[Rodney King]

I drove by this place yesterday and have resolved to accompish this feat on April 12th, 2004 (My birthday). I need some strategy help. Which course do you eat first? How to prepare yourself in the weeks and days leading up to the event, etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[prarie earth]

Another vote for the Japanese that eats the hot dogs..hes amazing!

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Been there, done that. My training was to spend 9 straight weeks moving a drilling rig from Galveston to Long Beach, Calif. I was 21 (1970) and by the time I got off that rig all I wanted to do was eat, drink, fight and f......... well never mind.

God has made me a better person since.

[ladyrustic]

Well, I think good advice would be to enjoy your meal. If you love meat, just enjoy that beautiful steak. It seems a shame to eat so rapidly that you can't enjoy it.

I'd love to have a crack at a steak like that... I've been a carnivore since a baby, and when I was a child, there was nothing I liked more than meat. I know, I know, that's a bit strange for a woman... Oh well.

Enjoy!

[ladyrustic]

Be right back, I'm going to make meatballs...

[Maigrey]

Well, my uncle ate 2 of them, but his reason was that he was stranded in his truck for 2 days without food. (he's ~6'6" and ~320.) He was sumpin' hungry!

Even if you don't attempt to this feat, the food is wonderful. (been there before!)

[Physicist]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1. For inspiration, watch a tape of the Glutton Bowl #1, wherein Takeru Kobayashi downs more than ten pounds of cow brains to win the crown. It's spritually uplifting to watch a world-class athlete in top form.
2. Touch the hem of Ed "Cookie" Jarvis's garments for good luck. (He can do a 76-oz steak in 20 minutes.)
3. Overstuff yourself at every meal for a week or so beforehand.
4. Remember that you are an American. It is your responsibility to consume enough unnecessary calories at a single sitting to feed a third-world village for a week, because they are unable to consume them for themselves. OK, so maybe that doesn't help them out very much, but perhaps they can vicariously get fed up.
5. THIS IS IMPORTANT: wash it down with brandy, or another high-alcohol beverage (not enough to get 'faced, though). The alcohol both relaxes the stomach and anaesthetizes it.

[exnavy]

WOW I'm up for it!

[PJ-Comix]

Go to a lot of buffet restaurants and eat all you can to stretch your stomach. However, don't make the mistake I did and fill your plate high when you are starting to feel really full. A couple of years ago I was at King Buffet restaurant and I piled up a plate high with shrimp towards the end of my meal. Big mistake. After a few bites I was stuffed and I still had the entire plate of shrimp to finish. I didn't want to leave a full plate behind so I laboriously finished the plate off shrimp by shrimp. It got so bad towards the end that I actually counted out how many shrimps I had to go to finish them all off and counted down shrimp by shrimp until I finished.

It took me over a year before I could eat a shrimp again. And I still have trouble eating shrimp now.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Country Kitchen in Portland (Gresham) Oregon had a 64-oz that if you finish it, the meal is free. It's really good, too.

Don't starve beforehand. Have one large meal 24hrs beforehand.

[SlickWillard]

I need some strategy help... Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

One word: SHIRAZ.

'Nuff said.

[Eternal_Bear]

How many contestants have died within a week of this torture er...contest? I have driven by the sign. If I was twenty years younger, I would try it for kicks.

[CindyDawg]

I'm a grazer so I have no advice here but the suggestion that I have seen that I liked the best was the one to have PETA there. That would really be motivation for me :')

[Drammach]

Keep it simple.

For the 2 weeks preceding your birthday, eat ONE BIG MEAL PER DAY.
I prefer the mid-day meal, whatever it is called in your locality. ( Lunch, Dinner, Supper, etc..)
I usually skip Breakfast, and eat a moderate evening meal.
Try to include plenty of fiber, and minimize the actual meat in the diet for that 2 week period.
Skip that Big Meal the day of your test...
Schedule your steak dinner for evening, you should be good and hungry by then.

Have the Steak at least Medium-Well, preferably Well-done.
I like mine with a little charcoal crispy taste to the surface, not quite dry inside, very little juice, no pink.

DO NOT use any sauce, butter, or anything extra than what is placed before you.
DO NOT DRINK anything. There is plenty of water already in the potato, and other sides you will have to eat.

Start with the steak, and eat in manageable pieces, interspersed with side dishes only when necessary.
Your mission is to finish the steak first, the side dishes are only there to assist you, and occassionally lubricate the gullet..

Eat at a comfortable rate, one that pleases you.
I usually eat somewhat ravenously at first, slowing to a more civilized pace about midway.

Finish with the side dishes.
Personally, I would ask for an alternative to the shrimp cocktail, I hate shrimp.

Ask for a small bowl of ice cream when finished.
My personal preference is french vanilla.

[Ethyl]

Me and my little brother were driving from Washington, DC to Las Cruces, NM in 1977. He was 18 and I was 24. He was a growing boy, an extremly big eater and knew he could do it. We left Oklahoma heading west around 9:00, after a big breakfast, then started seeing signs about the Steak House in Abileen. He kept saying, I know I can do it sister, please stop so I can try. I said that no you just had a huge breakfast and it is only 12:00?? I knew, because I was paying the food bills on the trip and the gas bills. But he begged and begged told me that he could do it, so we stopped and he tried, and tried and tried. If it hadn't been for the salad and baked potato and roll and the 1 hour time limit, I think he could have done it. HAHAHAHAHA We had left-over steak for the rest of the trip, and some at home in New Mexico. Sorry Randy, I just had to tell this one on you, Happy Birthday.

[LibKill]

Dude, unless you really have the internal cargo bay for 4.5 pounds of beef, let it go by.

[Tamzee]

Looks like you got much great advice already, especially about eating it quickly.... I have read that the human brain is actually 15 minutes too late in telling a person that their stomach is full :-)

Good luck to you and I hearby promise a $10 donation to Free Republic if you succeed... go get 'em and make a fun memory!!!

[MeekOneGOP]

Holy Cow ! hehe !

Good luck ! ...

[AGreatPer]

"I drove by this place yesterday and have resolved to accompish this feat on April 12th, 2004 (My birthday)"

Hey Rodney King, you have about a week to go for your attempt to eat this steak.

1. Are you still going to try it?

2. Are you still getting in shape for it?

If all is a go, Good Luck. We will expect a report.

[7thson]

If I am not mistaken, there is a restaurant in the Williamsburg area that offers the same kind of deal, except I beleive the steak is 76 ounces, not 72. I believe it is the Yukon Steak House.