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.

Interesting Results

Yesterday's chicken nugget eating contest wrapped up in under two hours. I won the contest for the fourth time with a record total of 212 nuggets, exactly double the 106-total my predecessor posted in the very first Chick Fil A (La Habra) contest.

The new women's division crowned a brand new champion in Cheyenne. She ate 50 nuggets and outlasted several talented opponents. After the contest, Cheyenne told me she decided to enter the contest after reading one of my old blog post's about Chick Fil A. Well, those were certainly very kind words. There was something cool about getting someone new into competitive eating.

Now, onto the interesting details of the contest. My main competition in the event was Johnnie Excel. At the start, he dominated the proceedings by eating 50 nuggets at a very brisk pace. I was behind Excel for quite awhile. He pushed me to eat aggressively. Johnnie slowed down around 100 nuggets, mostly because they were incredibly hot. I also believe that the sodium overload was setting in.

When Johnnie was almost at 120 nuggets, I was nearly at 130. This was 30 minutes into the event. I hadn't expected to take the lead that soon, knowing how quickly Excel can eat from past experiences. He decided not to drag out the two hour contest and stopped eating after 120 nuggets. This would actually be good enough for second place. In all honesty, the nuggets were viciously salty and greasy. It's not the type of food you want to eat for the long haul. One day, we will have a true capacity battle with a more palatable food.

This contest reflects a major accomplishment for me. It's my first-ever contest victory over Excel, though I would characterize it as a forfeit win. Johnnie was not maxed out when he stopped. Salted out maybe, maxed out no. I'm going to have to work very hard if I want to best Excel in another competition, short game or long.

Third place went to John Rivera, who ate 110 nuggets in his first-ever eating contest. He represented the High Desert well. There were people there cheering for him and he had a great time. I'm looking for him to do more damage in future competitions. His speed with hot dogs isn't bad at all. Fourth place went to The Spicialist, who ate 100 nuggets in a very non-serious effort. In fact, he ate 20 nuggets hands-free and doused several of his nuggets in ghost pepper flakes.

Though I broke my own previous record by 6 nuggets, I was not full at 212. The Spicialist told me not to go further, mostly because of the vast sodium intake I was dealing with. That, and to leave more ground to cover in future contests. There were still 20 minutes to go and I have no doubts that 230 was within my ability. Next time!

Special thanks go to Frank Paulin, who put up a personal best of 90 nuggets in his third appearance at a Chick Fil A contest. He weighed samples of nuggets and determined that I ate nearly 8 lbs. His share was 3.3 lbs.

John Kim participated as well. He ate 40 nuggets but didn't push himself to any limits. I'm looking forward to participating with him again next month at RA Sushi. Mary Bowers was on her way to winning the women's title but suffered an unfortunate reversal of fortune after consuming 50+ nuggets early on.

A little salt on an open wound perhaps, but she was a good sport about it. She finished the day smiling, which is more than I could say for myself.

Nugget Bowl

Once again, we find ourselves on a winding road heading to the next confrontation. This Saturday is Chick-Fil-A of La Habra's first nugget eating contest of 2012.

The contest is special for me because I'm going in as the champion. That's not something I can say often. My specialty in competitive eating is challenges. Few contests match my skill set for eating over a long period, but this one fits the bill. It's two hours of drawn-out nugget eating.

But two things make this contest unique. The first is the creation of a separate women's division. Mary Bowers is making her nugget debut this weekend, and barring an appearance by Stephanie Torres or Jessica "The Queen of Cuisine," I expect her to take home the title.

The second factor of interest is the stacked field I face in this contest. The three contests of 2011 attracted little attention, but my 206-nugget house record is bringing eaters out of the woodwork. Frank Paulin and The Spicialist are returning for another contest. The Spicialist proved my biggest threat ever in the last competition, downing 197 nuggets before calling it quits.

John Rivera of Joshua Tree is making his contest debut at Chick-Fil-A. His strong skill enabled him to topple my Hogzilla burger record at the Route 62 Diner in Yucca Valley twice. In fact, he is their current champion at 16 patties (4 lbs). No doubt, he will do some damage this weekend.

John Kim, who participates in various Southern California eating contests, will also be present. There's also a chance we could see participation by Stephen Obar and various members of Wreckless Eating.

However, that doesn't fully describe the magnitude of the threat facing me this time out. Johnnie Excel has decided to make his debut at the nugget contest this weekend. A long awaited capacity battle between us now looms.

I won the nugget title 3 times last year, but Excel may take it all away. He holds a 9-0 record against me in eating contests. The best chance I have against Johnnie is in a long distance contest such as this, where his edges in technique and speed are minimized.

No doubt it will be a close battle in La Habra. Johnnie Excel always takes his contests seriously. I will fight hard to keep the title a fourth time, establish a new record, and finally get a win over the most dominant eater in Southern California.



Eat More Chicken

This is the post that's long overdue in some ways. In the year 2011, Chick Fil A at the La Habra Marketplace held three nugget eating championships. I won all of them, each time establishing a new record. I pushed the standard from 107 to 201, 205, and now 206. My strongest competition came from Frank Paulin and The Spicialist (197).

Chick Fil A's contest is unique because it follows the pattern of Japanese long-distance eating contests. Competitors get two hours to eat as many nuggets as possible. The format suits my eating ability and generally I outpaced my rivals by a wide margin.

By contrast, American-style speed eating contests are limited to 12 minutes or less. The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Contest and most other contests in the US follow this format. Since my speed skills are not highly refined, my results in those contests aren't nearly as impressive.

Chick Fil A's nuggets have a balanced taste. They're made from white meat and the batter isn't overwhelming. All of the dipping sauces create a wealth of variety, though sooner or later you will endure flavor frustration. The texture of chicken nuggets becomes too repetitive (that's the problem with a two hour contest). I was happy they had several drinks to choose from. The sodium content is probably the most challenging element of this contest. I love chicken so this contest food is a good fit for me.

The next contest is in February 2012. If nothing else, I look forward to defending my title and possibly setting a higher record. This contest is special to me because La Habra is next door to Buena Park, a city I spent over 10 years. I graduated from Buena Park High and many of my friends still eat at this Chick Fil A and see my name on the wall. There's incentive for me to keep my name up.

To parody Tolstoy: how many nuggets does a man need? That's not really the appropriate question. Rather, it's: how many can a man hold in his stomach? I'll have the answer in February.

Hectic Times in South OC

Last week was busy. Between seeing myself on Man v Food Nation (strange and surreal), pioneering a burrito challenge, and winning a Fatburger 6 lb burger contest, life outside the classroom has been without a dull moment.

Before I go through all these recent events, I'd like to report on a burrito challenge from South Orange County that was completed successfully some months back in May 2011. A friend and I ventured to Los Cabos Cantina in Lake Forest, home to the 7 lb "Biggest Burrito Challenge." The challenge is normally offered Tuesday nights, but we got ours on a weekend.

Is it truly 7 lbs, or does that weight include the rice and beans that adorn the sides of the pizza platter? No one on the wait staff could really tell us. It was not a difficult challenge. However, it was an enjoyable one. The meat was incredibly tender, rice flavorful, and the beans complimented well with melted cheese.

The only thing I can say is: bring silverware! They normally only give you plastic cutlery, and I struggled mightily to get things done quickly. My friend and I both finished under 14 minutes. The challenge officially entails a 30 minute limit. Fail to get it done and you'll pay $30 for your disaster. There's no free shirt here, but you do get your photo on the wall.

We celebrated our wins in appropriate fashion, splitting a nacho platter and driving over to a local Golden Spoon for some soft serve. I don't know, at some point it feels like all this eating after a challenge becomes gratuitous. Then again, I'm probably the last person who should be raising that point.

Look for my next posts to include the recent burrito challenge (with video) and the Fatburger contest.

EZ Take-Out Burger Record

EZ-Take Out Burger is a chain restaurant. Their internal dynamics are similar to In-N-Out, except here you can get deep-fried Twinkies and Oreo cookies. You can also custom-order massive burger towers. In-N-Out abandoned that practice some years ago.

