Do you love food? Do you love food so much that you're up for a challenge that will push your stomach to ultimate food baby size? Are you always unsatisfied with the measly portions your waiter brings out to your table? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the following extreme food challenges at restaurants in Raleigh are sure to fill you up and then some. Think you can handle it? Read on.
1. Big Ed's Pancake Challenge
Big Ed's offers breakfast food all day, along with classic southern diner dishes such as cheeseburgers and fried catfish. But they're probably most famous for their oversized pancakes. But these are not the awkward flat and flabby pancakes you get at a chain breakfast place. These are the fluffy, sweet pancakes your granddad would make you at six in the morning when you spent the weekend with him and grandma in the summer.
Three stacked one on top of another, eaten in one sitting, will make you a champ. You'll also receive a free t-shirt, which us college students are always a fan of. Prepare to have a huge food baby and be covered in sweet, sticky syrup for a few days.
2. Backyard Bistro Burger Challenge
This challenge is for only the meatiest and beefiest foodie connoisseurs. Your waitress may ask you more than once if you are sure you're up to it. Once you sign documentation that you will not sue Backyard Bistro for any internal intestine damage (joking), your waitress, and probably five other strong men, will bring out a two pound burger, topped with one pound of eastern-style BBQ.
For your sides you'll get one pound of fries, one pound of slaw, and a gallon of sweet tea to help you wash it all down. If you can conquer the mountain of calories placed before you, you get your picture on the wall and a free meal. That is, if you finish it all under one hour. God speed.
3. Ruckus Pizza Challenge
I am the biggest Italian fan out there. Spaghetti and meatballs, ziti, garlic bread —you name it, I'll eat it. But this dish would make even the sauciest Italian's head spin. The challenge is a six pound, 24-inch-wide New York-style pizza.
But wait, there's more! It also requires four toppings, two of which must be meat. If you make your Italian grandmother proud and finish it under one hour you can pick your prize: a free meal, a t-shirt, your picture on the wall of fame, or a $100 gift card to eat even more pizza. RIP.
4. Buffalo Brothers Ludicrous Wing Challenge
This challenge is hot. Like hot stud in your bio class hot. These wings have supposedly made John Cena cry. But if you have an iron stomach, this is the dish for you. You must eat 12 spicy hot wings in 15 minutes or less, leaving nothing but a pile of bones. Ranch and milk are allowed for those of you weak at heart.
A fair warning; these will burn. You will sweat. And you may experience a slight tingling sensation on your taste buds. But you get a free t-shirt and your red-hot face on the wall of fame, so it's all worth it, right?
5. Guasaca Arepa Taco Challenge
Aye Caramba! Are you satisfied simply by a measly Cool Ranch Doritos Crunchwrap at Taco Bell? Are you one of those people who never finishes the whole bowl at Chipotle and gives the leftovers to your mooching friend who brought their lunch? Then keep scrolling. This challenge is not for the narrow minded nor the narrow stomached.
At Guasaca Arepa, they will happily bring to your table five pounds of tacos, smiling doubtfully at your attempt to chow down. These are not normal tacos. They are stuffed to the very edges of the tortilla with various meats, cheese, rice, beans, and spicy flavors. If you win this bet against yourself in under an hour, you receive a picture on their hall of fame and a free meal. However, you may pay in other ways later.