NewRaleigh.com has information about the three Raleigh-Durham restaurants where Man vs. Food will film on January 27: Mama Dips (Chapel Hill), The Pit (Raleigh) and The Roast Grill (Raleigh). Adam Richman will attempt to eat 15 hot dogs, 15 buns, a half pint of mustard, one pint of chili sauce, and three drinks at The Roast Grill, which does not appear to have an official eating challenge.

In other Raleigh televised competitive eating news, a twitter update says that the Krispy Kreme Challenge on February 7 will be covered by ESPN.

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• Asparagus contest at the Stockton, CA Asparagus festival returns April 25
• Video of Pat Bertoletti completing a 29 inch pizza in 34 minutes without assistance. The pizza is probably from Barlo’s Pizza in Indianapolis
• Man vs. Food Merchandise page with 3 t-shirts and a food journal (The graphic on the right is one of the t-shirt designs)
• The LA Times reports that the Los Angeles challenge on Man vs. Food will be the spicy ramen called Special #2 at Orochon Ramen and the other foods will be the French Dip sandwich at Phillipe the Original and the Manuel Special burrito at El Tepeyac
• The Cherry Cricket will be another Denver Man vs. Food location
• ESPN.com clip of Kobayashi’s fruitcake record clip
• Chicago chili contest January 31
• Pie eating contest on UK Big Brother in honor of Obama’s inauguration

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Commercial co-starring Adam Richman’s mother, facebook gallery

Facebook photo gallery

Restaurants

• Brick Lane Curry House Challenge Restaurant
  Home Page – Reviews: Citysearch, Yelp
  Serious Eats blog entry about Phall of Fame curry challenge attempt
• Katz’ Deli
  Home Page – Reviews: Citysearch, Yelp
• Sylvia’s
  Home Page – Reviews: Citysearch, Yelp

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Westword has information about the two Travel Channel programs recording at Jack n Grill in Denver this week:

Today at lunchtime, a film crew from the Travel Channel’s new show, Extreme Places to Pig-Out, will be at the restaurant filming fans’ attempts to down the big burrito. And on Thursday, January 22, Adam Richman, host of the channel’s Man v. Food, will be back at Jack-n-Grill at noon, taking on the seven-pounder himself.

In other Denver news, Skinnyboy has a blog entry about the final KBPI Wing Bowl qualifier.

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Andrew Zimmern’s blog for MSP Magazine reports that Man vs. Food will be filming in Minneapolis / St. Paul from February 5 to 8. Restaurant locations are not listed, but one of the foods will be a juicy Lucy burger.

A UNC scout.com forum thread has the following information about Raleigh / Durham locations:

I have a friend that is a producer on the show and they are coming to Chapel Hill/Durham for a show. Thus far they have chosen the Roast Grill (hot dogs) and The Pit for barbeque and they are thinking about Mama Dip’s but are worried that the portions are not big enough.

They looked at Sutton’s and Time Out but they were too small and didn’t have large enough portions. THe sad thing about the area is that the food that is true to North Carolina doesn’t usually come in a challenge type of serving.

A twitter update from December says that Man vs. Food will record at the Roast Grill sometime in January.

The Krispy Kreme Challenge appeared to be a possibility for the North Carolina challenge, but Man vs. Food will be in Minnesota on the February 7 race date.

update BeautifulBrian.com has a review and a clip from Man vs. Food

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Cities for the next eight episodes of Man vs. Food after the initial batch of ten have been listed on the program’s slideshow page:

Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Los Angeles, CA
San Jose, CA
St. Louis, MO
Denver, CO
North Carolina
Minneapolis, MN

The Travel Channel’s schedule page says that the Portland episode will be televised on February 4 and the challenge will be Salvador Molly’s Great Balls of Fire habanero chile cheese fritters. The episode was recorded on December 9.

