Taylor Gourmet’s Sub Mission
By Warren Rojas
Posted at 4:01 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2012
Have you got what it takes to tackle 5 feet of Taylor Gourmet deliciousness?
(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)
Then bring your hungry pants to this year’s H Street Festival.
Co-founder Casey Patten said the homegrown hoagie haven had considered staging a contest last year, but things didn’t quite fall into place. This time he’s ready.
The rules are simple enough: The first person to successfully devour 10, 6-inch 9th Street Italian subs in less than 20 minutes walks (or maybe waddles) away with $200 in cash and the nascent “Taylor Gourmet Champion Belt.” All the other contestants — Patten is hoping to accommodate as many as 10 contenders — will be rewarded with TG gift cards.
The signature sandwich is a mouthful. Each half-foot section is enveloped by about an inch and a half of sesame-studded roll. (Patten estimates it’s about 4 ounces of bread.) The filling features a double layer of spiced salami, blaze orange-rimmed rounds of zesty capicola and crumbles of salty, shaved provolone, all topped with half-moons of ripe tomato, piquant red onions and strands of lettuce anointed in nutty olive oil. All told, you’re looking at 10-12 ounces of food per installment, or roughly 6-7 pounds of sub to claim victory.
Patten said no one on staff has formally attempted the challenges. But he admitted to wolfing down three 12-inch subs in a single sitting. “And I wasn’t in any competitive eating mode,” he said of the random feat.
To wit, if anyone conquers the gastro-challenge, Patten has agreed to have Taylor Gourmet scrawled on his person by a Britishink artist. And lest you think that’s an idle threat, Patten is considering having the body art applied on stage immediately after the eat-off.
And what if a ringer blows into town to claim the TG crown?
“If the Black Widow [the nickname of local and competitive eating champ Sonya Thomas] would like to show up and take a boatload of Taylor Gourmet, she’s more than welcome,” Patten suggested.
Interested parties can apply via tweet (@Taylor_Gourmet) or Facebook.
The 2012 H Street Festival is scheduled for noon to 7 p.m on Sept. 15.
