3 (Gulp) Brave The Caseus Challenge

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by Gwyneth K. Shaw | Jun 27, 2011 11:17 am

(19) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Food, Downtown

One leaped out to a fast start. Another tried a steady approach. A third seemed to have a legitimate shot—until his stomach just couldn’t take all that gruyere, gouda and sharp cheddar.

That was the fate of three young men who attacked the “Caseus Cheese Truck Challenge” Friday afternoon.

The rules: Eat 10 of the truck’s grilled-cheese sandwiches in an hour, and you get a T-shirt, a free sandwich once a week for a year and a namesake sandwich on the menu.

Roughly two dozen people have attempted the feat. Only one man has succeeded.

Brian Punch, Andrew Sinclair and Michael Ackerson wanted to join the club. They gathered at a paper-covered table on York Street across from the Yale School of Architecture. A fourth challenger was touted on Facebook earlier in the day but failed to show.

About 30 people—friends, co-workers and the occasional rubbernecker—ordered their own (single) sandwiches and waited for the show.

A little after 1 p.m., Cheese Truck co-owner Tom Sobocinski placed five sandwiches in front of each contestant and started the countdown clock on his iPhone. (Click on the video above for the kickoff.)

Gwyneth K. Shaw Photo Punch, 26, picked guacamole as his condiment, and ordered a side of tomato soup. Sinclair, 26, and Ackerson, 23, chose arugula. (Everyone gets the same gooey mix of provolone, swiss, comte, gruyere, gouda and sharp cheddar cheese as a base.)

Punch jumped off to an early lead, downing five sandwiches in five minutes. He dipped them in the soup, then took bunches of small bites. The other two were less aggressive.

Someone in the crowd pulled out his iPad and cued up Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” as inspiration.

By the 10-minute mark, all three started to look a bit stunned.

“The cheese, it gets to you, man,” Sinclair said. “It’s like having a wad of Big League Chew in your mouth.”

Punch complained that his jaw was hurting, a likely side effect of the chewy, crusty pain levain the Cheese Truck uses. He asked for a Coke to augment the Pellegrino he’d been sipping.

With 20 minutes gone, Sinclair groaned as he opened the container holding his next sandwich.

Finishing sandwich number seven was “a bad choice,” Punch said, shaking his head slightly and closing his own container.

By that time, truck co-owner Jason Sobocinski said, Punch had consumed a large amount of butter, about three-quarters of a loaf of bread, a pound and a half of cheese, and almost two cups of guacamole.

“Things Will Get Projectile”

Halfway through the hour, Tom Sobocinski urged Punch on: “You can eat a sandwich every 10 minutes. You got this!”

“Things will get projectile,” Punch replied. He stayed at the table, but didn’t eat another bite, at one point leaning back against a parking meter.

“I can still drink and eat. It’s just ... cheese and butter,” he said, grimacing.

“Every time I take a bite, it’s like, ‘I don’t like cheese anymore,’‘’ reported Sinclair.

But he pressed on. By this time, Ackerson had largely been reduced to nibbling on his sixth sandwich despite entreaties from his buddies. But Sinclair was working on a double-decker of sandwiches eight and nine. Until, all of a sudden, he stood up, reaching for the trash can that had been stashed near Punch earlier in the hour.

Boom. Game over—throwing up is an automatic disqualification.

“I feel so much better,” Sinclair said, smiling.

Punch said afterwards that “it’s doable, with preparation.

“You’ve got to have a stomach that can expand.”

Sinclair, still grinning, said he wasn’t sure if he was up for a rematch.

“It seemed like it got fattier with time,” he said.

