Pancake Marathon

Chicken nuggets for two hours has been done before. Can I do the same with doughy, bready pancakes?

That's on the menu tonight. Last week, Johnnie Excel dined on 41 all-you-can-eat pancakes at Denny's and dared me to raise the bar. Let's see if I can take it to 50, which roughly equates to 9.4 lbs if you believe the menu.

Since there aren't many restaurant challenges left for me in Southern California, personal challenges and "buffet bests" look like a nice alternative.

If technology cooperates, I will live-tweet results on my Twitter feed @Freak8r tonight.

Pancakes... why does it have to be pancakes? Just kidding, this is one food I really love.

Cheesesteaks Return to Corona

There may not be blood, but there will be cheese. Philly's Best of Corona is celebrating its 6th anniversary with another cheesesteak eating contest.

Southern California's crop of competitive eaters will be congregating for this cheesy affair. Mary Bowers, Kevin Ross, Frank Paulin, Matt Cohen, The Spicialist, and I will eat all we can for 10 minutes. At the end, Corona will crown a new cheesesteak eating hero.

Noticeably absent is Johnnie Excel. He's the local hero, with a record of 7.25 cheesesteaks in 10 minutes. I hear there's a bonus on the line if any of the competitors can break his record. Otherwise, the contest will provide the winner with $50 cash and a gift certificate.

Cheesesteaks are fast becoming a favorite of mine. Let's see if I can top 5 sandwiches this time (though I wouldn't mind eating 8). This has been a strange month for me. Normally known for doing challenges, I've snuck in four contests in February.

Is this a sign of things to come? What else does 2012 have in store, besides unanswered questions?

Looking Down the Pike

When 2012 started, there were a few goals floating in my mind. One was to find an eating challenge that would defeat me. In that aim, I have succeeded. The first fail of 2012 was spectacular. It warrants its own post and there will be pics and video of it.

Closer at hand now is the Chick Fil A nugget eating contest this Saturday, in La Habra. I'm the three-time defending champion with a house record of 206 nuggets. My competition this time is impressive: Johnnie Excel, The Spicialist, and quite possibly Tom Gilbert. I will consider it a major triumph if I win. I don't doubt the 206 nugget record will be shattered by more than one of us.

My minimum goal is to put away 230 nuggets in the two hours. I am linking a charitable donation to my performance in the nugget contest, so I'm hoping my fellows and my own internal drive push me to put up a huge number.

And beyond that, I haven't forgotten that February is National Pancake Month. I'm hoping to do something outrageous in that vein before the Ides of March are upon us.

But first... chicken nuggets await.

Feeling Fab

Fab Hot Dogs is a restaurant with a strong local following. Located in Reseda, CA, they were famously featured on the TV food program "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" in 2009. The eatery actually sells T-shirts referencing Guy Fieri and the TV appearance.

I visited them in April 2011 in connection with a video project that hasn't yet materialized.

So.. Fab Hot Dogs maintains two Walls of Fame, one dedicated to customers who have sampled every item on the menu (in their lifetime), and another for the diner who holds the record for most hot dogs and buns consumed in a single 30-minute visit.  While eating everything on the menu in one visit seemed tempting, I was there to break the house hot dog record.

In 30 minutes, I pushed the record from 10.5 dogs and buns up to 15. It wasn't particularly difficult to put up such a number. The owner gave me the option of stopping at 11, since that would have secured the record and my spot on the wall. It seemed like a good idea to keep going since I still had time and room in my stomach.

How were the hot dogs? Well, delicious. Juicy. Flavorful. I don't eat hot dogs often so it's hard to describe their taste creatively! The dogs themselves were slightly bigger than a Nathan's competition frank. The buns were clearly larger and heavier than anything I'd run across in a contest. 15 hdbs at Fab probably equates to over 20 hdbs at a Nathan's contest.

Oh yes, I also received a T-shirt to commemorate my ascendancy as the new hot dog record holder. Its got a likeness of Guy Fieri's face on it and a really slick store logo. Hard to believe I have yet to see a single episode of his show.

Emptying the Garden of 15 Olives

What does an endless bowl of pasta look like? To be honest, I'd never seen one before. Neither had my friend. That brought us to Olive Garden last September. We needed to find out if such a thing existed. We were suspicious, because we'd heard that everything must come to an end at some time.

We dined for about two hours, running through a considerable gamut of conversation. My friend got through 6 plates and I cleared 15, to the amazement of the server.

Honestly, there's no way I can remember the names of all the different combinations I ordered. For fairness I tried to get a bit of everything. It seemed like a great deal all around.. how do you beat $9 for 15 bowls of restaurant-grade pasta?

So, why did I stop at 15? It's not an even number, or a lucky number. I wasn't stretched to the limit. But, I was facing a 2-hour drive home from Orange County and wanted to make it home comfortably. If I didn't relish the ability to drink water on the way home, I might have finished 4 or 5 more bowls.

Endless is a fancy term, but it still refers to a limited number. It's all relative. My endless capped off at 15, and it's nothing I'm going to complain about now. At least I didn't have to cook all those combinations of pasta!

Going for Broke

The Pregnant Burrito is El Nopal's signature dish. It's a 2 lb concoction, stuffed inside with chicken, avocado and onions. They glaze the top of the tortilla with red sauce and jack cheese, and you're all set. It's a set piece of baked deliciousness.

El Nopal runs an official house record challenge for the most burritos consumed in one sitting. New champions get their food for free and score a golden t-shirt. Unofficially, they also recognize a speed record for consuming one Pregnant Burrito.

