Number one ranked competitive eater in the world, multiple world record holder, and destroyer of 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, Joey Chestnut graced us with his presence at the Austin Ice Cream festival this year. Why exactly was he in town? To take on a whole team of 5 other eaters at once to see who could eat the most ice cream in 5 minutes!

How did he do? We’ll get to that later, but the look on his competitor’s face above might provide a clue.

I sat down with Joey during the Austin Ice cream Festival at Waterloo Park to chat about the life of a competitive eater and his time in the city. He told me that he loves Austin and has a big soft spot for the Salt Lick (perhaps because they serve tasty all-you-can-eat meat). Also, he told me that likes Austin’s live music scene because you can hear great bands downtown on any given night.

While in Austin Joey Chestnut had a fair share of enthusiastic fans. My 20 minute interview was interrupted 3-4 times by autograph seeking festival goers. Don’t think that the attention was soley because of the official Pepto Bismol jersey he was wearing either! Joey hung out on 6th street the night before wearing street clothes and was recognized at least half a dozen times “mostly by dudes”.

One huge benefit of being a celebrity is hardly ever having to pay for your own drinks! Joey says that he gets “more free drinks handed to him at bars than hot chicks”. Must be nice

• A crowd of hundreds watches Joey Chestnut compete in the ice cream eating contest

Despite making tons of money as the dominant competitive eater in America, Joey also holds down a full time construction management job back home in San Jose where his boss and coworkers are very supportive and think it’s awesome that he is an eating champion.

For a competitive person who holds multiple world records (103 mini burgers in 8 minutes, 241 chicken wings in 30 minutes, 4.5 lbs of steak and sides in less than 9 minutes among others), Joey Chestnut is an incredibly down to earth, regular guy who’s following his passion and kicking butt at the same time.

Here’s what we chatted about in our official interview:

What are the best and worst things about competitive eating?
I get to travel and meet tons of great people. But I have to monitor my eating. I fast before competition, but I love to eat so that’s really hard for me.

I read that you and exercise to stay in shape when you aren’t eating competitively. Are there any specific workouts you do? Is it mostly cardio work or do you also strength train?
I hate exercise, but I do it because I know it’s necessary and I have to be prepared to push my body during the contest and control my breathing. But mostly, I run.

Why do you think competitive eating has become so popular recently? It seems to have blown up in the last 10 years or so.
Everybody can relate to competitive eating. Whether you’re an old lady or a young guy, everybody knows what it’s like to overeat, and everybody needs to reach for the Pepto every once in a while. It’s not like baseball. Not everyone can throw a fastball, but everyone can eat.

• Peter Tsai and Joey Chestnut during an interview for the TastingBuds blog

What is your diet like when not eating competitively? It’s hard to picture you nibbling on salads on the off days.
I eat like most normal people when I’m not in a contest.

I heard that you have a dayjob as a construction engineer… How do you find the time to work and travel for competitive eating? If you could, would you be eating full time?
It’s tough. I have to pick and choose my contests carefully. But, of course I would!

I watched you devour a 5+ lb burrito in roughly 3 minutes on Man v Food. With the huge popularity of that show, are you interested in pursuing your own show?
It’s not something I’d go after, but if it happens, it happens. I’m actually pretty shy so I can’t picture myself doing a show like that.

Speaking of Man v Food, have you ever considered tackling Austin’s Don Juan Taco Challenge @ Juan in a Million (which Man v Food’s Adam Richman failed)?
I went there today and am thinking of going back to break the record. (TastingBuds update – Joey couldn’t attempt the challenge due to limited time and having to save his stomach for the ice cream eating contest).

You’ve said in interviews that it’s hard for you to compete if the food you’re eating tastes bad. What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever eaten in competition?
Vienna sausage. They were gelatinous and nasty.

I noticed on your Twitter account @joeyjaws that you aren’t afraid of controversy – you’ve even retweeted messages from haters and cracked jokes about other competitors like Kobayashi. What does that say about your personality?
I’m easy-going. I’m just having fun with competitive eating. If my competitors don’t like what I’m saying, they should try harder to beat me.

