TV Recaps Reviews

Adam travels to Phoenix, Arizona to take on the five pound Ultimate Slider Challenge consisting of a platter with a circle of twelve sliders filled with beef brisket, topped with potato pancake covered in melted Monterey Jack cheese all on Challah rolls. The circle of sliders is accompanied by a mound of fried onion strings in the center of the platter. Adam must down the twelve brisket sliders in thirty minutes to win a t-shirt and his photo on the Chompie’s Wall of Fame, otherwise if he loses the challenge he will find his photo on Chompie’s Wall of Shame. Thirty-six challengers have attempted the Ultimate Slider Challenge, but only one challenger has won against the infamous sliders.

First Adam visits the place with the biggest hot dog in town. Adam visits Alice Cooperstown, owned by rock icon Alice Cooper. Alice Cooperstown serves up BBQ, burgers and hot dogs with cold beer. Alice Cooperstown is famous for its Big Unit, named after former major league pitcher Randy Johnson, who has been a pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Adam heads back to the kitchen to find out how the Big Unit is made from the kitchen’s chef. The Big Unit is a twenty-two inch, three-pound Vienna frankfurter, topped with cheese sauce, chili, bacon, grilled onion, beer soaked sauerkraut, jalepenos, relish, tomato and topped with grated cheddar cheese, all loaded into a fresh baguette. Alice Cooperstown’s Big Unit is served to Adam by Alice Cooper himself, who sits with Adam to attack his own Big Unit hot dog. Adam and Alice ready themselves to dive into the mega hot dog by playing extreme air guitar to a rock song on the hot dogs. Adam and Alice bite into their hot dogs, and Adam relishes the taste, telling the audience the hot dog tastes more like a flavorful sausage than hot dog.

Next Adam visits Los Reyes de la Torta, known for their delicious sandwiches. Adam is here to try their Torta Del Rey, a sandwich with all sorts of goodies stuffed inside. Adam watches as the restaurant’s owner builds Adam’s Torta Del Rey. A telera roll is slathered with a layer of beans on the bread, then filled with five kinds of grilled meat: pork, beef, ham coated in melted cheese, sliced hot dog and Mexican chorizo encased in an omlet, all topped with tomatoes, onions, avocado and house made chipotle sauce. Adam bites into the torta and exclaims “This is an awesome sandwich”.

Adam arrives at Chompie’s New York Deli in Tempe to face the Ultimate Slider Challenge. The challenge gives Adam thirty minutes to eat five pounds of beef brisket sliders and consume a half-pound side of Chompie’s crispy onion strings. As Adam prepares for the challenge we see a fantasy sequence with Adam as a member of Arizona State University’s Sundevil’s baseball team, stealing home plate for the team. At Chompie’s there is a special guest appearance by Sam Moore, formerly of R&B duo Sam & Dave. Sam and Adam chat as Adam awaits the challenge. Adam goes back into the kitchen to watch how the brisket sliders are made. The brisket is cooked in a teriyaki and soy-based beef stock for four hours. Once the brisket is cooked it soaks in gravy and Au jus as potato pancakes are cooked on the flatop then put in the fryer to crisp up. Assembly begins as Monterey jack cheese is melted on top of the brisket, then the gravy soaked brisket with cheese is placed on each Challah bun and topped by crunchy potato pancakes. Adam calls the finished platter of sliders “A fiendish circle of savory doom!”.

Adam sits down at his table at Chompie’s as his platter of twelve beef brisket sliders with onion sticks and a bowl of Au jus is placed before him. The clock starts counting down thirty minutes as the crowd starts cheering “Adam, Adam” and he bites into his first brisket slider. Adam’s strategy is to dip each slider in Au jus to help them slide down faster. At the four minute mark Adam has downed three sliders as the crowd chants “Chomp at Chompie’s”. Adam devours sliders four, five and six by the ten minute mark. At fifteen minutes into the challenge Adam has five sliders to go. Adam tells the audience that the potato pancakes are very heavy because the potato pancakes are fried, making it more difficult to quickly down the sliders. As Adam chomps down sliders eight and nine, he is hitting the brisket wall as he says the richness of the challenge is “unrelenting!”. Adam finishes off slider number ten with four minutes in the challenge remaining. The crowd chants “Let’s go sliders, let’s go!” as Adam manages to eat two more sliders. The final two sliders and onion strings are sitting mocking Adam as he takes the two sliders and puts them together to form a mega slider. Half-way through eating the mega slider Adam hears the challenge bell and admits defeat. One slider and a bunch of onion strings took Adam down at the end of the Ultimate Slider Challenge. Adam tells the audience in today’s challenge of Man vs Food, food won, as Adam’s photo is added to the Chompie’s Wall of Shame.