The Memphis Business Journal reports that The Big Foot Lodge in Tennessee has changed its name to Kooky Canuck to settle a lawsuit from a California restaurant with the same name. The Sasquatch Burger challenge has been renamed to the Kookamunga Challenge.

The restaurant’s website has been redesigned and the URL has changed to KookyCanuck.com from eatatbigfoot.com

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(from Man vs. Food message board) The Pizza Machine in Springfield, Illinois, whose previous claim to fame was a 40 inch pizza that was delivered by crane, now has a 60 inch pizza. At 2827 square inches, the area of the pizza exceeds the area of the 52 inch square pizza from Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizza in Los Angeles by 123 square inches. The 60 inch pizza must apparently be purchased in combination with a party package at a cost of $350. No eating challenge for the 60 inch pizza is listed. The pizza appeared on Country Fried Home Videos on CMT.

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Episode slideshow, location list and commercial

This week’s challenge restaurant, Juan in a Million, has an online Wall of Fame for its breakfast taco challenge, but it does not appear to have been updated since about 2002. The actual current record is held by the “Hong Kong Hero” who ate 7 breakfast tacos in 2004.

Other links: yelp thread about Adam Richman’s attempt in September (contains spoilers), Dining in Austin review

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The new poll asks who you think is the top performer in restaurants’ eating challenges in 2008. The choices are:

• Elizabeth Canady – set record in Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub’s 3 lb. burger
• Joey Chestnut – broke 21 year old record for the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak, also set the record in the Big Foot Lodge’s Sasquatch Challenge
• “Furious” Pete Czerwinski – set a record for a Canadian 72 ounce steak challenge which beats the Big Texan record also records in the Niagara Falls Italian Challenge, Swingbelly’s BBQ challenge, Filthy McNasty’s burger challenge and came the closest to finishing the Clinton Station Diner’s Zeus burger
• Brad Sciullo – first person to finish the 20 lb. Belly Bruiser from Denny’s Beer Barrel, also broke the almost 4 year old record for that restaurant’s Ye Olde 96er

If they are any other choices who you think should be in the poll, I will add them.

This poll is limited to North American eaters. Hatsuyo “the Witch” Sugawara is probably in contention for the world top eating challenge performer, but I have not been able to find a list of her eating challenges.

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A video about a quartet of diners’ attempt to finish the 54 inch square pizza from Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria in Los Angeles has been uploaded to youtube. Captures from the video can be viewed after the jump.

A youtube page about the pizza has been set up. One of the captions of the videos says that a team of five that finishes the 54 inch pizza in under two hours will receive $1000.

The pizzeria is located on 5051 Hollywood Boulevard. (Van Halen fans might know that 5150 refers to a section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code allowing for involuntary confinement of the mentally ill.)

Another new team pizza challenge for four diners is available at Premier Pizza in Oakdale, Minnesota.

Read the rest of this entry »

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DennysBeerBarrelPub.com reports that Brad Sciullo broke the record for the “Ye Olde 96er” burger by completing the 11 pound sandwich in 2 hours and 23 minutes. The previous record of 2:54 was set in 2005 by Kate Stelnick and tied later that year by Lori Weiss. Brad’s feat was recorded by the Travel Channel.

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Galleries and a promo clip for tonight’s Man vs. Food episodes are available on the Travel Channel website.

Quaker Steak and Lube Atomic Hot wings, Pittsburgh, PA

• Home Page Quaker Steak & Lube has over 30 locations, mainly in the eastern United States
• Menu (.PDF format)

Quaker Steak and Lube has over 20 types of wing sauce at various degrees of spiciness. A list of the sauces and their hotness level is available after the jump. The Atomic Wings Adam Richman will attempt on tonight’s episode are rated at 150,000 Scoville Heat Units. All You Can Eat wings are available on Tuesday night.

The Ohio Deli Dagwood Challenge Columbus, Ohio

• Columbus Dispatch article about tonight’s episode
• Sopressata blog entry about a group attempt at the Dagwood Challenge. The record for the challenge was 6 minutes by John Matko in March (picture on right).
• Video of a challenge attempt by Columbus Underground

The Thurman Cafe Columbus, Ohio

• Home page
• CMH Gourmand blog entry about the Thurman Cafe’s burgers
• Paul “Porkslap” Arcaria had a 4.5 pound burger named after himself after he completed it in October.

Read the rest of this entry »

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• Dave Shoffner resumes blogging, but not on megamunch
• Encounter with Sonya Thomas at the Washington Capitals game December 4
• St. George Hunt, described by Angelo Cataldi as the Wing Bowl’s biggest fan, passes away
• Bacci Pizza in Chicago starts a 30 inch pizza eating challenge
• Bonita Springs, FL wing eating contest Saturday

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The blog for Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub reports that the Travel Channel will be recording at that restaurant on Thursday. The program is not mentioned, but it might be for another episode of Man vs. Food.