Information about restaurants in other cities is available on the internet. The Seattle challenge will be the 12 egg omelet at Beth’s Cafe. Red Mill Burgers was another site for that episode. The Saint Louis challenge restaurant was Pappy’s Smokehouse and the meal was the Big Ben (full slab of ribs, 2 sandwiches, a quarter-chicken, and 4 side dishes)

The Denver episode has yet to be filmed and the challenge will be the 7 pound breakfast burrito at Jack n Grill

The commercial for next week’s New York episode, which co-stars Adam Richman’s mother, is available.

update El Tepeyac, which is famous for giant burritos, and Daichan Kaiten-Sushi were sites for the Los Angeles episode

Iguana’s Taqueria is a San Jose location and the challenge meal there will be the Burritozilla. Joey Chestnut started his competitive eating career in a Burritozilla eating contest and still holds the record of 4 minutes and 26 seconds.

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• Kevin Carr says that he turned down an opportunity to appear on Wife Swap, which went to Badlands Booker and he hopes to become a competitor on Dancing with the Stars
• Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis appears on last night’s episode of Man vs. Food
• Pictures from 2006 and 2007 have been added to Major League Eating’s flickr gallery
• Skinnyboy’s second Denver Wing Bowl qualifier report
• Denver Wing Bowl spectator information
• 21 ounce burger with “bailout” in honor of Obama’s inauguration
• Video of “El Gigante” burrito challenge attempt in Carrboro, NC
• Video of “Big Ass Burger” attempt in Houston, TX

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The Los Angeles Times has an article about the Food Network which mentions its competitors:

But these forays into food entertainment are a sign that that the network that introduced the country to round-the-clock food programming is now just one of many channels competing for the same audience.

The Travel Channel, for example, just scored its highest-ever ratings for a new debut with “Man v. Food,” in which host Adam Richman travels the country in search of food challenges, such as trying to consume a 13-pound pizza.

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RockyMountainNews reports that Man vs. Food will be recording at Jack n Grill in Denver on January 22. The restaurant will also host a film crew from the Travel Channel’s new Extreme Places to Pig-Out show on January 19.

The challenge food will be the 7 pound Grande Breakfast Burrito. Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane has a blog entry about his attempt. The restaurant offers free food for life to women who complete the challenge without assistance. Metromix has a gallery of three attempts to claim that prize.

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videos from the episode: commercial, 2 minute youtube segment

• Challenge Restaurant Eagle’s Deli
  • Home Page
  • #2 Listing on the Travel Channel’s 10 best places to pig out
  • Reviews: yelp, citysearch, review expressing disapproval for removing Wall of Fame pictures
  • Videos: Phantom Gourment, attempt by Greg Maloomian, rising star of New England eating challenges
• The East Coast Grill
  • Home Page
  • Reviews: yelp, citysearch
  • Hell night fiery food challenge which Adam Richman participated in – phantom gourmet video
• The Barking Crab
  • Home Page
  • Reviews: citysearch, yelp

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• Philly.com reports that Wing Kong is training a Wing Bowl 17 hopeful. Wing Kong thinks this year’s winner will not eat more than 50% of the wings Joey Chestnut ate in Wing Bowl 16.
• Angelo Cataldi says this could be his final year at 610 WIP. If that is the case, will the Wing Bowl outlast his tenure?
• Pete Davekos’ Garlicky Greens victory makes ESPN.com’s list of the lesser-known champs of 2008, which will probably appear in the ESPN magazine
• Pete Davekos to appear on NPR’s The Splendid Table this weekend (from email) – radio stations
• 24 ounce steak eating battle of the sexes
• Man vs. Food Facebook page
• Adam Richman of Man vs. Food interviewed by Andrew Zimmern
• Kobayashi has yet to mention his fruitcake record attempt on his blog

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Commercial

Challenge restaurant – Big Pie in the Sky web page and page about Carnivore Challenge

Atlanta Cuisine forum thread about Carnivore Challenge

update 2 minute clip – slideshow – location list

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No new episode of Man V. Food will be televised tonight, but all six episodes will be rerun beginning at 5 pm eastern:

