Mezcal Maxed

Me after defending my title in the taco eating contest at Mezcal. I have 28 tacos - and all that water - in me. Ugh.

Eat Mor Chikin

The Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Chik-Fil-A is pretty delicious by itself.


But it is pretty boring.

All you have to add:


BBQ beef on the Spicy Chicken Sandwich -- yeah!

Where It's At

Fresh roasted green chile peppers!

I Didn't Throw Up

That’s about the only good thing I can say about Tuesday night.

That, and I defended my title at the Mezcal taco eating contest.


28 of us threw down. 28!

The contest was divided into 3 rounds. Round 1, we had 10 minutes to eat 15 tacos. Make it to round 2, you had 10 minutes to down 10 tacos. The final round was a 3-minute eat-all-you-can race.

Round 1. Kind of a crazy atmosphere with 28 of us, but we all got situated. When the plate of 15 tacos was put in front of me, my first thought was “holy crap, they’re big!”. The tacos for the last contest were tortilla, a little meat, and some cabbage. I’d say 2 ounces. These, 4 or 5 ounces, maybe? Same tortilla, bigger chunks of meat, more cabbage, and some pico de gallo. And some hot sauce. HOT. But we all had to handle the 15. I don’t remember too much about the eating, but I know I had to seriously stuff it in so I could have a clear plate at the end and move to round 2. Of the original 28 eaters, just 7 moved on to round 2.


Round 2. 10 tacos. Another serious stuff at the end. A couple of guys, who had finished their plate, puked. Some guy sporting a bandana named Damon, from New Orleans, claimed a 40-1 record in eating contests. Make that 40-2 now. Me and another guy (he had to be 6-8, maybe 260, a hulk) were the only ones to make it to round 3.

Me and the Damon guy

Damon puked at 22 or 23.

Round 3. The other guy was hurting, and so was I. We both just cleared our mouths from round 2 when round 3 began. He ate ½, and threw in the towel. Thankfully! I was thinking about taking the win and ending it too, but I didn’t. I at least wanted to up my taco record. I dug deep, and after putting down 3 more, I called it. 28 eaten. Upped my record from last time by 2. Him calling it after ½ was really, really fortunate for me. I was maxed.


Easily the most I’ve eaten. Easily. Between the tacos and water, no doubt about it.


The last taco eating contest at Mezcal was, comparatively, much easier. This one, not so easy. Without T-bonz, no way. I did the work, but she pulled me through. Everyone should get their own T-bonz.

Top 3:

1st - 28 - Me
2nd - 25.5 - Miguel
3rd - 22 - Roscoe

nightlifedenver.com has an awesome gallery of photos here.

Video from Ribs

Here is some video from the rib eating contest at the Rib House in Boulder.

More Ribs

I have uploaded a gallery of photos from the rib eating contest at the Rib House in Boulder. I finished tied for 3rd with 2 1/3 racks eaten. 2nd place had 2 1/2. 1st place, Jon, had just over 3.

Ribs!

Last night I was in Boulder for the rib eating contest at the Rib House.


The contest, from 5pm to 8pm, was divided in to 3 heats. Everyone had 20 minutes to eat all of the racks of baby backs they could. About 2.5 pounds of meat per rack. But the racks were not weighed. The contest results went only by the rack and rib count.


As eaters showed up they would be put in the heat that went next. I was in the first heat. There were 5 of us. Tactical error: being the first heat.

I got off to a great start. Getting through the first rack in just under 4 minutes. And the ribs: dry rub only, super tender, super flavorful, and super delicious.


At about halfway through the 2nd rack, I – as is my “thing” – began chipmunking big time, not swallowing, and getting all backed up. I ended up with 2 1/3 racks. Another guy in the heat also finished with 2 1/3. So after our heat we were tied for 1st.


There were just 2 people in the 2nd heat. One of them did 2 ½. The other guy just started his 2nd rack, so he finished with 1+. Me: now tied for 2nd.

In the last heat, 6 people. One of whom was Jon. A couple of the others had 2, so I was still tied for 2nd. Until Jon’s total: 3+. He did not go all that fast, just pretty much the same rate throughout.