The new poll asks if you think Brad Sciullo completed the giant Belly Bruiser burger at Denny’s two months ago. This picture is only documenation of the Belly Bruiser at an intermediate stage of completion I have seen. Kate Stelnick has several pictures documenting her attempt at the Olde 96er burger and Lori Weiss had an eyewitness report for her challenge.

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Here is some additional information about the challenges featured in the Man vs. Food episodes which debuted on December 3:

Big Texan Steak Ranch 72 ounce steak Amarillo, Texas

• BigTexan 72 ounce steak statistics home page
• 72 ounce steak challenge webcam
• List of all finishers 1991-2005 in the eatfeats.com database
• BBC article about the Big Texan Steak Ranch
• Amarillo.com article about Joey Chestnut breaking the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak record
• News video (without audio) about Joey Chestnut breaking the record
• Former Big Texan record holder Frank Pastore’s blog entry about Joey Chestnut breaking his record. Pastore was a Cincinnati Reds pitcher when he broke the record for the seventh time in 1987 and is now a conservative talk radio host.
• Video clip from 2000 episode of Ripley’s Believe it or not about the Big Texan starring Rich & Carlene LeFevre

Big Foot Lodge Sasquatch Burger Memphis, TN

update Dec 22, 2008 The Big Foot Lodge changed its name to Kooky Canuck and its challenge burger is now called the Kookamunga Challenge to settle a lawsuit with a California restaurant

• The Big Foot Lodge’s page about the challenge
• The Big Foot Lodge’s Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame. Joey Chestnut is the current record holder at 7 minutes 36 seconds. Roger Robinson has completed the challenge 3 times in 2008.
• Memphis Commercial Appeal article about Jeremy Payne becoming the second finisher of the challenge
• Memphis Flyer article about Pat Bertoletti becoming the first person to finish the challenge
• The picture of the burger below was photographed at a ball in Memphis, so it is probably the Sasquatch Challenge burger. According to the photographer, the woman holding the burger completed it.

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• Time lapse videos of the challenges attempted on Man vs. Food December 3 and post-challenge press conferences are available on travelchannel.com
• Steakbellie is looking for freelance web / graphics work. Good luck with the job search SB
• Does “Furious” Pete have a new best friend in chemical form?
• Latke eating contest at Zan’s Deli returns December 21
• Josh & Lynette complete the Fenton’s banana split challenge Part I, Part II
• Pictures from Gal Sone’s 23rd birthday party Thursday

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In a bodybuilding.com forum thread, “Furious” Pete Czerwinski announces that he finished the Showdown Burger challenge at Philthy MacNasty’s in 3 minutes and 2 seconds. The previous reported best time was 6:20. The challenge consists of a 1.5 pound burger and fries and is free if completed in under 7 minutes.

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• Hatsuyo Sugawara appears in the What’s Up With Japan segment of G4’s Attack of the Show
• Jill Stoler is looking for competitive eating ideas to celebrate her 30th birthday in March
• Faces of Joey Chestnut & Kobayashi on a stick to be handed out during a halftime eating contest
• $1000 to be awarded to a finisher of a 32 inch pizza in St. Louis
• Researchers study buffet patrons’ habits (from Steakbellie)
• Video of the eating contest on the Tyra Banks show that awarded a Volvo to its winner

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(From the Consumerist) The website for ABC News has an article about restaurants’ eating challenges. The reporter, Scott Mayerowitz, attempted the 50 pound Mount Olympus burger from the Clinton Station Diner in New Jersey with “King” George Van Laar. According the the article, $1000 will be awarded to a five person team that can finish the Mount Olympus in under three hours.

Other eating challenges mentioned:

• The Pancake Challenge from the Seiad Valley Café in California
• Dare to be Great Sundae from The Parlour in Jackson, Michigan
• 76 Ounce Steak, J & R Steakhouse in Long Island, NY

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• Miss Busy Lady attempts the 12 inch pizza challenge
• Video about Thanksgiving and competitive eating
• Gallery of the Rosenberg pie eating contest
• 40 ounce steak eating contest in Meridian, MS Saturday
• Inquiries about obsessive compulsive disorder and competitive eating for an upcoming novel

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Actor Ryan Reynolds, author of an anti-competitive eating blog entry for the Huffington Post, is apparently not equally opposed to all activities which consume calories which could be redirected to the starving poor of the world. The website for People Magazine reports that the husband of Scarlett Johannson claimed on an episode of the Rachael Ray show that he ate almost 10,000 calories after finishing the New York City marathon.