Finally, what do you want for competitive eating in the future? Do you think that one day it will be more popular, eaters will earn more money, and competitors will be better recognized as athletes?
I never imagined being where I am now. I have no expectations so just as long as I’m having fun and am healthy, I’ll just ride it out.

Back to the eating… what were the results of the ice cream eating competition? In a mere 5 minutes, Joey devoured 1.25 gallons of Austin Scoops Madagascar Vanilla Bean ice cream. The whole team of 5 amateurs pictured above was only able to finish 1 gallon combined.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so a video must be worth at least a million. Check out the clips below to hear Joey get introduced awesomely by George Shea of Major League Eating and to witness Joey’s ice cream eating technique (he must have had crazy brain freeze!).

How much Ice Cream do you think you could eat in 5 minutes? What personal eating accomplishment are you most proud of? Let us know in the comments!

Also, don’t forget to check out our other post on competitive eating:
Man v Juan In a Million: An Interview with Eating Champion Christopher Huang (who just happened to be in the crowd during the competition – check out the gallery for a picture)

Happy competitive eating,
Peter

Photos courtesy of Peter Tsai Photography

• Amy Hildenbrand and Cory Nunez of Austin Daily Press

Foodies, chances are that you have spent time on the couch watching a Food Network show or five. Well get ready, because you’re about to get one more reason to park it in front of the TV, namely Food Network’s newest show “The Great Food Truck Race” premiering Sunday, August 15th 2010 at 10pm/9c.

One of the teams that competed in the coast-to-coast race runs hometown food trailer Austin Daily Press. I stopped by to chat with fellow Atlanta transplant now living Austin and co-owner of Austin Daily Press, Cory Nunez, about his favorite bars in Atlanta, the upcoming Food Network show, and his approach to running a business.

Things were moving along briskly at Austin Daily Press when I showed up. Delivery orders were coming in and walk up business from both the Mohawk and Club De Ville was strong. Though he and Amy were busy grilling sandwiches for customers, a laid back Corey found time to chat with me, take some pictures, and yes… kick back a Lone Star.

Here’s the interview:

Q: Who are you and what inspired you to open Austin Daily Press?
A: I’m Cory Nunez and my partner is Amy Hildenbrand. Melani Feinberg is my girlfriend who works with us on events, festivals and TV shows. We knew there was an untapped market for late night delivery so Amy & I started the business with that idea. Grilled sandwiches became the answer to easily packaged and delivered food with minimal mess. We both loved the idea and product so we went for it.

Q: How was the filming of the ‘The Great Food Truck Race’ and what do we have to look forward to on the show?
A: The Great Food Truck Race was a lot of fun. Every single day was a different sort of challenge, but it was definitely something we would do again in a heartbeat. There will be some really funny moments of confusion and disastrous brilliant ideas. Every team had to basically make a new menu and marketing plan for every day of sales. It’s interesting to see what everyone comes up with on a tight budget in a foreign place and almost no time.

Q: I see that you have linked to the other competitors on your website – was there much of a rivalry during the show or were you all friendly with each other?
A: We did not expect to like any of the other competitors at all but most of the teams were really amazingly talented and cool people. Every team really fought to win this but when the sales day was over we all met at the hotel bar.

Q: What was your favorite moment during filming?
A: The whole taping of the show was a great experience. Tyler Florence was actually a really cool guy (you never know with celebrities) so hanging out with him was one of my highlights for sure.

