ID Spring Roll Contest in Seattle - 4/29

I had the privilege of attending an event last night in Seattle that involved an eating contest, the ID Springroll Eating Contest. There haven't been any professional eating contests in Seattle since I started my eating career in 2005, only amateur contests, so I love to see at least something in Seattle. And this was a spring roll contest at an event for a good cause to support Seattle's Chinatown International District community development projects.

I came to support the locals and to see how The Stranger reporter Paul Constant would do after meeting with him a couple weeks back to give him an interview for a story that will come out next week and some pointers on how he could prepare for the contest. Paul had some history winning a no hands pie eating contest a few years back and when we ordered some spring rolls and ate a few of them quickly, I could see that he was going to do well in the contest.

When I arrived and spoke with the event organizers, I was surprised to learn that they had tried to contact we back in January to no avail when they were putting ideas and the lineup together for the contest. The gal who was in charge, Fen, cited several of my eating exploits and knew a lot about me and said she even tried to go through the IFOCE to get a hold of me but never got a response. I was both honored and very dissappointed that we never connected in time to collaborate more.

Anyway, at that time I agreed to help out with what I could for the event, do a short interview on stage before the contest, and make sure everyone knew what they were getting in to.

There were some very notable individuals in the contest including current ESPN analyst and former Washington Husky and Seattle Seahawk quarterback Brock Huard, Apprentice runner-up James Sun, along with runner-up in last year's WA Gubernatorial race (I voted for Dino) Dino Rossi, and current King County Council Member nominee for County Executive, Dow Constantine.

I had met Brock Huard briefly last year at the Detlef Shrempf Celebrity Golf Tournament and I spoke to him before the contest - he was nervous as hell and he couldn't figure out why. I told him it was a good thing that he was taking it serious and that he would do well because of his competitiveness. At that point, I was pretty sure it was going to come down to Brock and Paul.

Okay, on to the contest results, it was only supposed to be a 2 minute contest but it ended up going about 3 minutes.

Results:

1 - Paul Constant - 23 spring rolls
2 - Brock Huard - 21 spring rolls
3 - Toby Crittenden - 12
4 - James Sun - 11
5 - Dino Rossi - 8
6T - Angela Garbes - 6
6T - Dow Constantine
8 - Uncle Bob - 4

Both Brock and Paul were very impressive and did much better than I though they would do. The contest was supposed to be 2 minutes, but I realized about 2 and 1/2 minutes in to the contest that no one was keeping the time so I ran over to the MC and told him to count down from 10 to end the contest. I took some pictures (below) and video but Brock was very adamant before the contest that he did not want any videos posted online so I will wait until someone else does first. I think Brock was worried he would embarrass himself but Brock, if you happen to read this, you have nothing to be ashamed of, you did very well. The spring rolls were small but as I said both Brock and Paul were very impressive with their speed and final totals, they represented Seattle well.


Winner Paul Constant of The Stranger posing with the trophy

Brock Huard in the foreground getting mentally prepared

I mentioned to Brock that he should stand instead of sit, a few followed

Deep Fried Asparagus - Stockton 4/25

Deep Fried Asparagus Results:

10 Minute Contest

1 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti (2) - 7 lbs 5.81 oz, $1500
2 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 7 lbs 2.81 oz, $750
3 - Eric Badlands Booker (13) - 5, $500
4 - Erik the Red Denmark (15) - 4 lbs 14 oz
6 - Nasty Nate Biller (19) - 4 lbs 12 oz
7 - Jason Erbivore Erb (33) 3 lbs 4.78 oz
8 - Wild Bill Myers (31) 3 lbs 2.17 oz


Badlands rapping pre-contest next to "Britney Spears" - the best mascot name ever


Check out the jumbo tron - it's amazing! Nathan's needs to borrow one

Pat was finally able to overtake Joey in this contest. Joey has won this contest 4 years in a row and he is loved in Stockton. I think Joey was feeling a bit sick with flu-like symptoms and his pace was a bit off in the beginning but Pat had the early speed and would have been tough to beat no matter what on this day.

Although I do and will always love this contest, this result was rather frustrating for me. Even though I only barely ate more than I did last year (4.75 lbs) I was on such a better pace this year than years past. I had 3 lbs down in close to three minutes. But the fourth plate kicked my butt. Deep fried asparagus is a great contest food (in my opinion) but every once in awhile you get a plate of huge stocks that are a bit overcooked (or maybe undercooked?) and the asparagus becomes very stringy. Stringy asparagus is difficult to swallow because it gets stuck between your mouth and throat. Early in the contest it is much easier to get through a plate like this because my jaws are stronger and swallowing bigger chunks is no problem. But at this time of the contest I couldn't get through the swallowing bigger chunks. I was very carefully chewing and swallowing and taking up huge chunks of time, it took me nearly five minutest to finish my fourth plate. Nasty Nate who was eating next to me at a great pace as well was also struggling with his fourth plate so maybe it wasn't just me.

Anyway, I finished my fifth plate (which was much easier than my 4th plate) completely stuffing in the last two spears at the buzzer. Badlands had passed me and moved just on to his 6th plate but he had accumulated some debris which brought his total down to 5 pounds even. All 5 of my empty plates were weighed which equaled 2 oz and that is where my total comes from, I guess I should have eaten the plates. I would have liked to see an eat off for third since it was so close and that was the last payout spot but in reality I know that I should have gotten through my 4th pound much faster and that is what cost me. It was great to see Badlands on the west coast and he did very well for his first trip out to Stockton so he deserved 3rd. Nasty Nate also improved greatly this year with only two spears left on his 5th plate.

After the contest, I knew I needed to eat something to forget about that 4th plate. So, we headed out to Bear Silber's Santa Clara Pizza Party joint to try the Belly Buster Challenge (Badlands and I) and to defeat Joey's 3 year old record of 17 minutes. It's a consolation no doubt but it did make me feel better - you can read about my (successful) attempt by clicking here

Great America Park Funnel Cake Contest - 4/11

Official Funnel Cake Results:
4-11-2009

10 minute contest - Santa Clara, CA

1 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 5.44 lbs., $2000
2 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti (2) - 4.78, $1500
3 - Humble Bob Shoudt (4) - 4.12, $1000
4 - Erik the Red Denmark (15) - 3.56, $500
5 - Kevin "00" Ross (23) - 2.82
6 - Nasty Nate Biller (19) - 2.63

I would not say funnel cake is an ideal contest food. But this was a very well run contest with a committed sponsor so the food was not that big of a deal. Many of us have never had an experience with funnel cake. It's one of those foods that you know exists, you may have seen it, but have you ever really ordered it? Funnel cake looks light and fluffy since it is not really a solid mass. But, don't be fooled, funnel cake is a very dense food; it is essentially something akin to a pancake batter that is dripped in to a frying pan filled with vegetable oil. So, a good majority of the density of the food is derived from fry oil. Regardless if the food was slow, the contest was fun and rumor was there will be more funnel cake contests at other parks later in the eating season hosted by subsidiaries of the same parent company that put hosted this contest. Just recently it was annocunced at IFOCE that the 2nd funnel cake contest will take place on May 23 in Virginia.

I am always happy to win money and to not have a tough travel schedule so this was a successful contest for me in that sense. However, as this is my 4th full season on the competitive eating circuit, I know that now is my time to make a jump in the rankings and pull some upsets. Gradual improvement is great but it ain't spectatcular.

Check out some contest video taken by Pizza Party owner Bear Silber Here