Ow reversal
An Olympian task
Diners take on king of the mountain when it comes to Greek-themed burgers
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
By TOM QUIGLEY
The Express-Times
UNION TWP. -- Gentleman Joe Menchetti arrived at the Clinton Station Diner on Monday dressed in a black tuxedo with red suspenders and a black bowler hat atop his huge 345-pound frame.
The dapper diner and 17 others had come to take part in America's Biggest Burger Eating Competition.
The contest pitted six teams of three men each against the diner's huge hamburger dubbed the Zeus.
"Today Zeus will fall," diner owner Michael Zambas predicted as the six teams sat down for the start of the contest.
The behemoth burger weighs in at 12.5 pounds. That's 7 pounds of meat, a 2(-pound bun and 3 pounds of toppings. The burgers are about 16 inches in diameter and between 6 and 8 inches tall.
Menchetti's fellow diners included Dominick "the Doginator" Cardo who once polished off more than 3 pounds of cow's tongue during the Glutton Bowl in California. The 46-year-old competitive eater is from Bartonsville, Pa., and he weighs 325 pounds.
The third member of the Tri-State Titans was 44-year-old Oceanside, N.Y., resident Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman. The 240-pound Chapman is president of the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters.
Needless to say, the 910-pound trio made mincemeat of the other teams and somehow managed to consume the Zeus burger in one hour, 11 minutes and 52 seconds.
The Titans almost blew it when Chapman had what master of ceremonies Mike Sisco would later describe as a "reversal of fortune" all over the table and himself.
The "reversal" occurred after the meal was completed and Chapman and his teammates narrowly avoided the automatic disqualification that comes with such occurrences.
"I knew after 10 minutes this wasn't my day," Chapman said later.
The other five teams, The Three Stooges, The Bottom Feeders, The All-Out Eaters, the Elks Club of Clinton, and The Little Eaters, all managed to keep eating until time ran out after an hour and 15 minutes.
Three Stooges member John McGowan, 26, of Bethlehem, Pa., said this was only his second time in an eating contest.
"I think I'd do better if this was a pizza-eating contest," he said.
Proceeds from the event are being donated to Operation Shoebox New Jersey 2005, a volunteer effort to ship such items as candy, toilet paper and other personal necessities to the troops in Iraq, organizers said.
The group has already sent about 1,500 packages. A tally of the money raised was not available Monday although at least $500 will be going to the cause.
Zambas, who said he hosted the event to celebrate the diner's recent one-year anniversary, is also donating 15 percent of the Monday night dinner receipts to Operation Shoebox.
Anyone interested in tackling one of the big burgers can purchase one for $29.95 plus a few dollars for condiments.
Those with a less hearty appetite can tackle the diner's 3-pound Atlas burger, the 2-pound Hercules burger or the 1-pound Achilles burger.
Monday's giant burgers were cooked by chefs Peter Karavoulias, of Stroudsburg, Pa., and Armando Garcia, of Pen Argyl.
Karavoulias said it takes only 35 minutes to cook one of the burgers.
"Medium-well," he added.
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