Video: Back in Bakersfield

This post is dedicated to Dave "US Male" Goldstein and Aaron Wakamatsu. It's good having friends who are supportive and ask lots of questions.

It's about my second stop at the Bullshed Bar and Grill in Bakersfield. My last visit was in late June, when I was heading north and conquered their burger challenge in about 32 minutes. 2.5 lbs of meat and 2.5 fries is considerable.



If I estimate the original challenge meal at 7 lbs, the new formulation had to be over 8 lbs. The management was concerned that too many people were walking away with a free meal, so they stepped up the difficulty considerably.

Instead of a patty stack with a sweet small bun, we now had a massive beef pile on an oversized dense bun. It was like eating a meatloaf sandwiched between two loaves of bread. I'd never encountered such a big bun before.

It was a fight putting down that huge bun. I needed to soak it in a ton of water because it wasn't softening like most breads. Damn you flour! Why do you hate me so? At least the vegetables were fresh and the meat was incredibly rich and well-seasoned.

And the fries... I wish they weren't part of the challenge. After the huge dose of bread, they didn't seem appealing to me. It was a hard fight getting through all the starch.

For the first time in a long time, I had a buzzer beater finish. The owner demanded that I finish every last crumb and I got in the last bite at minute 44. That will teach me to choose my breads and starch challenges well.

So there you have it, the Second Battle of Bull Shed. I don't think I'll ever be doing this challenge again. Best of luck to whoever takes on this beast challenge in the future. I'd rather ride the mechanical bull.

Video: Me and Kevin at the Stadium

In July, at long last, Kevin Ross and I went after the Big League Challenge at Stadium Pizza in Wildomar, CA. There were no winners so we went in and blazed a trail for future food warriors.

What's in the Big League Challenge, you ask? It's 7 lbs of total food. An 18" pizza with seven toppings, 12 hot wings, a loaf of garlic bread, and a pitcher of soda. The place has one of those soda machines that lets you mix and match flavors. Despite the huge array of choices, we independently decided upon root beer.

Kevin began the challenge with great speed. For a second I thought he'd leave me in the dust, but we evened out and finished with similar times.

Of late I've been busy with video editing. Lots of it. My next relevant post will include some photos from the restaurant.

April, May and June 2011

In case tomorrow is too hectic, here are the rest of the challenge compilation videos.

April 2011



May 2011



June 2011



These videos will be referenced in the future, but for now they are up. I hope you enjoy them. In the future I will try to develop better video material. I'm also thinking about including a written-out list of completed challenges and restaurant addresses.

Maybe that's too ambitious.