Q: The Austin Food Cart / Truck scene is getting more and more crowded each week. Do you think it’s a fad or do you think Austin can sustain the food carts for the long term?
A: We have only been doing this since November so my opinion isn’t the best here. It’s nice to see people making and selling really interesting food out of carts, and more people are starting to respect and understand that there are real chefs and cooks behind these ventures. However, average tacos and burgers with mediocre ingredients won’t make it in this city anymore. I think the cart scene will slowly weed out the less genuine and less motivated cart owners. This is not a business you get into to make money. If that’s your goal, to get rich from slinging hot dogs or grilled cheese, you’re in for a rude awakening. With good products and a lot of hard work you can make a living doing this. For most of us out there, that is enough.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about running the business and what is your biggest challenge?
A: It’s a great feeling to own your own business, regardless of size of profit. I love hanging out downtown at the cart, throwing back a few beers, listening to the music we like and selling bad ass sandwiches at a good price. With this being the restaurant business, there are always challenges. The thing I’ve learned in my tenure in this business is that something will always break, something will always get fixed and business will always go on if you just keep showing up. Spend enough time with anyone and you will disagree on something you already agreed on. I guess the most challenging thing for me and Amy is not overthinking and reworking this simple idea we came up with that works. There may or may not be growth in our future with this venture but only time will tell. Pushing growth before you’re ready most certainly ends in empty bank accounts.

Q: Why food delivery? Are there any unique challenges associated with that?
A: “Delivered to your barstool” was the key idea before we even knew we wanted to do grilled sandwiches. I had bar tended around town for a few years and it always drove me nuts that there was no GOOD late night food close by or within delivery range, and with about 150 bars in the downtown area it seemed like a no-brainer to make feeding these professional enablers a priority. Amy came from New York, where every bar without a kitchen has a massive binder of delivery menus just waiting to keep the patrons inside and drinking. The only challenge we crossed while getting going was how to get their attention. So we just started bar-hopping, having a few beers and passing out menus. After about three weeks and 15 hangovers we finally had a good account base, and it’s only grown from there.

Q: What would you say is your most popular item?
A: Most popular item… probably the Pastrami, with sharp cheddar cheese and horseradish mayo (a childhood favorite of mine), or the Gyro and feta with Israeli salad and Tabasco tzatziki.

Q: What other restaurants do you frequent in Austin?
A: Always a fan of the Woodland on South Congress and Frank downtown. Also, Melani and I really love Olivia. We don’t have a lot of time to go out but we hope to have more soon.

The TastingBuds are looking forward to the show and we’re glad to have chatted with both Amy and Cory before they “hit the big time.” Hopefully the show does great things for them and takes them to new levels of success.

For more information about Austin Daily Press, go to their website or follow them @AUSdailypress on Twitter.

Thanks and Happy Tasting,
Peter

Polkadots Cupcake Factory, now fast approaching its 2nd anniversary, was one of the first cupcake shops to open up in the Austin area. We’re glad to see them thrive in an increasingly crowded Austin cupcake market, and the TastingBuds are fans of Polkadots, as shown in our Austin Cupcake Comparison Test from last year.

Peter recently visited the Polkadots kitchen to chat with Olga Lee, one half of the couple that owns Polkadots. She was hard at work, but had time to chat at the store, which specializes in custom cakes, cookies, and of course various types of cupcakes.

TastingBuds: You quit a lucrative consulting job to follow your dreams of going to culinary school and running a cupcake shop. What was going through your head, and what made you decide to take the big leap?

Olga Lee: Everything is possible. While I was working in my tiny cubicle, I was thinking that one day I was going to be the BOSS and living to life with extreme happiness. When I was young, I thought money was everything. Boy… I was wrong!!!

I got my Engineering degree dreaming that I would be happy and living life to the fullest. Nope. While I was working at the office, I was a machine, doing the same thing again and again.

Now, I love working with my hands and making cute little things, so (working in the cake shop) I feel like I have accomplished something at the end of the day.

What’s the best part about running a cupcake store?
I choose my holidays and how long I want to work! Oh.. and the thank you notes and the criticism from customers (good or bad).

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business in the food industry?
It’s not easy. Things never turn out the way you think they’re going turn out. There’s always a problem with equipment. Broken ovens, sinks, coffee machines, AC, you name it. Also it’s hard keeping low costs and low overhead!

What’s the biggest challenge you guys face?
Managing employees, finding ones that you can trust who are loyal, hardworking, and get to work on time. One of my girls is “graduating” from Polkadots, she is going to French pastry school in Chicago. I am very proud of her!

