Mezcal Tacos #3

The Taco Eating Contest at Mezcal was the first contest of the week. I had won the first two taco contests at Mezcal. Can I defend again and make it 3 in a row?

No T-bonz, but my spiritual advisor Guapo Ribinowitz was there to substitute-coach, captain my security detail, and rock the camera.

There were 4 women in the contest

More competitors. 19 in all.

Everyone got a plate of 20 street tacos for round #1. We had 15 minutes to eat them. Tacos were 1 4" soft corn tortilla, chicken, cabbage, and a sauce.

Me and the dude 2nd from the right in the photo were the only two people to finish the 20. We barely finished. Three others were moved on to round #2 so there would be more competing.

The executive chef in the blue shirt, Robert Martinez.

Round #1 goes on

Waiting for round #2 to begin

Round #2. I ate 7 more. Chris, he 2nd place, ate 4.

Round #2 action

After round #2 ends.

Me with the trophy. Me with the 3-peat!

The mess after the madness

1st - Me, 27

2nd - Chris Septoff, 24

3rd - Raul Palomo, 23

So I got the 3-peat at Mezcal. Tots next.

Why?!?

You remember a couple months ago when I went to America's Bar & Grill to eat in the Atomic Reaper Wing Eating Contest? To put it mildly, I suffered mightily with the intestinal after-effects. Vowed to NEVER do it again?

Before

Well, I went back! They held another Atomic Reaper Wing Eating Contest. I won, but who can really win with these things?

T-bonz did some spot on coachy-coachin'. The contest was held on the patio in the single degree temps. 10 saucy, saucy wings. First one done won.

2nd place. He's hating it.

Me working it

The other guys at my table ate only a few wings.

T-bonz, kick me in the balls if I ever think about eating one of these Reapers again.



After

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.

Rosie's Hot Dogs

That was what I faced at the second hot dog eating contest in the 10th Anniversary season of the Rosie's Diner Car Show.

I won the first hot dog eating contest in June. Then, four competitors and 10 minutes. This time, four competitors and 10 minutes. The hot dogs were the same, the buns too. But this time it was a little hotter and sunnier so the buns really dried out where last time the buns were much softer.


Just like last time: I finished with 9.5 HDBs. 2nd place ate 8. The contest was lots of fun, and the eaters and the crowd had a great time. I am kind of disappointed that I didn't hit 10 HDBs but a win is a win.

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.

Mezcal Video

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

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.