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Burger-eating champ offers his secret
From left, Mike Massino, Chris Weite and Justin Vernon gulp down burgers during the hamburger-eating contest at Smokey Bones Wednesday. They finished in the top three in their heat.
Don Carey/the times leader
Mike Massino follows the rules, which say a contestant’s hands and mouth must be free of food as he finishes up at the hamburger-eating contest.
Don Carey/the times leader
Keeler
Justin Vernon licks the plate clean during a hamburger-eating contest at Smokey Bones Wednesday. Contestants competed for a $200 gift card and went up against others in the restaurant’s nationwide Burger Battle for a $2,000 grand prize. Russell Keeler of Kingston took top spot by eating a burger in 1:41.03 at the Smokey Bones restaurant on Wednesday.
Don Carey/the times leader
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Amid the madness of carnivorous contestants gobbling up burgers against the clock, Russell Keeler had a method that devoured the competition.
The 40-year-old Kingston man downed a one-pound, double-stack of beef patties with toppings and a bun in a time of 1:41.03 at the Smokey Bones restaurant Wednesday night.
He not only beat five other men and earned a $200 gift card from the restaurant on Mundy Street, but went up against others in the restaurant’s nationwide Burger Battle for a $2,000 grand prize.
“I never had a problem eating,” said Keeler, who stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 270 pounds.
From banana splits to pies, watermelons, wings and oysters, food eating contests are staples at picnics, fairs and festivals throughout the summer. The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island is a Fourth of July favorite, seen by thousands in person and millions on television.
Keeler, who works at Diamond Manufacturing in Wyoming, survived two preliminary heats to make it to the finals and made a strategic change going into the second round.
“It was a totally different burger than the first one,” he said. He switched his cold topping to sliced avocado from cole slaw.
Each contestant had to choose one item from each hot, cold and specialty topping, cheese and sauce for their 8-ounce burger that also came with lettuce tomato, pickles and sliced onion, added Mike Gladnick, general manager of the restaurant. In the final, another 8-ounce burger is squeezed between the buns.
“It’s not just a hamburger,” said Gladnick.
It wasn’t just a competition either; $2 from each entry of $10 went to the Homes for our Troops nonprofit charity that builds specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans and their immediate families.
The event drew a couple dozen contestants and some of them were novices, such as Matthew Vanchure, 19, of the Parsons section of Wilkes-Barre. His mother Brenda came to cheer for him.
“He did the first round and he came in second,” she said.
Her son failed to qualify in his next heat. The top three in the two heats of the second round went on to the final.
“I never did this before,” he said.
He developed a game plan on the spot of “trying to stuff everything down.”
With a full stomach it was hard to down the second burger, Vanchure said.
But he came away wiser for the next time. “I’ll do it again,” he said.
Vanchure could learn something from Justin Vernon. The 23-year-old from Kunkletown is the three-time defending champ of the Wing-off at Big Woody’s Sports Bar and Restaurant near Easton. He consumed 43 hot wings in five minutes last February, beating his own record of 36 wings last year and taking home a $2,000 cash prize.
“This is a speed competition,” said Vernon, explaining the difference from other contests he’s been in.
Comparable in size to Keeler, Vernon held nothing back in his approach to the competitor’s table. “I’m hungry,” he said.
The two sat next to one another in the main event.
“This is a timed event,” Gladnick told the six finalists.
He apprised them of the local and national prizes and laid out the rules: Nothing remains on the plate and in the mouth.
“Stand up. Show me your tongue,” he said. And don’t forget to remove the wooden skewers stuck in the burgers, he instructed them.
“Gentlemen are you ready?” he asked and on the strike of a bell, the battle began.
By now most of the wait staff and kitchen help came out to watch.
Keeler, wearing a baseball cap backwards, and Vernon, sporting a bandanna, bent over their burgers and bit in, straightening up in their chairs occasionally to take a sip of water and swallow. Their faces inches from their plates, they shoveled bits of burger, bun and toppings into their mouths in spurts.
They ate at a frenzied pace compared to a few contestants who held their burgers in both hands and took deliberate bites.
As Keeler’s burger disappeared the crowd sensed a winner and cheered for him.
Keeler stood up and stuck out his tongue while Vernon watched from his chair.
The winner later revealed how he cleaned his plate.
First, he first took off the toppings and ate them.
“I ate the first patty by itself,” he continued, describing his deconstruction of the burger. He moved to the next patty and the bottom of the bun, he said. Finally he took the top of the bun and dipped it in his water glass to make it softer and easier to swallow. But because he dipped he had to drink the water, according to the rules.
That’s not how he normally eats.
He said he’d take it much slower when he returns for a burger or meal.
“I’m coming back and enjoy it,” he said.
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The Times Leader regularly will feature fun summer activities and diversions that take place in Northeastern Pennsylvania. If you have a suggestion, call the City Desk at 570-829-7180.