WASHINGTON — A crowd started gathering along Wisconsin Avenue in Northwest D.C. just before noon Friday, as 10 hungry competitors braced for a big meal. It was time for the 7th annual Independence Burger Eating Championship at Z-Burger’s Tenleytown location.
Among the contestants were a couple newcomers, eager to take on the likes of Kyle “the Hammer” Hanner — who has 65 eating contest wins under his belt — and Molly Schuyler, who won the Z-Burger contest in 2014. Just last week, Schuyler polished off 38 beef patties in eight minutes to win the Caribbean Food Delights World Jamaican Beef Patty Eating Championship in Queens, New York.
“Gentleman” Joe Menchetti, of Connecticut, was a familiar face — you may have seen him on “America’s Got Talent,” where he took down five pizzas in 90 seconds.
“I really don’t do any prep — the closest thing to prep I do is chewing gum for jaw strength, and normally not eating for 12 to 20 hours beforehand,” Menchetti said.
He says his strategy is to “chew as little as humanly possible. … Ideally, bite and swallow.” Several other eaters agreed with that plan of attack.
“Munchin’” Mike Longo, hailing from Dumfries, Virginia, has done 100 contests in his career. He attended Friday’s competition on his lunch break from work, and planned to go back to the office afterward.
Introductions got underway just after noon, and the crowd packed tighter along the sidewalk, counting down the seconds to the first bite.
And then they were off, each eater using their personalized techniques to tackle the tray of plain hamburgers before them. Several water bottles were on hand (as well as a nearby ambulance) to help them along the way.
Schuyler immediately took to opening her water bottles before diving in, setting herself up for speed. Hanner (aka “the Hammer,” mentioned above) demonstrated how he got his nickname, sometimes pounding his burgers flat before devouring them.
The contestants had a total of 10 minutes to get through as many burgers as possible.
After dozens of burgers were smashed and chomped to oblivion, it would be a repeat story for Nebraska-native Schuyler. She broke her previous Z-Burger Independence Burger Eating Championship record (26 burgers) to eat a total of 28 burgers in the allotted time.
After the contest ended, the eaters had to hang tight for two minutes and prove they could hold it down. Luckily, there would be no stomach troubles on this hot summer day in D.C.
The winners were presented with trophies and prizes, and the group headed into the restaurant — some bellying up to the counter to order milkshakes to chase all those burgers.
Asked how he would recover, Virginia’s Longo said, “A lot of water, and I always have ice cream afterwards. And the next couple of days I’ll be hitting it extra hard at the gym.”
Z-Burger owner and founder Peter Tabibian says the contest will be back for an eighth year in 2017, and even hinted (with a smile) that he may compete next time.
The 2016 Independence Burger Eating Championship winners:
- 5th place: Kyle “the Hammer” Hanner, 10 burgers, $300 in Z-Burger dollars
- 4th place: Munchin’ Mike Longo, 11 burgers, $400 cash
- 3rd place: “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti, 13 burgers, $500 cash
- Runner Up: David “Tiger Wings and Things” Brunelli, 19 burgers, $850 cash
- Winner: Molly Schuyler, 28 burgers, $1,500 cash
Watch video of the eating contest:
