Calamari Clash Calamari Eating Contest
Calamari Eating Contest and World's Largest Hamburger at Mallie's Sport Bar and Grill in Southgate, Michigan
After road tripping from Chicago to Southgate, Michigan, I arrived at Mallie’s Sport Bar and Grill a little after 2PM Eastern time. A crowd was already forming to see both the calamari eating contest and the to be later revealed new record holder for world’s largest hamburger. Luckily everyone was dispersed enough eating and drinking that I was still able to take a prime front and center view of the action!
Calamari Eating Contest
Before the calamari eating contest I said hi to Pat (who really needs to stop being surprised when I randomly show up at eating contests) and Crazy Legs (who surprised me by introducing me by my full name) and Humble Bob. I wished them all luck than claimed my position up front as more people started crowding in.
And then we waited, of course, as giant burger centerpieces were laid, and cups set, and plates and plates of calamari hit the tables. Finally it was time to begin the calamari eating contest as all the eaters were called to take their places. Besides the favorite competitive eaters Pat Bertoletti and Sonya Thomas and Crazy Legs and Humble Bob there were some locals and newcomers and even Pat’s brother Joe!
All of the competitive eaters took their places on stage and before you knew it they were off eating!
Plates and plates of fried squid disappeared. Most of the center players took to squishing the tentacles together into a seafood and breading ball that was devoured, fast. It was hard to keep up with who was winning and who was losing. The table enders seemed to slow quickly, eating all the way to the end but not at the ferocious pace of Sonya and Pat and Bob.
And as the crowd counted down from ten to one there was seemingly no clear cut winner. Each eater finished their chipmunked particles and counted plates and in the end, with three of them on their seventh plate, the emcee (yet another new one) had to bring out the scale to weigh them in.
In the end it was Crazy Legs (3.4375 lbs.) in fourth, Sonya Thomas in third (6.125 lbs.), Humble Bob Shoudt (6.3125 lbs.) in second, and Pat Bertoletti (6.625 lbs.) in first place at the calamari eating contest.
Calamari seemed to me that it would be a hard food to eat in competition. I can eat a lot of calamari myself but I would think the chewiness would hinder the ability to eat it fast. Crazy Legs later told me that his strategy was to ball the entire plate of food into one squished mash like he’d seen done long ago in a cheese fries competition, but in the end he had forgotten to take into account the denser chewier inside the squid provided that didn’t allow his theory to work as well as he had hoped.
More photos from the calamari eating contest:
World’s Largest Hamburger Presentation
After the contest we all hung around the bar for a bit awaiting the arrival of the newest World’s Largest Hamburger. In the meantime I became enamored with their claw machine. You know those machines with the claws that you use to try to pick up a toy to win? The bar had them for LOBSTERS! How awesome is that? And Jason Erb asked if I was a professional stalker and that probably sounds about correct.
Anyways…a little while later Mallie’s brought out all of their burgers from a small child-size offering to their 10 pounder (that is actually on the menu). To finally…all 180 plus pounds of their new record-breaking Guinness-certified world’s largest burger.
Amazing! I could maybe eat the pickle on it.
After snapping a few photos I took off back to Chicago, where I promptly passed out. I need to stop doing that.
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Anonymous
June 2, 2009at10:41 amThat burger looks like a dinosaur turd.