You'd say "Take-4" if you wanted a burger with four patties. Now, it isn't common to find a chain restaurant offering a challenge. This one was posted on the Man V Food blog on the Travel Channel website. I visited last Sunday, February 14.

It's not offered at every location. But, Temecula's EZ Take-Out Burger maintains a Wall of Fame for the successful eater of the biggest burger.


Things started small. Take-7. Take-10. Take-19. This poster celebrates a behemoth "Take-30," successfully wolfed down on October 1, 2009 by a local customer.

I'd need to eat a 31-patty burger to dethrone the champ. That's nearly 4 lbs of beef, along with the cheese, bread, lettuce, and tomato that goes with it. Getting the new record also scores a nifty restaurant t-shirt as well my own photo on the wall.

So what does a Take-31 resemble?


That's one monumental patty stack. There's no way it's gonna stand up. Gotta come in a box... a box that's rapidly soaking up hot cheese and meat grease. Yum!


The burger was as wide as my midsection. Well, almost. I hadn't attempted this much ground beef since tackling the OMG Burger last summer. That hat was probably the most ridiculous thing about this challenge. I didn't keep it on long.

My strategy? Eat two patties at a time, leaving the meager bun toward the end.


It was mechanical. Repetitive. Boring. And finally cold.

The meat was incredibly dry toward the end. Ketchup and soda were my only friends on this one. Bite, drink, swallow... ad nauseam.

Around 45-50 minutes this beast was slain. New record! There was no time limit, but faster is better in my book.

I should point out that two hours before attempting this burger, I competed in the Cravory's first annual Cookie Eating Championship in San Diego and placed second to Johnnie Excel, eating 24 cookies to his 28. That was a close finish in ten minutes. Damn close.


It's not easy to go fast when you've got 4 lbs of cookies in the gut... but I still got it done. What a relief, too. Gotta send my thanks to Donsturdy.com for encouraging me with this challenge.

They're pushing me to make 2011 a year of gargantuan meals.

Next time, I will blog about the cookie contest in San Diego.

Pancake Gauntlet

Friday evening found me visiting the International House of Pancakes in San Bernardino. For several years now, the annual $4.99 all-you-can-eat pancake had rolled through without attracting too much attention. 2011 would be different. Mostly because the smaller challenges don't really.... well.... pose a challenge for me.

This is the year to push things a little bit further. No better way than to dive into pancakes. It's not a food that especially strikes my fancy. I have difficulty with grains and starches so I knew this would push my tolerance.


The delivery concept is simple enough. Your server brings you three pancakes and follows up with three more at a time until you've had enough. This is remarkably similar to the AYCE program Denny's runs with their own pancakes.

Anyone hoping to achieve hot cake greatness is going to need to speed up the process considerably if they're hoping to put up some big numbers. You can't just spend 3-4 hours waiting for small orders of buttermilk pancakes to arrive.

So I told the server I wanted 30 pancakes.

The look on her face was priceless. I wish someone had a camera handy. She told me they could bring out six at a time, but even then the process wasn't terribly rapid. I would wait long moments after finishing my first few orders. That was precious time lost! Instead of just sitting there letting your stomach settle, you need to keep eating.


Just looking at these pictures makes me feel heavy. The experience was roughly what you would expect. Easy in the beginning, but increasingly brutal as time wears on. I used maple and strawberry syrup to vary the taste but that only goes so far. The buttermilk is overpowering and the texture is eventually unappealing. :(

For a change of pace, I reported my progress via Mobile Facebook during the eating process. When I completed 27 pancakes, that was already a personal best. But I needed to push. Had to break 30... so one more order was brought out.

33 pancakes was all that I could stand. Done and done. Ironically, all the food I consumed probably did not exceed 2.5 lbs. Bread is simply a different animal. Give me 10 lbs of ice cream any day.

According to the IHOP menu, each order of 3 pancakes packs an impressive 490 calories. Did I really put down almost 5400 calories?? It didn't feel like it.

The server was amazed. But apparently the record for that IHOP location was an astounding 70 pancakes, consumed by an anonymous male.

11,000+ calories in pancakes? Flour? That's ludicrous. But still, no candidate for the 20k Club.

As far as pancakes go, I'm done. Check back with me in a year.