On July 29, 2011, it stood at 6:05. Around 1 PM, Matt Cohen walked inside the restaurant and ordered his meal. The record wouldn't stand a chance.



Down to 1:38, a decent time on a messy 2 lb dish. Things would have gone more quickly if Matt went for a "hands-on" approach, but it was still fun to watch.

Does anyone else want a burrito now?

A New King in Escondido

Closing out February with a shout-out to Matt "Sweet Tooth" Cohen. He set a new house record at the Fatburger in Escondido by demolishing the Triple Kingburger in 3:20.

A big win for an awesome member of the eating community. He's got a few big challenges coming up. Time to take care of business in March!

Going Whole Hogg

Hoggs Gourmet Grill is one of those little restaurants that may be easily overlooked. That would be a mistake. It's tucked away in the back corner of a shopping center right off the 60 Freeway in Moreno Valley.

Their cuisine is incredibly rich, smoky, and original. That is a winning combination in a culinary world dominated by chain restaurants and mass-produced foodstuffs.

This place is exceptional for the Inland Empire because it actually offers an eating challenge. A few others have popped up lately, but Los Angeles and San Diego counties are still locally dominant.

It's not especially difficult, either. You need to put away a 2.5 lb Quad Hogg Burger with a side of fries during your visit to get your picture on the wall. There's no time limit, and in the words of the incredibly friendly owner Jeff, "about 700 people have done it."


No kidding. A plethora of photographs covered one corner of the restaurant's interior wall. It's like playing Where's Waldo. Good luck finding your photo in the sea of faces.


As for the burger, it was easily one of the best I've ever eaten. You get your choice of cheese, so I went with pepperjack to give it a kick. It was greasy and good.

But... I question whether it really weighs in at 2.5 lbs. After devouring the burger in 4:30, it felt like I could have fit in a couple more. The house record is 2:17, set in November 2010.

I finished the whole combo in 7 minutes, but it didn't matter much since the restaurant doesn't keep time. Just a personal thing.


Afterward, the owner invited me to return one day to attempt the consumption record: two 5-patty Hoggs with a side of chili cheese fries. That's supposedly around 7 lbs of food. I don't think it's impossible! Seems like a video-worthy event.

Thanks again to Donsturdy.com for supporting me on this challenge. It was one of the most delectable as of late.

Here's to the Inland Empire! May their future always be bright.

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.

Dan's Super Subs

Though there's a much bigger and more recent story I could be writing about, I'm tired. So I'll just resort to a story I mentioned on my "roadmap" a few posts back.

Dan Super Subs in Woodland Hills offers a straightforward submarine sandwich eating challenge. Order and eat any two jumbo 13" sandwiches in one hour to get your name on their wall of fame. Women have the option of eating one jumbo sub and one regular (8") sub to enter the wall of fame.

I visited in January 2010 when I happened to be in the area. As far as challenges go, there is nothing difficult about this one. I went with one hot sandwich, pastrami, and one cold sandwich, turkey. The total weight of the two sandwiches could not have exceeded 3 lbs.


Think Subway, just fresher and about an inch longer. The pickles on top were a nice touch. The hot sandwich went down faster, but in all I didn't need more than 22 minutes to finish. It was a leisure stroll down the espohagus.


There is special recognition provided for male and female mass consumers... but I wasn't interested in going for the house record at the moment (I believe it currently stands at 5 sandwiches). I was dealing with a recent traumatic experience, and for a awhile considered quitting this activity altogether. Small victories (and good friends) encouraged me to stay in it.

Stephanie Wu recently visited Dan's Super Subs during an eating roadtrip and took over the women's house record with 3 jumbo subs. I applaud that win. She also reported on a revamped prize structure... which may be enough to convince me to visit again if I'm near enough.

The manager was really friendly, the staff neat and professional. It's a small shop, but I see them taking their business far. Here's to a second location!

Best Weekend Ever

My title might be exaggerating things. But just a little.


As far as food went, I can't complain about this past weekend. Returning to the Broken Yolk Cafe in Carlsbad, I managed to finish their Ironman Special in a personal record of 24 minutes(!). That's practically man-bites-dog news for me. My previous finishes clocked in at 60 and 55 minutes respectively - so, naturally, this was a special win for me. Cut my previous times in less than half.

Of course, this isn't all that much to brag about. I had the opportunity to personally watch Matt "MegaToad" Stonie polish off his plate in a mere seven minutes. That was incredible. And a restaurant record. I also can't compete with Ben Monson's unofficial finish of under 10 minutes. But, for me at least, this is some serious progress.


The next day, I joined Matt and his friend at La Casa Garcia in Anaheim. This time, we were hunting the 5 lb King Ranch Burrito. We told the server that we wanted "Three Kings," and the kitchen did not disappoint. This is an old foe for me. For Matt, a brand new challenge.

Matt was in thresher mode on this one... his finish at 4:17 was nothing short of amazing. Seriously, that's more than one pound per minute!

I was a lot more realistic. My aim was to get it done in less than 10 minutes, a target that was more-or-less set for me when a friend mentioned it on an eatfeats.com discussion thread.

Using a big spoon and the provided knife, I vanquished the King Ranch in 9 minutes and 40 seconds - no house record, but worlds away from my previous times of 45 and 21 minutes. Again, I cut my previous best in less than half.

I gotta see if I can press this newfound speed advantage into my future challenges.

And if you haven't already, you might want to check out some of Matt's videos on YouTube. Watching him "eat" (if you call it that!) is outta sight.