In the News

10/26/04-AICE regrets to announce that we will no longer be featuring a monthly calendar of events due to time constraints and expansion of the organization. If you know of upcoming events, AICE will gladly post the information.  Any submitted information should include name of event, time, date, location, prize money, registration details, website and name of submitter.

10/23/04 -ChowHound takes VEGAS by storm winning the 3rd Annual International Chili Society's (ICS) World Championship Chili Eating Contest held at Mandalay Bay.  ChowHound consumed 7.1 pounds in 5 minutes followed by Gentleman Joe who consumed 6.8 pounds.  In 3rd place from Council Bluff, Iowa was David Schnackenberg who ate 5.25 pounds, 4th place was Las Vegas native Chuck Crowell with 4 7/8 pounds.  This event featured eaters from Wisconsin, Nebraska and Illinois. Wyoming State Chili Eating Champion, Juan Paz just finished out of the money with 4.25 pounds but Juan promises to return next year to challenge for top honors. ChowHound took home $225; Gjoe $125; Chuck and David S $75 each.

Chili enthusiast, MC Pepper aka Coondog O'Karma, competitive eating's best MC did a fantastic job.  David was dressed as a red chili pepper and although he did not compete was clearly the crowd favorite (especially the women). Special thanks to Eddie 'the Geek" Vidmar who provided awesome background and accompaniment music. 

Thanks to the volunteers and staff of the ICS for their hard work and dedication and for establishing the world's premiere chili cook off.  More info and pictures to follow...   PHOTOS

For Press Release-Click here 

Appearing in Chris' Lunchbox in the Long Island Press (weekly publication- week of 10/14-10/20) is an article entitled "Pizza Chaos at Adventureland" by writer Chris Cooke. This article regarding the Best Pizza Contest and Eating Competition is amusing, informative and funny. Chris Cooke has informed AICE that he would like to try his luck at competitive eating. We look forward to eating with you!

LongIsland.com Best Pizza on LI

10/14/04-"Banned for Life from IFOCE Competition" "Forkless Coon" Coondog won the Frank's Redhot "Battle of the Bone" wing eating contest in Lodi Ohio.

The exiled wonder of wing destruction devoured 2.82 pounds of delicious Frank's wings in 8 minutes to win two hundred dollars and a beautiful trophy.  Coming in second was a newcomer, 6-6 inch, 350 pound behemoth, "Tiny" Gary Hennie with 2.2 pounds. Third place went to Cleveland wing legend, Eddie "The Geek" Vidmar at 2.1 pounds.

"Forkless Coon" Coondog's beautiful wife, Lisa, took second place in the neat eating contest. Wonder if living all those years with the combustible Coondog may have cost her a chance at first?

            "Tiny" Gary Hennie                                                                                                                                         Eddie "the Geek" Vidmar

10/11/04- Rankings by AICE have been updated

10/10/04- ChowHound Chapman is the Pennsylvania's FIRST Hoagie Eating Champion!

He consumed an amazing 3.8 pounds of hoagie to win the First Annual Lee's Hoagie Eating Championship. The field of approximately 19 eaters all qualified for this event by winning local 'eat off' rounds in different Lee's Hoagie House locations. Gentleman Joe Menchetti finished a few bites (3.4 pounds of hoagie) behind ChowHound to capture second place. Ravenous Rich Razzi from Schwenksville, PA kept pace by consuming 2.7 pounds of hoagie for 3rd. ChowHound credits his hoagie saturation dog bowl method as key in defeating America's #1 competitive eater, GJoe. ChowHound takes home $250 and a  3 ft trophy. ChowHound will soon be appearing as a special guest on ESPN's Philadelphia pre-game show.

No Bellyaching, this contest is for serious eaters by Freda R.Savana, The Intelligencer

See Photos

Thanks to Joshua Camerote, Brian Dwyer and their camera crew for their enthusiastic coverage of the event.  They are currently producing a documentary on competitive eating. AICE sends it's congratulations to management and staff at Lee's Hoagie House in Horesham, PA for organizing an outstanding event.

In recent years, Lee's Hoagies have won Philadelphia Magazine's "Best of Philly" award in addition to the "Best of Bucks" and "Best of Montco" awards and have been featured in many local and national news and TV programs.

Upcoming Event: On Nov 6th, Cuschocton, Ohio AICE will be joining forces to team up with the Make -A- Wish foundation to raise money for children with cancer. It is expected that Gentleman Joe Menchetti, Coondog O'Karma, ChowHound Chapman and Eddie the Geek will be competing in a Windmill hot dog eating contest. This event will also feature a contest to determine the best tasting Hot Dog in America!

