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Chicago is a sports town and Chicago is a pizza town, so it's only natural that it plays host to the Bacci World Pizza Eating Championship this Saturday at Bacci Pizzeria in Little Italy.
Sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, world class "eating athletes" from across the country will compete in the event. Among the favorites to take the title include Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas (105 lbs.) of Alexandria, Va. and Ed "Cookie" Jarvis (409 lbs.) of Nesconset, N.Y. -- ranked 2nd and 3rd in the world. They'll face off against local competitors like Joe Donar and last year's champ Mark Skiba, both from Downers Grove.
While some question whether competitive eating is a sport, Ed Jarvis clarifies that:
"If they say fly-fishing is a sport, then eating is a sport," said Jarvis, who weighs 409 pounds and once ate 4 pounds of mayonnaise in eight minutes. "Eating is a heck of a lot harder than fly-fishing."
Chicagoist thinks it's a toss-up as to whether we'd rather watch fly-fishing or a 400 pound man devour 4 pounds of mayo.
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wow. awesome. i've seen cookie jarvis in person and he's huge.
i would love to watch that event!
is the pizza chicago-style?
The International Federation of Competitive Eating is all over the major press today!
The N.Y. Post reports that ESPN will be televising the Coney Island hot-dog-eating contest on the Fourth of July.
Reigning champ and #1 ranked Takeru Kobayashi, whose 50 1/2 hot dogs record is the sport's benchmark, will defend his title. Sadly, Kobayashi won't be competing in Chicago this weekend.
From the description on that cityguide site y'all linked to, it sounds like Bacci's does HUGE thin crust slices. Rachelle, I'm thinking Koronet Pizza here.
Holding a pizza eating contest in Chicago serving thin crust pizza is sacrilegious! Gino's, Giordano's, etc. should be hosting. Now that'd separate the men from the boys.
No kidding. I assumed that the stuff being served would naturally be deep dish. WTF? Besides, that fact made it a little more difficult for me to work in sh*$talk on Chicago pie in the post I did over on my blog.
ha. adam, i commented this morning to tien that you'd prob post about this event and try to talk some smack about chi-style pizza!
Oh, you silly New Yorkers ... the South Side of Chi has some of the best thin, thin crust pizza( especialy Vito & Nicks). And please, PLEASE, don't write Giordanos as one of the best "Chicago Style Pizza" in this city, because its not.
That's great that Chicago has some thin thin crust pizza. I wonder if it's akin to the superthin-crust stuff I've had while visiting relatives in Milwaukee (makes sense given these cities' proximity). If so, it's actually pretty tasty in its own right. It's definitely its own style (I call it Midwest Style in my head) and def. better than deep dish. If this is what you're talking about, The Backer, it's too bad that its bigger brother hogs the spotlight.
Yeah, Adam ... I likes the thin more than the Stuffed. I do like Malnatis, the original Uno's, or Ginos East...but nothing like a super thin crust pie at Vito & Nicks. During Lent, they offer super thin Cheese & egg pizza.
1. Bacci wasn't serving up Chicago style pizza, just pizza. This is for a national competition, Chicago-style wouldn't be right.
2. A slice of Bacci pizza is called a "medium pizza minus some crust" in some pizza joints.
3. It's good pizza, and three and a half bucks will get you a slice and as much soda as you desire.
Skiba's still the man! Hoo-RAW!
I was at the pizza championship and enjoyed the competition. Sonya and Jarvis were great as was Rich Lefevre who finished third and ate over 7 slices of the pizza in 20 minutes and seemed to be as strong at the end of the competition as he was at the beginning.