“Eating a 96 oz. steak with all the trimmings” to get a free meal was a common enough trope decades ago. A few places were supposedly famous for doing it and it was an occasional tripe in movies, TV and news.
Is this still a thing, given legal changes, increased gluttony, professional eaters and increasing beef prices?
Do you know anyplace that still does this?
Any good stories about it?
Was this ever extended to other foods - eat twelve packages of hot dogs? Drink two hundred tequilas? Seems a dicey proposition…
Pretty sure it’s still a thing. There was a show called “Man vs. Food” I used to occasionally watch not too long ago where host Adam Richman used to travel to different restaurants either tackling a “eat a lot of (X) and it’s free” challenge" or “try to finish a plate of incredibly spicy (Y)” challenge. He usually accomplished the challenges, if I recall, but it always looked very painful and not fun.
ETA: Increasing beef prices may have affected the “96 oz. steak” type challenges, but there are a lot of varieties, like eat a giant pizza, sub, hamburger, etc. I’m guessing the restaurants count on the publicity making up for the loss, plus a lot of people probably fail and have to pay.
Adam Richman won a Frittata challenge here in Syracuse in 2010. Mother’s Cupboard still runs the challenge to this day, as well as another one for pancakes.
Once in a while I get a 1/2 order to go and I get two meals out of it.
You do not need to make reservation for challenge attempts. When you’re ready, we’re ready! Challenge attempts available during all regular business hours. 72-ounce Steak Dinner Challenge Includes: Shrimp Cocktail, Baked Potato, Salad, with Roll, Butter, and of course the 72oz Steak
According to The Big Texan’s own website, 87,655 have attempted, and 10,077 have succeeded. If you fail, you pay the full $72 price of the meal, so while they’ve given away $725,544 in steak dinners (at $72; I’m sure their actual cost is probably closer to about $30), they’ve taken in $6,311,160 from the losers.
Now $72 is expensive for a single meal, but considering you get a ridiculously huge steak, shrimp cocktail, a baked potato, salad, and a roll, in a full service sit-down restaurant, it actually seems like a relatively good deal. Another couple of sides and you could feed a family of 5-6 with it.
Man Vs. Food is back on the air, but with a new and inferior host. Most of the challenges have a time limit, though, so he’s eating 4-5 lb of food in 30 minutes or so. But they have no problem finding the challenges across the USA.
I generally have seen that food challenges have for years been shifting away from “mass quantities” and towards “Scoville damage.” Every year, somebody breeds a newer, hotter pepper and every year somebody invents a new challenge based around it.
if the steak is good. They could use separate, low quality steaks, or be intentionally not caring about how they cook those steaks, or just be a naturally crappy steakhouse, and it would be less appetizing to try to finish one. I wouldn’t attempt it myself, but only because during the pandemic I have started eating mass quantities less so my stomach is smaller and I wouldn’t like a shrimp cocktail regardless. But minus the shrimp cocktail, if I had my buffet stomach back I would be up for it providing I knew the steak would be good.
For the Big Texan Challenge at least, they give you a chance to taste your steak before the contest begins. That way you can get it cooked exactly the way you like, and I suppose reject an inferior steak.
Just curious; has anyone ever encountered an offer such as this outside the United States? It feels like one of those things that only Americans would think is a good idea.
I meant immediately after finishing the meal, but yes, she’s quite fit. I believe she’s even competed in physique competitions, but has to change her eating plan as she cuts for a show.