Since there were only prizes for 1st and 2nd, me and the dude tied for 3rd (no need for a tie-breaker eat-off). The other guy tried really hard to make us and the 2nd place guy do a three-way face off for 2nd place. And he almost got his wish. But I am glad he didn’t because it was pretty obvious that 2nd place had out-eaten us by two or three ribs. His argument was the guy in 2nd stuffed his mouth so much at the end and took too long to swallow. Well, 2nd place had stuffed and 2nd place did take a few minutes to swallow after the bell, but there was no rule about that. Get over it! [note: they made a rule for future contests – you have 2 minutes to swallow what’s in your mouth; not clear by 2 minutes = judged deduction]

What I can’t get over is my eat. I don’t like shouldas, and same with couldas, but... Chipmunking cost: probably could have finished that 3rd rack. At the end of 20 minutes I could have eaten more – I hate it when that happens – leave it all on the field. I think Jon would have still won, but I should have been in the money.

Why am I still chipmunking, STILL, after 5+ years?

Taste of Philly Video

I have uploaded three videos from my latest attempt at the Apollo Cheesesteak Challenge at Taste of Philly in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. 44 ounces of meat, 18 ounces of cheese, and 8 ounces of onion on a delicious 20" Amoroso roll.

Read my blog entry about the challenge here.

The first video is a short clip of me at the beginning. I am flying! Off to a great start! The record is mine!

The 2nd video is a 16 minute video of the painful-to-watch middle when I begin slowing down and chipmunking.

The 3rd video is of the end of my eating challenge.

That was a really long 22 minutes! I didn't break the Taste of Philly record for the challenge, but I did break the store record of 38 minutes. And I became the first to have finished the challenge at each location offering the challenge!

Apollo Again

22 minutes? Are you f-in kidding me?

I’ve tried this Apollo Cheesesteak Challenge at Taste of Philly twice before, and my times were 21:06 and 14:45. So I was going for the Taste of Philly record of 10:42. [And yes, I know our iPod Touch shows 23:47, but the official time (on their timer) was 22 minutes]


My strategy was fork the meat on both monstrous halves, and then get the bread down. Simple. The key would be getting off to a great start, maintaining it, and finishing sub-10 minutes.


My attempt started off very well. The sandwich was steamy hot, but oh-so delicious as always. Fork, meat, swallow, keep mouth clear. I was taking it to the neck. First half meat gone in just over 2 minutes. I started on the 2nd half’s meat, but I think when I burned my tongue I just froze. From this point on it was an orgy of chipmunking, really, really chipmunking, and I crept to finish in 22 minutes.

That time is really disappointing considering the fast start. Sub-10 was very possible, dare I say probable. But it wasn’t to be. After finally finishing I did acknowledge the cheers of the crowd, but I was not too pleased with it.

At one point T-bonz said something like "all you’re doing is running down the battery on your camera". Tough love, perhaps, but I deserved it for sure. And it's funny.

A challenge win is a challenge win, but I wanted and expected more. If not the record, then at least to better my best time. But by finishing the challenge at the Highlands Ranch location, I have completed the challenge at each three locations offering the challenge so I am the only person to appear on all three walls of fame! I do not know if that’s a sign of stupidity more so than tenacity, but it is what it is.

The waiver. Zoom to read.

The Wall of Fame. 40 minutes. 50 minutes. 38 minutes. 45 minutes. 50 minutes. Those times are indicative of how finishers end. How?!? 50 minutes must be REALLY HARD, I would think harder than 10, 14, 21, or 22 because the cheese would congeal and solidify.

For the record, the Apollo Cheesesteak Challenge is 44 ounces of meat, 18 ounces of cheese, 8 ounces of onions, on a 20" Amoroso roll. And who knows how much water I drank.

T-bonz captured the whole thing on video. I'll have that up soon so you can see how fast and well I did early on, and then screwed the pooch.

El Diablo

Went to try the taco salad. The 6.66 pound taco salad. Very delicious, but very big!

Before beginning.

The thing is HUGE!

BIG chunks of carnitas!

Ugh. Slowing at about 25 minutes.

Time is up.

A little under 2 pounds left.

Going in I knew 6.66 pounds is at the upper limit of my capacity. And that's when I have been getting ready for a while and I'm having a very good day. Without much prep leading up to the challenge, 4.5 pounds is pushing it. And so it was.

A full gallery is on my Facebook photo page.