If you are interested in participating in this event, e-mail ChowHound@CompetitiveEaters.com. 

More details to follow...

10/2/04-Congratulations to Gentleman Joe Menchetti on winning the Best Pizza on Long Island Eating Competition held at Adventureland, in Farmingdale, Long Island. GJoe wolfed down 9 slices in 8 minutes followed by Skinny Scott Soifer edging out Adam 'Tiny" Goldman (who represented Adventureland) by a bite with almost 7 slices each. Joe took home the coveted Golden Pizza Slicer, an 'almost Tiffany's' retractable fork, gift certificates,

t-shirts and $100.  ChowHound Chapman was on hand as celebrity judge for the event while Slam the Stuntman radio personality from WBLI announced.  This was an AICE sanctioned event.  

Rumor has it that GJoe was seen leaving Adventureland munching on another slice or two.

Hungry?? those who attended were treated to samplings of tasty pizza and specialty pies by (alphabetically) Cherrywood of Wantagh, Guisepe's of New York from Centereach, Joanne's Gourmet Pizza and Pasta from Roslyn, Prince Umberto's from Franklin Square and Spasso's of Wantagh. Thanks to Marsal for supplying the pizza oven in which these great masterpieces were cooked. WBAB 102.3, WBLI 106.1 and Cremosa were on hand all day and Party Pizzaz did a great job in organizing the event. Kids delighted in having their photo taken with Pizza Pup. ChowHound, Miss Long Island, Nancy Urban; DJ Chef Marc Weiss, Professional Chef/Entertainer and host of the DJ CHEF TV series; Chris Cooke, food writer for the Long Island Press and Adam Kuban editor and publisher of SliceNY.com (to name a few) were all on hand to help with the Pizza Festival/Bake-off judging. The Food Network's Jim O'Connor hosted the afternoon's events and is doing a special called "All American Festivals".

See Photos

Official results of the day's scoring: Best Regular Pizza: Prince Umberto's; Sicilian: Spasso's.  Marinara: Cherrywood Grandma: Prince Umberto's. Specialty: Joanne's Gourmet

A portion of the proceeds raised from the 'Best Pizza on Long Island Contest' will go directly to LICares.org and Island Harvest (islandharvest.org) to help fight hunger on LI.

9/30/04- Rankings by AICE have been updated

9/28/04 -  Gentleman Joe Menchetti and Chowhound Chapman made an appearance in Times Square to promote Johnsonville Bratwurst. Due to the rainy conditions some of the media and camera crew were unable to attend the event. However, the Johnsonville staff, The Gent and the Chowhound toughed it out and performed two mini Brat demos/contests. Gentleman Joe showed the spectators why he is the World's Bratwurst Eating Champion by devouring 6 Brats to the Hounds 4.5.in a mere 55 seconds. In the 2nd eating demo, however, the Gentleman and the Hound faced off again to see who could eat three Brats the quickest. Gentleman Joe claims that the 2nd contest was a tie but the Hound claims otherwise. (Big deal if the Chowhound looked like Louie Armstrong!). Anyway, both eaters and sponsors are looking forward to making Johnsonville one of the biggest eating contests in the country. Many already believe that the Johnsonville sausage is certainly a much tastier alternative than the many well known national Hot Dog chains.

9/26/04-Lefevr's take Texas!! This dynamic duo again demonstrated their eating prowess at the Texas State Fair by taking first and second place in the World Corny Dog Eating Championship.  Rich ate 15.5, barley holding off his wife Carlene who ate 14.5. The much traveled Gentleman Joe Menchetti, who fought jet lag and a busy eating schedule came in 3rd with 11.5 corny dogs. If you think hot dogs are tough to swallow, try eating a Texas Corny Dog!!

9/26/04-Badland Booker, eating 7 pounds defends cheesecake eating title at the Atlantic Antic Festival in downtown Brooklyn. Second place goes to Tim 'the Titan' Janus with 5.25 lbs, followed by Allen 'the Shredder' Goldstein with 5 lbs.

9/26/04 -Tony "Hustle" Harrison Defends his Pasta Title at Baltimore's "Taste of Italy" feast in Little Italy. Tony gobbled down 2.5 pounds of steaming hot pasta and sauce in an amazing 1 minute 55 seconds. Just behind the reigning Champ was Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman who swallowed his last bite in 1:57 seconds. The pasta and sauce were delicious, the weather excellent and the spectators were enthusiastic. These elements combined with the charming backdrop of Little Italy made this contest a memorable one.

