Draining the Sink

San Francisco Creamery knows a little about portion control. They serve one of the biggest commercially available sundaes in the civilized world.

This monstrous helping of dessert is called the Kitchen Sink - because it comes to your table served inside of one. No joke. If you can eat all the contents of the Sink by yourself, you get your meal for free and earn one free sundae every day for a year.

That's a generous prize. This must be a steep mountain to climb.

The menu bills it as a 2-gallon sundae. That might be a slight overstatement. Even so, it features 8 massive scoops of rock-solid ice cream and 8 rich toppings, adorned with nuts, cherries, and whipped cream. You must also break the standing time record to win the challenge.

Last Sunday was not my first rodeo. I attempted the Sink back in November 2009, but I was unable to break the 30 minute limit. It took me an agonizing 47 minutes, which was exactly where the record stood when I strolled into Walnut Creek last weekend.

So a little backstory: the first person to complete the challenge needed nearly two hours. The record has been progressively shorter since. TV viewers will remember that Adam Richman became finisher #5 and required over one hour to do it. He suffered toward the end. That's a lot of lactose!

Finisher #6 was a truly phenomenal eater. Ben Monson (who went on to eat professionally) annihilated the Kitchen Sink in an astounding sub-8 minutes. The staff didnt believe anyone could eclipse that record, so the time to beat was set at 30 minutes.

No one could even break 30, so after one year the time to beat was reset to one hour. Finisher #7 put the Sink away in 47 minutes, so that's where the record stood when I arrived.

For my part, I was a bit nervous going in. I was going to be interviewed by Donsturdy.com while taking the challenge, so I definitely needed to shine. I set a personal target of under 30 minutes, just to prove that the old record could be snapped.



I went with 8 solid flavors and non-liquid toppings, to avoid having any hard shells form over the ice cream. My choices were vanilla, chocolate, key lime, neopolitan, cookie dough, mango-strawberry, coffee, and strawberry. My toppings were restricted to fruit toppings, chocolate chips, and sprinkles. No gummy bears or marshmallows!

By the end, my mouth was frozen cold and my tongue was numb. 21 minutes? Unbelievable. But what about Ben's 7-something? Considering what this felt like, I developed a new respect for Ben's feat.


Ice cream is different. Around the 14 minute mark, it suddenly felt like I had this huge watery boulder in my stomach. It wasn't enough to stop me, but it was a strange sensation.

To quote a friend, I became the 8th person to "drain the sink." Whoever comes next will need to do it within 21 minutes. A few names come to mind... Stephanie Torres? Matt Stonie? Johnnie Excel? Randy Santel? Who will #9 be?

They're going to need a tolerance for lactose and sugar. For whatever reason I do very well with these types of foods.

I liked the green t-shirt they gave me to commemorate my win.

But the ice cream cake? That was a little too much.

El Tepeyac: The First Visit

 El Tepeyac Cafe is a locally famous restaurant in Los Angeles. Situated in Boyle Heights among small neighborhoods and loads of other eating establishments, it is very easy to overlook. I was actually looking for this place so naturally I found it. That's one time GPS worked out right.

Viewers of Man V Food and other mega-eaters know about this place because of the huge Manuel's Special Burrito that you'll find on El Tepeyac's menu. It's billed as big enough to feed four persons (I guess that depends on which four persons you're talking about - it would feed one of me). I didn't bother ordering it because it cost nearly $20 and no prize was on the line. I felt little incentive to consume en masse.

I settled for the Hollenbeck Burrito con pollo, which is essentially the half-size version of the Manuel Special. The waitress told me that it should satisfy the appetite of two people, though many customers eat it without assistance.

As many other food reviewers have noted, the Hollenbeck is definitely a fork-and-knife experience. The tortilla is not so much stuffed as simply draped over the filling material. There's no way you could pick this thing up and eat it!

I'm no expert, but I'd call this grub authentic. I have a friend who needs to be the judge of this. I just go huge. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'll eat pretty much anything. But at least this tasted wonderful. 

The chicken was absolutely tender and flavorful.... that's what I remember most about my visit. I'd say the beans and rice were decent, but certainly not the star of the meal. The pico de gallo, guacamole, and green chiles added a lot of variety to the overall dish. I didn't regret what I sampled (their coffee wasn't bad at all), but I wasn't physically challenged either. I'd put this burrito plate's entire weight at just over 3 pounds.

Recently, I discovered that this place will give out store t-shirts and a spot on the Wall of Fame to anyone who can successfully complete the original pork version of the 5 lb Manuel Special.

About 10 photos currently grace the wall... no famous faces up there yet.

I'm not sure the prize entirely justifies spending $20 on a huge burrito and a shirt. I've been there before! And you really can't top eating for free.

Breaking Some Eggs

The most famous breakfast-style eating challenge in Southern California has got to be the Broken Yolk Cafe Special, which you will only find at the Broken Yolk Cafe. This small chain has several locations throughout San Diego County, the newest of which opened shop a few months back in San Marcos.

I made my first and only attempt at this massive breakfast platter in October 2009, as part of a family celebration. We went to the location in Carlsbad, which is right along the coast of California via the Interstate 5. It was a beautiful city. I regret not taking any photos of the town - apparently the thrill of the insane meal was just too overbearing. What struck me as most memorable were the constant, and goregous, views of the Pacific Ocean.

Anyway, this breakfast was recently made famous by Adam Richman on Man V Food. Adam did it in the more popular Pacific Beach location. I opted for Carlsbad just because it was closer to home. It's pretty much the same huge dish regardless of where you go....

A dozen-egg omelet filled with mushrooms, cheese, onions, and bell peppers, buried in chili and cheese, served along with a mountain of home-fried potatoes and two infamously dense biscuits. I'm not sure if they're buttermilk. The whole thing comes out on a 15" pizza pan for presentation value.

And yeah, everyone in my party was shocked at the size of the meal in front of me. Including myself. I hadn't done a challenge in a few weeks, and I really wanted to do this one because it sounded especially challenging. This would be a feather in my cap.... a jewel in the crown.

Or a hole in my poor stomach. I didn't realize what I was getting into. This was easily 6-7 lbs of sustenance. The over-cliched power breakfast: eat this one and sleep for a week. I was told that only one other person had ever finished this breakfast special at Carlsbad. The manager was hopeful that he'd witness a second.

I couldn't disappoint, could I?

Well, let's just say that it wasn't easy. It was a real show-stopper, requiring every last one of the given 60 minutes. I started with the omelet, which was piping hot but really tasty. Mixing it up with the home fries and chili was a delicious idea given to me by another eater, and I have to give him credit because it really gave the meal some variety. The omelet totally vanished in about 15 minutes.

Getting through the home fries was a harsh tale. They became starchy, very difficult to chew.... and eventually they tasted like asphalt. I relied on ketchup and water to pack them down.

My biggest mistake was saving the massive biscuits for last. They had hardened by the time I powered through the eggs and potatoes. I'm not joking about this - they felt like damn rocks. I could have used them for paperweights or baseballs at that point. 

Dunking them in water to soften them was the only option left, but that just made them really doughy and nasty. I struggled to get through these incredibly tasteless, wet, heavy flour lumps. Somehow I got them down by the 60 minute mark.

Honestly, I was incredibly relieved to have finished. I was #2 in Carlsbad, I had my free T-shirt, and my name would be on the plaque of fame.... and best of all I could walk away from the table.

This was one of the toughest challenges I've ever come across.

....as well as one of the most delicious. You just gotta do it a little faster to appreciate it.