Describe your average customer. Also, what are their favorite flavors?
We have customers of all ages, ranging from 11 months old up to their 80s! The salon next door sends us a lot of customers, and they do hair for older ladies. One of them used to be Lady Bird Johnson.

The favorites are red velvet and black bottom cake (chocolate cake with cream cheese and chocolate chips baked in – http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotsaustin/2986514209/)

You also do custom cakes – What are your favorite cakes to make?
Ones that are clean, simple, modern, and of course ones with polkadots!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkadotsaustin/4464540177/in/set-72157605868046367/

What do you enjoy doing when not making cupcakes?
When I am not working, I like to go work out at Pure Austin (*support local businesses!), eat dinner with friends, play tennis, do yoga, make arts and crafts (cross-stitching), and catch up on sleep.

What are your favorite foods (other than cupcakes)?
I love meat! Especially rib eye, sausages, and Korean BBQ. Also, hot and spicy food (Indonesian and Thai) and donuts for sweets.

After a long day in the kitchen baking and decorating, what do you cook for yourself when you go home?
I don’t have time to make fancy meals – my favorite quick foods are curry ramen, eggs, and pre-marinated chicken fajitas from HEB!

Thanks for the interview Olga, and best of luck to you and Polkadots in the future.

You can read more about Polkadots on their official website at www.polkadotscupcakefactory.com.

Happy Tasting!
-Peter

Photos courtesy of Peter Tsai Photography

I first met Seth Mazow from Year of the Pizza at the Austin Bleetup (Blogger Meetup). He was one of those interesting guys that everyone wanted to talk to. Reason? Seth has cool perspectives on life and is excited about whatever he does. On top of that, he recently won a whole year of free pizza from Austin’s Home Slice Pizza by keeping his hand on an eggplant sub for 7 hours. How cool / funny is that?

Intrigued by his funny story and his even funnier blog, I set up a meeting with Seth to ask him a few questions and snap a few pictures for an interview to be featured on the TastingBuds.

I met up with a newly shaven Seth in front of Home Slice at about 5:45. After taking a few pics outside, we walked into the restaurant where we were greeted very warmly by all sorts of people – almost everyone there knows Seth since he’s in there all the time.

We grabbed a well lit seat by the window for the sake of picture taking and pondered what kind of pizza to get. Since he is the expert on all things Home Slice, I decided to try Seth’s favorite topping: anchovies. This is despite the fact that I have never liked them, but who knows? It had been about 5 years since I had them, and maybe I would like them this time.

For the next hour, I snapped pictures of him over a large fried eggplant (amazing!), red pepper (tasty!), green olive, and anchovy (eh… good for the first slice but too salty after that) and we had a little chat.

1. Peter From TastingBuds: How is the blog www.theyearofthepizza.com coming along? What inspired you to start the the site and what is your ultimate goal with the blog?

Seth: Year of the Pizza is lots of fun. It helps me practice my writing, photography and social media skills, and gives me a way to share my experiences with people in a more in depth way than telling them “no, I’m not tired of pizza yet”.

2. TastingBuds: I’m intrigued by the “paying pizza forward” section of your blog where you take a stranger out to dinner and that same stranger picks one of their friends to get the next free meal. What was the inspiration for that and what insights have you gained from your conversations with these strangers?

Seth: I had the idea when I was trying to think of ways I could use my deal to do some good. I initially thought about inviting a whole bunch of homeless people to pizza, but I figured it might turn out to be a faucet I’d have a hard time turning off, and didn’t think Home Slice would like the word getting out among the homeless that it was a great place to score free pizza.

But I’ve thought about these types of ideas before. At the end of my freshmen year of college, I was scheduled to go on a game show called Greed, which was simliar to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. I figured I had a good chance of making a lot more money than I knew what to do with, so I was going to hitchhike home that summer (from LA to Dallas) and leave $10k or $20k in the glove compartments of the folks who picked me up. They would be doing a good deed at some risk to themselves, and should be rewarded. The show ended up getting canceled before I went on so I didn’t come into high cotton, but I went ahead and hitchhiked home anyway, and have been interested in helping out the random amongst us ever since.