Columbus TRAV Wed 12/31 5:00 PM
Memphis TRAV Wed 12/31 5:30 PM
Chicago TRAV Wed 12/31 6:00 PM
Austin TRAV Wed 12/31 6:30 PM
Pittsburgh TRAV Wed 12/31 7:00 PM
Amarillo TRAV Wed 12/31 7:30 PM

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• Consumption has a rap video directed to Badlands Booker
• Wikipedia page about Man v. Food, has a short Adam Richman biography and episode details
• The Princeton Oyster Bowl has a new website at http://oysterbowlnj.com/
• Mike Fitzgerald attempts the 12 pound pizza challenge at Polito’s
• IFOCE review of Santa’s Slay by Tim “Gravy” Brown
• Georgia Tech beats LSU in a beef eating contest held at a Brazilian steakhouse before the Chick Fil A Bowl.
• Dale Boone is in India according to his myspace status

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A link to Adam Richman’s appearance on Good Morning America yesterday is below.

Adam Richman on GMA Dec 23, 2008 (6 MB)

Links about tonight’s episode: commerical, clip about the appropriate stance for eating an Italian beef sandwich, slideshow (which must have been taken in early October or before note the sign)

The website for tonight’s challenge restaurant, Lucky’s Sandwich Company, is under contruction – yelp page

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The listings for Good Morning America say that host of Man vs. Food, Adam Richman, will appear on Good Morning America on December 23. It was announced that Richman would appear on the December 3 show, but I do not think he was on that episode.

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• Pictures from 2005 have been added to the Major League Eating flickr gallery
• Video clip about the Buffalo Wing Festival contest containing a Sonya Thomas interview
• Kobayashi highlight video clip
• Man vs. Food videos playlist on youtube
• Gal Sone and Tomoko Miyake have late birthday parties

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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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• As of 10:30 am eastern, Wing Bowl 17 tickets appear available on ComcastTix.com Here is the direct link to the ticket buying page
• Pat Bertoletti ranks his favorite Chicago pizzas
• “Kid” Cary DeGrosa has a new column about OJ which embeds a video from September 2007 (from “Beautiful” Brian email)
• (from Wasted Food) Rich Shea podcast (starts at about the 50 minute mark) Shea continues to assert that competitive eating is the world’s fastest growing sport, but admits he has no factual basis for that statement.
• Encounter (in English) with Hatsuyo “the Witch” Sugawara at a restaurant
• Cameron McKirdy (now known as “Consumption”) has updated his website http://www.deathbyconsumption.com/
• Adam Richman of Man vs. Food to do a live online video chat on Wednesday at 11 pm eastern
• Mario’s Flying Pizza in Galveston, TX to celebrate reopening after Hurricane Ike with eating contests Wednesday

update As of 1:30pm eastern, upper level Wing Bowl tickets appear to be available

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The schedule for Man vs. Food until the end of January is now available on the Travel Channel’s website. One new episode a week will be shown from now on instead of two. A new episode will be televised on Christmas Eve at 10 pm eastern (no new episode will be shown on New Year’s Eve)

• Dec 17 Austin – Juan in a Million – breakfast tacos
• Dec 24 Chicago – Lucky’s – overstuffed sandwiches
• Jan 7 Atlanta – Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria – 11 pound Carnivore Challenge pizza
• Jan 14 Boston – Eagle’s Deli – 12 pound Eagle’s Challenge Burger
• Jan 21 New York City – Brick Lane Curry House – Sphicy Phall Curry
• Jan 28 New Orleans – Acme Oyster House – 15 dozen oysters

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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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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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The home page for Man vs. Food reports that host Adam Richman will appear on Good Morning America tomorrow to promote the debut episode.

Several promotional videos for Man vs. Food are available on youtube:

• Big Texan 72 ounce steak challenge
• Suicide hot wings
• Series commercial

update The Boston Herald has an interview with Adam Richman

update #2 The program home page has slideshows of tonight’s episodes and the Chicago Sun-Times has an article

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A trailer of the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food has been embedded on the program’s home page. An interview with show host Adam Richman is also available.

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