Man conquers grill in burger battle
With buns the size of Frisbees and enough hamburger meat to feed a family of 10, Center Street Grill’s creation is juicy and saucy enough to make any stomach growl, but finishing the heap of food had some locals begging for mercy Friday.
Seven hungry contestants waited at their seats, facing the crowd with knife and fork in hand. Waitresses filed into the room carrying oozing cheeseburgers, ranch and barbecue sauces smothering 10 ounces of bacon and 3.5 pounds of hamburger.
Splat. One of the top-heavy burgers flipped from the plate onto the brick floor.
“Don’t worry, we have back up,” said Stephanie Miller, Center Street Grill’s manager.
Braylynn Redmond, 12, the second female to ever participate in the eating challenge and her 10-year-old brother, Tanner Anderson, looked at each other with eyebrows raised as the plates were set before them.
“It’s probably bigger than my head,” said David England, a previous employee of Center Street Grill and first-time contestant.
Friday was Center Street Grill’s sixth Man vs. Grill competition, which Miller said was started up just so locals could have something different and fun to do. To win, each contestant must clean his or her plate in a 45-minute time period. There are no bathroom trips and vomiting in the tin wash tub means disqualification.
“We give each of them a barf bucket, but no one has needed to use it, yet,” said Jordan Jeppson, a Center Street Grill employee and social work major at USU. “Out of the 30 people who have attempted the challenge, three have actually finished.”
In the main dining area is a wall tacked with pictures of those who failed and those who conquered the giant burger. After Friday, one of the seven contestants was added to the “Wall of Fame.”
Contestants ranged from elementary school children to fathers to hungry teenage boys. Contestants’ family members and friends sat nearby to watch, slurping milkshakes and munching on baskets of fries. Just after 7 p.m., an air horn sounded, starting the clock, and contestants dug in — most tackling the hamburger patties first.
Tanner and Braylynn, the brother and sister duo from Ogden, went in on the challenge together, each attempting to eat half of the burger. They sat next to their older brother, Dmitri Redmond, 14, who said he often watches the Travel Channel TV series “Man vs. Food.” Dmitri was attempting the challenge for the third time and said he had trouble defeating the burger the first time, because a cup of bleu cheese was piled under the bun.
Fifteen minutes into the competition, most of the contestants started to slow down, including England.
“After this, I am going to be a vegetarian for a little bit,” he said. “Is there a move I can do to stretch my stomach?”
Braylynn stood up and shook her hips, hoping the food would settle in her stomach and allow room for more.
“The barbecue sauce is disgusting,” Dmitri said. “It tasted really good at the beginning.”
Jeppson said 4 ounces of barbecue sauce and 4 ounces of ranch were drizzled on the patties and buns — not to mention the mayonnaise.
Between mouthfuls, Dmitri made good use of the dish towel he was given. While some contestants consistently used their forks and knives to make a dent in their burgers, others peeled it apart, eating it layer by layer.
With 10 minutes left in the burger competition, all but two of the contestants stopped eating: Jake Crawford, a 16-year-old from Ogden, and 21-year-old Hyrum tire technician, David Sessions. Crawford folded the bottom bun and patty into a taco shape, and said he doubted he would finish, while Sessions only had the toppings and bun left to consume.
With five minutes remaining, the crowd huddled around the table and cheered while Sessions dipped the buns into his cup of water and shoved them into his mouth. Five seconds from the buzzer, Sessions lifted his hands and revealed his tongue to the audience.
For defeating the mammoth burger, Sessions received $50 in Center Street Grill gift certificates, a T-shirt, a barf bucket and $20 to reimburse him for the cost of the burger, Jeppson said.
“There was a guy who did this competition before who had a few bites left, but couldn’t finish,” Miller said. “He told his young daughter that if he didn’t finish she couldn’t go to college. She put her head down on the table and cried, telling him he had to eat it.”
Sessions, buried his face in his palms while his friends and family pat him on the back. He could only speak with hand gestures.
“I feel… awesome,” he said, while his friends laughed.
“My stomach feels all right,” Jake said. “I just couldn’t handle that barbecue sauce. It just didn’t taste good anymore.”
With one pound of food left on Jake’s plate, a waitress boxed it up to save for later, and Jake said he would have no problem eating more hamburger the next day.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu