A Challenging Day

December 3, 2011 was a hectic day. I don't know if it'll quite live in infamy, but it certainly pushed the limits. There's a lot of good food in the Los Angeles area, but once the clock struck midnight there was about 16 lbs less.

Started things off at D' Lite Pho Lee in Rowland Heights. For lunch, I tackled their XXXL Pho Challenge. You are given one hour to finish 2 lbs of meat and 2 lbs of noodles. There were no previous winners at the time. Decided there was no real reason to rush - this was the standard pho challenge you see at so many restaurants. It was delicious. And in 25 minutes it was gone. They gave me this really sweet plum soda afterward.

So, really, how big was the meal? The server explained to me that the quoted weights (2 lbs meat, 2 lbs noodles) refer to post-cooking tallies. It's inevitable that the noodles will soak up some of the broth, you also end up slurping up some of the broth, and there's the usual water intake that goes with mass consumption. I can safely say this was over 5 lbs of food. Went in starving, but felt satisfied afterward.

The pho was done by 2 PM. After visiting family in the Glendora area, I met up with two of my competitive eating buddies in Little Tokyo. The Spicialist and Kevin Ross have eaten many massive meals alongside me. The Spicalist wanted to test his ability to handle two challenges back-to-back, mostly as capacity training for an upcoming bout with the 8+ OMG Burger offered by The Catch in Anaheim.

We met up at Wakasaya around 9 PM. It's located in one of those shopping centers you find in Little Tokyo. Their challenge is the 5+ lb Bikkuri Don, basically a large bowl of raw fish and rice with a huge miso soup on the side. You get 15 minutes to thrash the food, or you're paying $50 to the kitchen. Few people have beat this one. Kevin once held the house record here (about 7 minutes), and since he already completed the challenge opted to wait for our next stop.

The Spicialist and I ate deliberately. We dominated those huge donburi bowls. Our finish times were a few seconds apart (he nosed me out), right at the 10 minute line. The server was impressed, remarking that we made it look easy. I didn't mention the pho from earlier.

Amazingly, I didn't really feel anything after this challenge. Not full. Not stuffed. Just "in the zone." Kevin was certainly hungrier than the rest of us, so we rushed off to our final destination.

We arrived at Kosher Pizza World in downtown LA around 10 PM. Unfortunately, my camera battery was very low so I couldn't take many pictures or video. Their challenge is the 7 lb "Ultimate Destroyer Burrito."  You get 30 minutes to try and slay this soy-filled vegetarian beast. It was undefeated at the time.



Kevin went first. Guided by the magical powers of his orange hat, he destroyed the burrito in a record 7 minutes. The audience of restaurant goers were absolutely on their feet for this feat. You can hear me in the video calling out (annoying) color commentary. My hat's off to Kevin for this huge win!

Spicialist ate about 75% of the burrito in 15 minutes

Then, when the dust had settled, The Spicialist and I received our 7 lb challenge burritos. Kevin's record setting performance would be a tough act to follow. I blazed right out the gate, finishing half of my burrito in about 5 minutes.

Things became very difficult at that point. My stomach was nearly capped off. The owner of the restaurant recognized me from my Man v Food Nation appearance and suggested to me that I had a reputation to maintain. I would be lucky to maintain consciousness!

Every bite was now a battle. Water became my best friend, soaking and pushing down every last morsel of food. I was full, but it was still delicious. At about 21 minutes, I finally cleared my huge dish.

Relief, sweet relief sounded in my head. This was almost unbelievable. It was my first time attempting three "mass" eating challenges in one day (8 hour span) with success. It sure as hell wasn't easy. There were moments during the burrito were I really believed I would lose it. Willpower must count for a lot.

Hadn't blogged in awhile, so I figured putting up a quality story would make up for it. Spending too much time editing videos lately!