Those with an appetite for competition know that Eagle’s Deli, the student hangout in Cleveland Circle, offers a legendary test: the Eagle’s Challenge Gigantic Burger. A menu mainstay for going on thirty years, it’s a beefy tower priced at $80.00 and stacked with a staggering twelve half-pound patties, twenty-four strips of bacon, and as many slices of cheese, served with five pounds of French fries, a drink, and a pickle. To conquer the challenge, you have to eat the whole thing within an hour. The burger achieved fame starting in 2009, when it was featured on the Travel Channel show Man v. Food. Since then, said Eagle’s co-owner Moe Osmani, countless people, from ambitious BC students to sensation-seeking YouTubers, have tackled it.

Fewer than twenty people have cleared their tray in the allotted time, Osmani said, nearly all of them professional competitive eaters—including one who recently finished in eighteen minutes. “We might have to introduce something tougher,” Osmani teased. “I’ve got ideas.” 

Here's what the Eagle's Challenge includes:

SIX POUNDS OF BEEF. The Eagle’s is the largest of the deli’s half-dozen “Challenge” burgers. First came the two-pound Cowabunga, named for the exclamation of the first person to finish it.

TWENTY-FOUR SLICES EACH OF BACON AND CHEESE. American cheese is the default, but cheddar, Swiss, and pepperjack are available too.

FIVE POUNDS OF FRIES. They’re harder to finish than the meat, Osmani said. Pros know to dip them in warm water to make them mushy first.

ONE BEVERAGE. Diner’s choice. Most impressively, “Furious Pete,” a competitive eater holding fourteen Guinness World Records, completed the challenge with two milkshakes.

ONE PICKLE. Finishing the challenge within an hour earns your money back, a one-hundred-dollar gift card, a T-shirt, and a photo on the deli’s framed display of victors. ◽