Midtown Lunch

The 5 competitors with the owner of Go Go Curry (in the Yankees gear)

On Saturday “Gentleman” Joe Manchetti dispatched four other competitors to win the first ever Go Go Curry Eating Championship. I was there to witness the carnage, and quite frankly I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. Sure, I’ve been to an all you can eat buffet with professional competitive eaters– but that was like dining at the Four Seasons compared to this spectacle. After watching these 5 guys compete, I’m embarrassed to have ever referred to myself as “fat”.

The photos are after the jump.

And they’re off. 15 minutes to eat as much curry over rice as they can.

Don “Moses” Lerman came out of retirement for this event. He had the biggest cheering section.

Masato Tomita (on the left) was the only one with no competitive eating experience. He’s a sushi chef in Rockaway, and came in fourth place.

Paul Arcaria, who is known as a short time speed eater, waited until there was only 7 minutes left to start eating. By that time he was too far behind to make it up.

Dale “Mouth of the South” Boone was in the lead for the entire 15 minutes, and when the bell went off at the end he thought he was the winner.

But Dale’s “official scorecard” was wrong, and “Gentleman” Joe Manchetti was declared the winner by one bowl of curry. Don Lerman came in 3rd after a strong effort that fell just short.

Sport or circus?  I’m not entirely sure.  What I do know is the biggest shock of the entire day came at the very end.  After watching the grossness that is 5 (mostly enormous) men shovel over 100 bowls of Go Go Curry into their pie holes, I was actually in the mood for a Grand Slam.

I can’t imagine why you would want to see more… but if you do, there are a ton more photos over on Metromix.