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The creators of some giant burgers are not satisfied with having hamburger as the only type of meat in their sandwiches. The Hawkins House of Burgers (several Los Angeles area locations) Special Burger contains 3 eight ounce hamburger patties, 2 hot links, bacon and pastrami along with 3 fried eggs (picture). The Gangster Burger, offerred by the Rice Street Deli in Saint Paul, Minnesota, contains two half pound hamburger patties, three 6 ounce steaks, a half pound of Italian beef and a half pound of gyro meat. Neither restaurant appears to offer any award or recognition to diners who successfully complete one of their huge burgers.

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(From The Dish) The segment about the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona that was televised on CBS News Sunday Morning is now available on cbsnews.com. Bill Geist of CBS News attempts the Quadruple Bypass Burger challenge, which reportedly contains 8,000 calories.

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• Gallery and video of the 42 inch pizza at Big Lou’s Pizza in San Antonio.
• The Heart Attack Grill segment was televised yesterday on CBS News’ Sunday Morning. I have not been able to track down an online clip.
• Video of an attempt at the Spike’s hot dog record in Boston. An unnamed woman is still was the record co-holder with 14 hot dogs in 90 minutes.
• Video of the pie eating contest for the case models on Deal or no Deal last Friday (Another video)
• Jo “Gavonne” Rose has a report on the Firehouse wings contest he competed in.
• Hatsuyo “The Witch” Sugawara eats 6.3 kg of (13.8 lb) of curry in 15 minutes. One of her competitors was the masked “Mr. Oh” who has a blog entry with some pictures from the contest.

update The Spike’s record challenger broke the store record with 15 hot dogs. Congratulations.

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Patrick Michels has produced a blog entry and video about the Big Kahuna burger challenge at Pancho & Lefty’s in Hare, Texas. The only finisher of the challenge is by a customer who called himself David Walters and refused to be photographed by the restaurant staff. A picture of the $500 check awarded for finishing the burger is above.

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• Video from the Lewisville, TX tamale eating contest
• Picture of a woman in the East Village of NYC attempting a 10 hot dogs in 20 minutes challenge
• Virtual burger eating contests to take place during Los Angeles Laker games to promote Carl’s Jr.
• Article about the Big Jud burger eating challenge in Idaho. Up to 30 people a day complete the challenge and they have to rotate the pictures on the Wall of Fame. (No prizes are awarded)
• Tomoko Miyake turned 25 yesterday.

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• Report on the Pittsburgh cupcake eating contest won by Pete Maurizio by his judge (from CupcakesTakeTheCake) An “IFCE” representative was present and announced the rules
• Video from 2005 Golden Palace turkey eating contest won by Sonya Thomas
• NC State and Wilkes University wing eating contests tonight
• “A Christmas Story” “Mommy’s Little Piggy” Eating Contest
  Hammond, Indiana Dec 6
• A blog about Competitive Eating Training
• Column about Brad Sciullo finishing the Belly Bruiser

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• Megamunch announces that he is retiring from blogging. Thanks for your efforts, MM.
• Article and gallery from 12 pound team pizza challenge attempt in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The article reports that a single competitive eater from Menahsa (probably Mike Fitzgerald) ate 3/4 of the pizza.
• Video from the Battle at the Big Apple pizza eating contest
• Wing Eating contest in Harrisburg, PA November 28. First prize is a Nintendo Wii
• Picture of Blondie’s (Winnipeg, Canada) burger menu which lists a 9 pound burger for $62.95
• Muscatine, Iowa taco eating contest Saturday. Entrants must receive at least $75 in pledges.

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TwinCities.com reports that the 5-8 Grill in Maplewood, Minnesota created a 145 pound “Juicy Lucy” burger on Saturday containing a 100 pound beef patty filled with 50 pounds of cheese. (100 pounds must be the pre-cooked weight since the sum of the beef and cheese weighs less than the listed sandwich weight.)

The burger was submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records under the assumption that the current record holder is a 78.5 pound sandwich created by Bob’s BBQ and Mexican Grill in Thailand. Denny’s Beer Barrel and Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Michigan have requested Guinness recognition for larger burgers. Mallie’s website reports that it created a 164.5 pound burger in August, beating the giant Juicy Lucy by almost 20 lbs., which will appear in the next edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

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• Video of Kobayashi’s TV appearance after he defeated Joey Chestnut in Singapore
• The Man vs. Food message board on travelchannel.com has some eating challenges I was not aware of
• Presentation about competitive eating tonight at a benefit for the Brooklyn greenway
• Sheep’s butt eating challenge on The Amazing Race
• Video of Hatsuyo Sugawara’s victory in this spring’s okonomiyaki eating contest
• New Jersey pasta eating contest report
• Video of a high school cross country team’s pizza eating contest – results: #1 Caleb 27 slices, #2 Miranda 20 slices

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