9 of Colorado’s Greatest Eating Challenges

You don’t have to be Major League Eating star Joey Chestnut to appreciate a good eating challenge. Maybe chowing down is your talent, and you want to push your stomach to the edge of its capabilities. Maybe you’re a “more is more” type of person, and quantity trumps quality. Or maybe you’re just really, really hungry. Whatever your motivation for eating copious amounts of food, we’re here to support it by rounding up Colorado’s greatest eating challenges, where you can flaunt that appetite and destroy giant pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, and bowls of ramen. Victory is so close you can taste it.

The challenge: Fuel & Iron’s summer slopper competition
The details: Pop into LoDo’s Fuel & Iron anytime before August 10 to down six slopper sliders—open-face burgers topped with American cheese and smothered in Pueblo green chile—in five minutes and you could win a spot in the August 10 finals event hosted in partnership with podcast Stoned Appetit.
Cost: $35 ($30 to participate in the finals)
The glory: Competitors with the 10 fastest eating times move onto the finals on August 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Fuel & Iron—where they’ll compete to win cash prizes ($50–200) and additional prizes for titles such as “messiest eater” and “least competitive.”
1526 Blake St.

The challenge: Aunt Alice’s Kitchen’s Big Daddy breakfast burrito
The details: You’ve got an hour to eat a breakfast burrito weighing in at over six pounds. It involves a dozen eggs (yes, a dozen), a pound of hashbrowns, half pound of sausage gravy, half pound of green chile, plus loads of meat and cheese. A longtime manager said she’s only seen three people complete it in her seven years at the Longmont restaurant.
Cost: $35
The glory: Free burrito and your photo on the wall of fame—or, more likely, the wall of shame.
1805 Main St., Longmont

The challenge: Swanky’s three-pound grilled cheese
The details: What goes into a three-pound grilled cheese, you ask? Six slices of Texas toast, 18 slices of American cheese, and a generous heaping of both white cheddar cheese curds and mac and cheese. Oh, and a pound of French fries and tater tots. There’s no time limit on this one, but it’s a lot of calcium for one sitting.
Cost: $35
The glory: Free meal, a $10 gift card, and your spot on the wall of fame.
1938 Blake St.

The challenge: Pho 95’s Pho-King Challenge
The details: With two pounds of noodles, two pounds of meat, 200 ounces of broth, plus a plate of vegetables, you’re in for about six pounds of food. There’s no time limit—but the team recommends you give them a couple days warning so they can prepare your giant bowl.
Cost: $40
The glory: Free meal, Pho-King t-shirt, and your picture displayed in all your post pho-slurping glory.
6879 S. Vine St., Centennial; 1401 S. Federal Blvd. 

The challenge: BeauJo’s 14-pound pizza
The details: You and a friend have an hour to clean up a 20-inch-across, three-inch-deep, 14-pound pie loaded with cheese, hamburger, sausage, pepperoni.
Cost: $75
The glory: Free meal, a t-shirt, your picture on the pizza-eating wall of fame, and $100 cash.
Multiple locations

The challenge: Macho’s Nachos Machos
The details: You could order this stacked platter at the fast-casual Durango cantina for a group of six, or you could try to eat the four- to five-pound pile of chips, carne asada, beans, guac, and cheese all by yourself in less than an hour.
Cost: $40
The glory: Free nachos, a t-shirt, and your mug on the wall.
1485 Florida Rd., Durango; 275 E. 8th Ave., Durango

The challenge: The Rock Rest Lodge’s Jiffy burger
The details: Rock Rest’s burgers normally feature a third pound of beef, but bigger is better, right? For this challenge, you have 30 minutes to finish four of those patties, with Jiffy peanut butter, jack cheese, and two strips of bacon between each—plus the buns, a pickle spear, and a pound of curly fries to go with it.
Cost: $25
The glory: Free burger plus $25 to spend at the bar another time.
16005 Old Golden Rd., Golden

The challenge: Georgia Boys BBQ Barnyard sandwich
The details: If you can somehow finish a mammoth sandwich of barbecue pork, brisket, chicken, bacon, and cheese in less than an hour, that’s all well and good. But then you have to also make your way through the pile of fries and six super-spicy ghost wings. (It all totals four pounds.) Of the 175 brave souls who’ve attempted the challenge, only 10 have finished.
Cost: $45
The glory: Free meal, plus a place on the wall of fame. (If you fail, your mug goes up on the wall of shame.)
250 3rd Ave., Longmont; 141 Fifth St., Frederick; 2473 W. 28th Street, Greeley

The challenge: Tokio’s five-and-a-half-pound ramen
The details: To answer the eternal question of just how much ramen can you slurp in one sitting, head to Tokio. You have just 22 minutes to pound the equivalent of four regular bowls of ramen. (The restaurant only runs the challenge before the kitchen gets busy, so arrive between 5 and 6 p.m. if you want to attempt this noodle-y feat.)
Cost: $30
The glory: Free ramen, and the answer to that eternal ramen-eating question.
2907 Huron St., #103

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