Thursday, February 23, 2006
Armour hot dogs!
I enjoy hot dogs. Topped with cheese and chili or just with mustard. If you're ever in Birmingham, you have to go by Chicago Mike's. A review can be found here
But it's delicious. They're open from 10-3 give or take a half hour from Monday to Friday. Mike has been there as long as I can remember. His helper lady/cashier changes every once in a while, but Mike is a constant. And so is his friend/brother who works the grill. All of Mike's meat is grilled. He does burgers and chicken breasts, of which the chicken is delicious and I've never tried a burger but hear they're equally delicious. What sets him apart is his meat (hehehe). They're Best's Kosher All Beef Franks.
They sell them at Sam's actually. And I think I read that each frank has 29 grams of fat. So don't eat here everyday, but reward yourself occasionally.
All the way entails, onion, mustard, kraut, and a BBQish sauce that is great. No onions on mine please. And if you're feeling adventurous, get it topped with cole slaw. You will not be disappointed. He doesn't have the best chili, so stay away from that.
What sent me on this hot dog recommending bender? MTV's True Life. I don't care if you are super ultra right wing and Rush Limbaugh is your god, or you're super ultra left wing liberal, you need to watch this week's True Life episode. Why? It's True Life: I'm a competitive eater. Yup, they follow around 3 competitive eaters. Tim "Eater X" Janus, some "cute in an Abercrombie catalog kinda way" guy from KY, and the human stomach himself Takeru Kobayashi. He is the reigning world champion of competitive eaters. The unofficial or maybe it is official world championship of overeaters is the Nathan's Hot Dog challenge in Coney Island on July 4th. Just for a frame of reference, Takeru ate 53.5 hot dogs in 2004. His closest competitor ate 38. WTF? So how does he do it? How does he outeat even the largest of competitors? For starters he weighs 131 pounds and stand 5'7" tall. So how is that his secret weapon? His stomach can stretch more. He doesn't have a layer of fat constraining his stomach so it can stretch further than any human should have it stretch.
It's also a cultural thing. It's all Takeru does. He shops, eats, works out, and goes on game shows to eat competitively. And let me tell you, he's cut. Completely torn up. His six pack has a six pack. He explained, through the help of his translator, that his stomach is lower than most peoples. And he has worked it even lower through stretching and other techniques. This man is an eating machine. In the Japanese culture, it is common for world champs to accept challenges. Takeru entered a restaurant and the owner/chef challenged him to eat all he served. He ate 3 HUGE bowls of pasta and a giant chili pepper flavored snow cone thing. 22 pounds of food. In one sitting and kept it all down. It was astonishing. I've never seen anything like it.
I've always liked Japan and picked up on a few things that he said during the show. He doesn't go shopping everyday to avoid people thinking he's a housewife. (Machismo in the Latin culture) He moved out of the house so his parents didn't question why he was eating so much. (100% understandable) And the challenge between the chef and the eater. Very interesting.
And the other 2 guys were interesting too, but obviously not quite as interesting as the world champ. So check it out or Tivo it, you won't be disappointed. And MTV doesn't throw any subliminal political messages in there, so you should be safe.
But it's delicious. They're open from 10-3 give or take a half hour from Monday to Friday. Mike has been there as long as I can remember. His helper lady/cashier changes every once in a while, but Mike is a constant. And so is his friend/brother who works the grill. All of Mike's meat is grilled. He does burgers and chicken breasts, of which the chicken is delicious and I've never tried a burger but hear they're equally delicious. What sets him apart is his meat (hehehe). They're Best's Kosher All Beef Franks.
They sell them at Sam's actually. And I think I read that each frank has 29 grams of fat. So don't eat here everyday, but reward yourself occasionally.
All the way entails, onion, mustard, kraut, and a BBQish sauce that is great. No onions on mine please. And if you're feeling adventurous, get it topped with cole slaw. You will not be disappointed. He doesn't have the best chili, so stay away from that.
What sent me on this hot dog recommending bender? MTV's True Life. I don't care if you are super ultra right wing and Rush Limbaugh is your god, or you're super ultra left wing liberal, you need to watch this week's True Life episode. Why? It's True Life: I'm a competitive eater. Yup, they follow around 3 competitive eaters. Tim "Eater X" Janus, some "cute in an Abercrombie catalog kinda way" guy from KY, and the human stomach himself Takeru Kobayashi. He is the reigning world champion of competitive eaters. The unofficial or maybe it is official world championship of overeaters is the Nathan's Hot Dog challenge in Coney Island on July 4th. Just for a frame of reference, Takeru ate 53.5 hot dogs in 2004. His closest competitor ate 38. WTF? So how does he do it? How does he outeat even the largest of competitors? For starters he weighs 131 pounds and stand 5'7" tall. So how is that his secret weapon? His stomach can stretch more. He doesn't have a layer of fat constraining his stomach so it can stretch further than any human should have it stretch.
It's also a cultural thing. It's all Takeru does. He shops, eats, works out, and goes on game shows to eat competitively. And let me tell you, he's cut. Completely torn up. His six pack has a six pack. He explained, through the help of his translator, that his stomach is lower than most peoples. And he has worked it even lower through stretching and other techniques. This man is an eating machine. In the Japanese culture, it is common for world champs to accept challenges. Takeru entered a restaurant and the owner/chef challenged him to eat all he served. He ate 3 HUGE bowls of pasta and a giant chili pepper flavored snow cone thing. 22 pounds of food. In one sitting and kept it all down. It was astonishing. I've never seen anything like it.
I've always liked Japan and picked up on a few things that he said during the show. He doesn't go shopping everyday to avoid people thinking he's a housewife. (Machismo in the Latin culture) He moved out of the house so his parents didn't question why he was eating so much. (100% understandable) And the challenge between the chef and the eater. Very interesting.
And the other 2 guys were interesting too, but obviously not quite as interesting as the world champ. So check it out or Tivo it, you won't be disappointed. And MTV doesn't throw any subliminal political messages in there, so you should be safe.
# posted by Seth @ 7:42 AM 
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