Let's Eat Paste

For those of you traveling along Route 66 as you pass through Amarillo TX, you need to see two things.

The first thing you'll need to do is head out to the Cadillac Ranch on the west side of town. Don't forget your spraypaint.


The second place you'll need to go to is The Big Texan restaurant, home of the 72oz Steak Challenge. The challenge is to eat a 72oz steak and the meal that accompanies it, which consists of a baked potato, a salad, cocktail shrimp and a roll. If you complete the meal within an hour, you get the meal for free, and a T-shirt proclaiming your victorious eating of so much food. If you lose, you get to shell out $50 for your dinner. They put you up on a platform at the front of the restaurant, and people will come up and cheer you on as you eat.

I and two of my friends (that's me on the right) decided we were up for such a challenge. Our other friends with us had even ponied up some money, offering a grand total of $90 to whoever could not only finish the meal, but finish it first.


We are all failures.

I learned a few things though, and I'd like to share my thoughts on how I could have won, looking back. Most of these lessons I learned from Kirk, who was able to eat the whole steak, but none of the meal. I was the only one who completed most of the side items. The steak you see on my plate is what I couldn't finish.

1.) Drink a lot. You'll find that the hard part about eating that much is not that you become so full (even though you do)... The hard part is that you get dehydrated. I was only sipping occasionally on water, not even half of the plastic boots that they gave us to drink out of. After a while, you get dehydrated and you can't make spit, which makes it very very hard to chew and swallow the steak. When it's so dry going down, it gives you a gag reflex which is something you don't want, at least until after the contest is over. Kirk downed three or four boot fulls of Diet Coke and was able to eat the whole steak.

2.) Don't eat gristle and fat. Don't eat anything you don't have to. You don't have to eat the gristle and fat on the steak. You'll need to have the kitchen verify it at the end.

3.) Make sure they give you your salad dressing on the side. That's the way I ordered it, but they didn't bring it out that way, and it made the salad very filling.

4.) Ask for your drink in a regular glass... That plastic boot is kind of sharp around the edges and will scrape up your lips.

5.) Be friendly with the crowd, you'll have time to talk, and they'll cheer you on which makes it pretty fun.

6.) Clean out your system well in advance of when you arrive. Every extra bit of space you can muster will help.

7.) Bring a toothbrush, so you can go back in and brush your teeth after you puke in the parking lot.

I hope this helps lead someone else to victory in the 72oz Steak Challenge.