Beautiful and elegant Balmoral Park in Crete, Ill., is our region's horse racing claim-to-fame.
But over the weekend, the horses got a bit of a break (at least between races) while competitive appetites took center stage.
Rob Hefner, the marketing and public relations wizard for Balmoral, invited me to spend my Saturday as a VIP official and stunned onlooker at the first Pepe's Taco Eating Contest.
Yep, it was an official M.L.E. (aka Major League of Eating) sanctioned event, featuring four of the world's top-ranked professional eaters.
The participants had five minutes to put down as many Pepe's soft tacos as possible, with thousands of dollars at stake.
My favorite was Palos Heights, Ill., 24-year-old eating machine Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, who really cleaned-up as he cleaned his plate and downed 33 tacos.
Of course, it helps that Bertoletti is also currently the No. 2 ranked professional eater in the world.
And yes, it got messy, since these ground beef tacos, presented to contestants on silver trays, were topped with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes.
That means Bertoletti ate the equivalent of 9.24 pounds of food in five minutes, netting him a check for $1,000.
The other finishing places include Tim "Gravy" Brown, who consumed 28 tacos and currently ranks as the No. 10 world-ranked professional eater; Erik "The Red" Denmark, who finished 25 tacos and currently ranks at the No. 15 world-ranked professional eater; "Nasty" Nathan Biller, who chowed 19 tacos and is ranked No. 19 in the world among professional eaters. Locally, ESPN 1000 Radio host John Jurkovic managed 11 tacos and local qualifiers Marce Brewe and Danny Ashworth barely choked down seven tacos.
Following the competition, I chatted with the mohawk-sporting man-of-the-hour Bertoletti, along with his twin sister, Susan, and their video camera-wielding mother, Deborah, about the secret of this eating success.
Turns out, Bertoletti listens to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" in his earplugs for inspiration and his liquid of choice to swig down each of the speedy bites is a mixture of grape and tropical punch flavored Kool-Aid, (ahem), sugar-free only.
His is certainly an interesting story, even though it gives me heartburn to stroll down his chipmunk-cheeked memory lane of marathon pigging out for big money.
Known as one of the "young guns" of competitive eating, he graduated from Morgan Park Academy High School on the southside of Chicago in the Beverly neighborhood and is a culinary graduate of Kendall College in downtown Chicago.
Some of his most noted "gorging for the green" includes:
* Eating 54 Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs (and buns) in 10 minutes and also becoming the first person to complete the "Sasquatch Burger Contest" at Bigfoot Lodge Cafe in Memphis, Tenn., beating 679 people who also tried to finish the "monster" burger and fries platter featuring a 4-pound hamburger. He finished the meal in 11 minutes.
* On Sept. 16, 2007, he says he "cemented his position" as the undisputed "jalapeño eating champion of the world," at the La Costeña "Feel the Heat" Jalapeño Eating Challenge in Chicago. (However, he says the competition was marred when the event organizers ran out of jalapeños five minutes into the eight-minute competition.)
* On Nov. 22, 2007, he won cable network's Spike TV Major League Eating "Turkey Bowl," eating an entire 7-pound turkey in 8 minutes.
* On April 12, 2008, he won the ACME Oyster House 2008 World Oyster Eating Championships by downing 35 dozen raw oysters on the half shell in eight minutes in New Orleans.
On Sept. 1, 2008, he finished third at the Skyline Chili Spaghetti Eating Contest, consuming 11 pounds of noodles and sauce in the 10 minutes.
On March 16, 2009, he won the Stroehmann Sandwich Slamm, eating 16 8-ounce corned beef sandwiches in 10 minutes.
Some of his most prized current world records include eating:
* 47 slices of 16-inch pizza in 10 minutes
* Nearly 10 pounds of blueberry pie in eight minutes, all hands free
* Nearly 11 pounds of corned beef and cabbage: 10.63 pounds in 10 minutes
* 47 glazed, cream-filled donuts in five minutes
* 21 pounds of grits in 10 minutes
* Almost 11 pounds of Key Lime Pie in eight minutes
* 44 cherry kolaches in eight minutes
* 42 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in 10 minutes
* 11 pounds of Shoo-Fly Pie in eight minutes
* 8 pounds of Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie in eight minutes
* 29 (8 ounce) waffles in 10 minutes
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.
Today's Celebrity Birthdays
Astronaut Neil Armstrong is 78. Actress Cammie King (Bonnie Blue Butler in "Gone With The Wind") is 75. Bassist Rick Huxley of The Dave Clark Five is 69. Actress Loni Anderson is 64. Actress Erica Slezak ("One Life To Live") is 63. Singer Rick Derringer is 62. Singer Samantha Sang is 56. Actress Maureen McCormick ("The Brady Bunch") is 53. Guitarist Pat Smear (Foo Fighters) is 50. Actress Tawny Kitaen and country fiddler Mark O'Connor are 48. Basketball star Patrick Ewing is 46. Rapper Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys is 45. Actor Jonathan Silverman ("The Single Guy") is 43. Country singer Terri Clark is 41. Cellist Eicca Toppinen of Apocalyptica is 34.