9/17/04 - Congratulations to Tim Janus on his recent 2nd place finish at the Canoli Eating Contest in Little Italy. Tim Janus finished a mere half Canoli behind elite eater Badlands Booker.  Tim "The Titan" (so named here at AICE) has quietly climbed the ranks within the last couple of months and is likely to break into the top 10 before we see our first snowfall.  

9/04-It has been reported by Speedeat.com that El Wingador lost to a local kid named Jeffery Hicks in Knoxville, Tenn in the Krystal Burger Competition.

Eileen's in Downtown NYC, which is famous for it's Cheesecake has informed AICE that it will not have it's Annual Cheesecake Eating Contest this year. However, they do anticipate having the contest in October of 2005.

9/18/04-Gentleman Joe Menchetti, America's #1 Independent Competitive Eater, wins Meat Pie Eating Contest in Louisiana. Joe Menchetti took a trip to Cajun country to participate in the 2nd annual Natchitoches Meat Pie Eating Contest. Joe swallowed 10 eight oz. Meat Pies in 8 minutes. The contest was different this year compared to last year when the meat pies were 8 oz. vs. 6 oz. and the time was 8 minutes instead of 6 minutes. Congratulations to Joe for establishing a new Meat Pie standard!

  9/12/04- ChowHound Chapman chomps his way to Corn Beef Sandwich title, at the annual Irish Festival in Coney Island, Brooklyn. This is a community event which, in part, raises money for Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens and the many needy families this organization serves in those boroughs. Ten contestants had 4 minutes to eat as many 10.5 ounce corn beef sandwiches that they could eat. Eaters were required to adhere to picnic style eating rules which prohibits dunking, separating and/or desecrating the food item. The first three minutes of the Competition were close, but ChowHound Chapman pulled away in the last minute, finishing with 4.75 sandwiches (2 lbs., 4 oz) and 19 year old Richy Rich of Staten Island finished with 3.5 sandwiches (1 lb., 7 oz). This event was sponsored by Peggy O'Neill's and sanctioned by AICE. ChowHound takes home $100 for his efforts and Richy received $50-not bad for 4 minutes of time. DJ Okies, provided music and play by play commentary during the event. This event was proceeded by a rousing speech by long time festival and Irish supporter, Senator Charles Schumer.

Article: Unanswered Questions surround ChowHound O'Chapman's Mystical Corn Beef Sandwich Victory

Pics: Corn Beef Sandwich Competition

9/9/04- Rankings Changes: there have been some changes in AICE Rankings. Boyd Bullot who has been dropping in the rankings strictly because of inactivity was removed from the Rankings. The 20th position is now occupied by Tim "The Titan" Janus who recently tied the great Cookie Jarvis at the Buffalo Wing Fest. Oleg "The Great Z" Zhornitskiy continues his comeback by placing second at the Wingfest and moves from the 12th position to the ninth position. Don "Moses" Lerman who occupied the 9th position moves down to the 12th position because of his disappointing finish in Buffalo where he finished behind Big Brian Subich and many other 2nd echelon eaters. Bob Koon Dog Kuhn moves from his 28th position to the 24th position due to a recent victory in Pittsburgh where he ate 17 Hot Dogs easily defeating the competition two hours after eating at a nearby Chinese Buffet. Also, Koondog Kuhn, won the Melapalooza Pizza Contest devouring a 12' Pizza in less than 3 minutes. Speaking of Big Brian Subich he moves from the 32nd slot to the 28th due to his active eating Schedule. Appearing in the 32nd slot is newcomer "Kid Coney" Kawalski who recently edged 15th ranked Arnie Chowhound" Chapman at the Windmill 1/4 pound Hot Dog Contest by eating 10.5 Dogs to Chapman's 10.0 Dogs. Also, "Kid Coney" who operates the Carousel at Coney Island, claims to have victories in knockwurst and dinner mints.

9/5/04- Congratulations to Tim Janus on his 4th place finish at the Buffalo Wing Festival.  Tim did an amazing 3.77 pounds, tying Cookie Jarvis for 4th.  This may seem like a shock but we here at AICE never doubted Tim's ability. We, here at AICE, suggest the moniker Tim 'the Titan' Janus.  Congrats to 1st place winner Sonya Thomas, 2nd place winner Oleg the Russian and 3rd place winner Badland's Booker.  Totals this year were high due to the cooking skills of Chef oe Larue. Contestants claimed that the meat was so tender, it practically fell off the bone! Congratulations to David "Coondog" O'Karma for winning the chicken wing sauce cook off for the second year in a row.  Don't be surprised if you see Coondog's famous sauce on the market in the near future! Festival MVP has to go to Pat 'the Chicken Man' Maloney who destroyed competitors during the crazy costume contest.