TastingBuds Note *** It came up after the official interview that Seth had lived abroad in India doing volunteer work as part of his philosophy of helping out other people

3. TastingBuds: Imagine it’s your last day of The Year of Pizza with no more free pizza after that. What toppings do you order on your last pizza and what is going though your mind?

Double anchovies, green olives, garlic, fried eggplant, mushrooms, extra cheese, roasted red peppers. What’s going through my mind? Must win again tomorrow!

• Cost of delicious pizza? $0.00 dollars, AKA $FREE.99

4. TastingBuds: Your fiance recently re-proposed to you at Home Slice (apparently just to double seal the deal) by ordering a pizza that had “Marry Me” spelled out in peppers. I tried Googling “pizza marry me” and your blog was the only result to come up. Do you think this original idea will become a trend?

I hope so, but I doubt it. Although there’s plenty of pizza-themed weddings, with pizza instead of wedding cake, wedding cakes that look like pizza, etc.

5. TastingBuds: Do you ever get tired of answering questions about The Year of Pizza? What else do you like to do?

Not really, I enjoy seeing the looks of disbelief and awe in people’s eyes. When I’m not eating pizza, I enjoy the outdoors, bicycle culture, brewing and drinking beer, reading, politics, hitchhiking, tacos, and ridiculousness in all its forms.

TastingBuds Final Notes
Seth’s Free Year of Pizza began in November of 2008, so he’s approaching the end of his Year of Pizza and will have to defend his title soon. If you haven’t already checked out his blog, Seth has provided answers to many commonly asked questions not covered in our interview here.

Thanks and Happy Tasting,
Peter

• Eating Champion Christopher Huang with store owner Juan Meza

Being a foodie isn’t always about eating fancy 3 course dinners consisting of food that’s hard to pronounce. On the contrary, often the best tasting foods are inexpensive, hearty working class comfort foods. In Austin, a perfect example of great everyday, utilitarian food is the breakfast taco. Arguably one of the best breakfast tacos in town is the huge ‘Don Juan’ (made with a generous serving of potatoes, egg, bacon, and cheese) at Juan in a Million, a mecca for hungry diners in East Austin that hosts an eating challenge so infamous it was recently featured on The Travel Channel’s volume eating show, Man v Food.

In the Austin episode of Man v Food, host and eating challenge extraordinaire Adam Richman attempted and failed to break the Don Juan Challenge record held by Christopher “Hong Kong Hero” Huang, who in 2004 ate an astonishing 7 Don Juan tacos in one sitting! Huang, who set the record while he was a student at the University of Texas in Austin, has worked many jobs in the food industry including selling peanuts at a ballpark, delivering pizza, serving in a fine dining restaurant, and his current job managing Berripop, a frozen yogurt store in Houston, Texas.

Fooding blog pulled Christopher away from his busy schedule long enough to ask him about his amazing record and to get inside the head of a certified eating champion.

• The Juan in a Million Storefront in Austin, Texas

TastingBuds: You are the only person to ever finish 7 Don Juan tacos (which weigh in at more than 5.25 pounds of food) in a single sitting. How does it feel to be an eating champion, and how did your stomach feel immediately after completing the challenge?

• Christopher Huang: I’m absolutely positive that 7 Don Juans weigh more than 7 pounds. I have eaten those 6-pound “party size” trays of Stouffer’s lasagna more than once, and the Don Juans stuffed me way more than those lasagnas ever did. I was in a lot of discomfort upon finishing. I couldn’t bend over to any degree, so I had to have a friend drive me home.
   
  Holding the record is great, because it’s one of those things that I can use to make myself sound less boring. It’s more of a conversation piece than it is a pure source of pride. It does makes you anxious though, because I know people out there want to beat it. So I periodically check in to see how the challengers have fared. I’ve heard that nobody has yet to eat 5 since I set the mark. But that anxiety does translate to me wanting to break my own record so as to ensure that I stay on top.