Comments

posted by: William Kurtz on June 27, 2011 11:44am

Amateurs.

posted by: MR on June 27, 2011 12:00pm

I hate to be a spoilsport—and I’m well aware of the amazing amount of work and charity/donations Jason and the Caseus crew donate to the community year after year—but my knee jerk reaction to these “how much food can you eat/waste” contests is always the same: can the prize also be the equivalent in food or cash to a local food relief organization?

posted by: Rye on June 27, 2011 12:18pm

I think anything for a good cause is fantastic! And if u get to enjoy a day out and a food eating contest, well that just makes it that much better..

posted by: NewHavenJude on June 27, 2011 1:34pm

I have to say, as much as I love Caseus (including the owner, Jason), I have a problem with eating contests in general. With so many people going hungry, in this Country & throughout the World, I find it inappropriate to watch people grossly overeat as part of a contest.

posted by: Dan Kennedy on June 27, 2011 2:04pm

Not to sound like a weenie, but I’m with MR and NewHavenJude.

posted by: free ad on June 27, 2011 2:07pm

Well done, Casseus. A free advertisement in the Independent. How about some REAL news about food insecurity and hunger in Greater New Haven?

posted by: doug on June 27, 2011 2:26pm

nice job! this was a good neighborhood event to cover. Sure there are hungry people around but it would have been bad to ignore it. Don’t shoot the messenger.

posted by: Threefifths on June 27, 2011 4:01pm

I wonder how many got this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnYc6RnbIdg&feature=related

posted by: a reader on June 27, 2011 4:06pm

Sometimes, when I read the comments on an article like this, I think the NHI readership could do with a little lightening up. It’s not that serious guys.

posted by: Dan Kennedy on June 27, 2011 4:22pm

@a reader: Don’t disagree. Still, it’s hard to read about an event like this without thinking of “Man v. Food” and all the ways we encourage gluttony in our society. Looks like it was a fun event for a good cause. But ...

posted by: Pedro Soto on June 27, 2011 4:26pm

I agree with Doug on this. Come on folks, was Arts and Ideas coverage frivolous because it took away from discussions about the city’s budget?

I could see people having a point if ALL they did was cover eating contests, but the NHI is full of some of the most wide-ranging reporting of any news body in the city.

I actually always thought that this would be the one food contest, that I could actually pull off, but after watching it on Man vs. Food, and reading this report, I think I’ll pass.

My sandwich, which alas will never be named “The Pedro”, would be a Grilled Cheese with bacon and arugula. Mmmmmmmm.

posted by: Seriously??? on June 27, 2011 5:55pm

I know that the owners of this fine local establishment have the best of intentions with this contest. It is something fun, maybe a little over the top, but considering all of the problems plaguing our nice little city, I do enjoy reading about some of these zany antics that makes NH so great. Jason does a lot for the community, more than most business owners. Unfortunately, his nice little bistro was broken into and property was stolen over this past weekend and he is once again faced with a harsh slap of reality that our city has some serious problems. Note that this is the 2nd time Caseus has been broken into since opening a few years back. He just picks himself up and gets back out there. Kudos Jason.

Maybe we could not lose sight of the fact that the cheese truck is a food truck and as such, not the be-all-end-all salvation for our city?

Maybe we could show a little support for some people who try to keep us smiling when times are tough?

posted by: Gretchen Pritchard on June 27, 2011 6:26pm

Ewww, gross. Eating contests are Teh Disgusting. This is not a moral judgment and has damn-all to do with food insecurity etc. Just, icky.

posted by: jcp on June 27, 2011 9:08pm

New Haven used to have some individuality but now leans too far to the hipster. Remember the free small cheese pizza you would get from Bulldog when you ordered an large? I didn’t think you would. Is Scranton-Wilkes Barre still cool?

posted by: jcp on June 27, 2011 9:12pm

When I was their age I, like most of my dignified peers, was smoking and drinking beer at Rudy’s. The most we ate as a slice of cheese from Alpha Delta (once Bulldog Pizza).

posted by: Laurie on June 28, 2011 7:35am

How about the mission of Caseus, “... presenting simple traditional food with respect for the enviroment, knowledge of the product, and passion for pleasureable eating”? Where is respect, knowledge, and pleasure in an eating contest?

posted by: Stephen Harris on June 28, 2011 8:18am

The cheese truck rules!

I don’t know how anyone can eat that much in an hour!! Even those great grilled cheese sandwiches.

posted by: Edward_H on June 28, 2011 9:12pm

Cheesus Christ! Some of you people need to chill out. Even if these guys were giving out free sandwiches to the homeless and hungry someone would still complain about the unhealthiness of a grilled cheese sandwich. Lighten up.

posted by: Gener on June 30, 2011 2:40am

Take a look in most garbage cans… then complain about this.

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