Here is some video of the action from the taco eating contest at Mezcal in Denver.

Info You Can Trust

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Bernie's Hot Dogs

This year at the Highlands Ranch Community Association's 2nd Annual July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest it was pretty much like last year.


The hot dogs for the contest, sponsored by Bernie’s Hot Dogs, were all-beef Vienna Beef dogs. Very delicious, and same as last year. The buns were pillowy soft, and same as last year. The contest was 5 minutes, the same as last year. Last year, judges would take deductions for chipmunking at the end. This year, no deductions (thankfully!) would be taken. Last year, I downed 9. This year, I downed 9 also. Last year there was an eat-off to determine 3rd place. This year I was in an eat-off to determine the 2nd and 3rd places. Last year, I pulled 2nd place. And this year, same as last year, I pulled 2nd place.


I went in totally confident about the technique I was going to use – “The Seiken”. Dunk about ¼ of the HDB, get that down, and do it again and again. But at the contest, right away on dunk #1 of dog #1, two things popped up. First, the cups provided were much narrower than the cups with which I prepared so dunking the pillowy bun proved an issue as the bun sides hit the cup each time and tore off. Second, the pillowy buns really took on the water, even though the dunks were quick, and the buns more or less disintegrated. Instead of calmly switching technique from “Seiken” to “Steve’s” my eat devolved from a panicky Seiken to a just-as-panicky dunk-the-whole-thing-and-wad-it-into-a-ball. I would stuff that in the mouth and then move on. If I had switched techniques, no problem. But I didn’t, so the first stop on the Redemption Tour ended without the redemption I oh-so wanted.

Oy vey.


So I somehow survived the eating. Toward the end of the 5 minutes, I did a quick check of the other trays to see where I stood. One tray clearly ahead of me. One very close. The judges counted, and the one guy did 12. I managed 9. Last year I tied for 1st but was deducted – clearly the deduction was the correct thing to do – for chipmunking. So to end 3 off the lead certainly sat better. But another guy had 9 also, so we went to a 3-dog eat-off.

The judges announced the eat-off winner would be the first to put the 3 HDBs in their mouth and remove their hands from their mouth (so not holding the dogs in). Well that’s chipmunking – and I can do that better than just about anybody! So that’s what I did.


Stop #2 of the 2010 Redemption Tour coming up!

You can view a complete gallery here.

X Does It!

When I asked for the eaters at Coney to wear gloves as a statement against the antics of a particular eater at a Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier in California, who knew the only eater with big enough balls to do it would be Tim "Eater X" Janus. Roommate and best friend of the cheater. I had not thought about it, but I wonder how Janus really feels having to associate himself with such a blatant cheat, liar, and self-centered person?

More Mezcal

A few more photos from the taco eating contest. I won it with 27 tacos. Yum!