TB: What was your motivation for conquering the Don Juan eating challenge? Was it for the love of food, or are you just in it for the fame / glory?

• CH: I originally decided to do it on a whim. I felt like eating a Don Juan (make that two, since I always eat two), and I was trying to convince a friend to come eat with me. So I thought I’d entice them to join me by deciding to make the occasion more exciting by, well, breaking the eating record. It IS a rather tasty dish, so that is always a plus.

• The now famous Don Juan

TB: Speaking of challengers – I’m a big fan of the show Man v Food but you totally owned Adam Richman in the Juan in a Million eating challenge which is impressive, considering his full time job is to travel around the country for the purpose of eating large quantities of food. Despite his apparent advantage, he only ate 4 tacos vs your 7 – Where did he go wrong?

• CH: You know, after I heard about the show, and Adam Richman’s obviously enviable job description, I looked into a couple of the episodes and results. I feel like it’s not so much his technique or anything, but perhaps his threshold is just close to 5 pounds of food. He’s not the biggest eater, which probably works for the show, since it would get boring if he beats every challenge out there. But I think someone with my capacity would have a slightly higher victory rate across the nation, since Richman is getting his butt kicked more often than not.

TB: How do you prepare for an eating challenge and do you have a specific eating strategy?

• CH: I don’t do much preparation. A lot of people, on the topic of eating contests, spend time discussing the methods and merits of stretching out your stomach or how long you should refrain from eating. I think that it’s 10% physical. They did an X-ray of a Japanese female competitive eater once, before and after consuming something like 10 pounds of food. The “before” picture showed a stomach of normal size, and the “after” picture showed the stomach pretty much crowding out the rest of her internal organs. So your stomach should have a decent amount of elasticity. I spend the day before eating not too big of a meal, and I don’t eat anything the day of. I also make sure the “bottom pipes” are clear, so my stomach has room to expand. Then it comes to the 90% mental part where I tell myself to keep going and that I’m not full.

• Adam Richman from Man v Food on the Don Juan Wall of Fame

TB: You’ve worked a lot of jobs in the food industry. Did that in any way help you break the Juan in a Million taco eating record?

• CH: I’ve spent a lot of time in the food industry because I love food so much. I once had a phone interview with a firm that could have offered me a desk job. They were baffled at why I kept returning to the restaurant biz in between jobs, and declared that I had no ambition in life. I then realized that the difference in my desire for food versus the average businessman’s is wider than the gulf between a real eater and a vegetarian, and I’d be better off dealing with the kitchen than a phone on a desk.

TB: Do you have plans to take on other eating challenges in the future?

• CH: There have been a few attempts by others to take down the Don Juan record by others (thankfully no professionals), but I’ve heard that nobody has really gotten past even 5. So my plan is to attempt to break my own record. I attempted once before, right after attempting to run 200 miles non-stop, but that severely affected my rate of peristalsis, so whatever I was eating was staying up top, and I couldn’t swallow after 4 Don Juans myself. The next attempt will find me in much better physical shape. That said, I always seem to hear about local eating contests AFTER they occur. How do people know about these things?! Will you let me know if you hear of an event in the area?

TB: Sure! After some research we found a list of all of the Texas eating challenges and contests here. You said that being an eating champion has made your life more interesting and it’s a great conversation starter. Has your eating prowess ever helped you out with the ladies?

• CH: I seriously am convinced being a big eater is like owning an old-school, right-hand-drive Nissan Skyline. It’s cool, it’s a conversation piece, and women couldn’t really care less about it. But every dude wants to know all the little details. If I was gay, I’d probably be rolling in phone numbers now (never mind the fact that I ate a bunch of tacos rather than hot dogs and buns).

TB: Haha. Thanks for the great answers Chris! Best of luck to you in the future.

TastingBuds photos Courtesty of Peter Tsai Photography