A big crowd watched the Super Duper Cheesesteak finals Saturday afternoon at The Beavercreek Submarine House. Of course your source for Dayton food scoop, Food Adventures was on hand. After an hour of build up, they brought out the cheesesteaks like the Star Wars “Imperial March.”
The crowd grew silent, the judges looked at the stopwatch.. and GO.. the contest was on. Nine Champions from each individual Submarine House store around Dayton, were now facing each other in an “eat-off” that has become an annual tradition.
The Super Duper Cheesesteak Challenge is where you must eat a 16 inch long Super Duper Cheesesteak in under 16 minutes.
“Super Duper” in Submarine House language means a 16 inch cheesesteak with triple the meat, triple the cheese, and the “works” toppings. The works is onions, mushrooms & peppers cooked with the steak, mushrooms, and topped with cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato and hot pepper relish.
NO SUBSTITUTIONS, NO CHANGES, you must eat the sandwich “as is.” This challenge is a true Food Adventure! Not for the squeamish, this contest is fast paced. Don’t blink, or you could miss the finish !
As the nine contestants took their first bites, 3 leaders emerged, 2015 champ Aaron Smith, 2013 champ Andrew Oakes and 2014 champ Clayton Naylor. They chomped, they chewed, and almost spewed, but instead washed it down intermittently with water.
Now the scoop on what happened next…..
HERE’S THE SKINNY:
— The Super Duper Cheesesteak Challenge benefits Dayton’s Children’s Hospital. The Submarine House owners, Jason and Brody Danner, started the event by presenting a check in excess of $15,000 to the hospital’s charity fund. What an incredible donation.
— Andray Simmons, a young man who is the goodwill ambassador from Dayton Children’s Hospital was introduced to the crowd. Andray is battling sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder. He thanked the crowd for the charity support, and the whole place erupted in applause. A touching moment for the crowd and Andray, who was there with his family.
— More money was given away as they drew a $500, $1,000 and $10,000 cash prize for 3 different, lucky Submarine House customers! It was insane!
— Then came the eating contest… Judging the contest were Chef House and the Big Ragu from Food Adventures, Lisa Grigsby from Dayton Dining, Brian Jarvis from Beavercreek City Council, WHIO’s Larry Hansgen, K99’s Frye Guy, and finally Sallie Taylor, Zac Pitts, and Katie Kenney from Living Dayton TV show.
— The winner was …. ANDREW OAKES, from the Centerville store, with a time of 1 minute, 36seconds. Andrew becomes the first ever “two time” champ. A close second was Clayton Naylor and close third was Aaron Smith. Both men were literally a few seconds away from winning. Trophies were passed out, photos were taken, and interviews made.
— SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Jason and Brody Danner shared the information with us, and Larry Hansgen announced to the crowd… Submarine House will be EXPANDING. The Centerville Submarine House is moving to a larger location on 725 where the old Blockbuster Video was located. There will be a Submarine House opening up in Huber Heights in the old Fifth Third branch at 5376 Taylorsville Road. (((BOOM! A Food Adventure is gonna take place there soon !)))
So that’s it folks, another year of cheesesteaks in the record books.
As the fans and “paparazzi” left the building, we all promised to do it again next year. In the meantime, order a Super Duper Cheesesteak for yourself. There is a reason they call it “16 inches of heaven.”
Promise us that you will check out the photos below from the event, and follow Food Adventures on Facebook, by clicking HERE.. Dayton’s #1 food blog for restaurant photos, dinner events, TV spots, festival fun, charity events, cooking classes and Food Adventures like this one… from Beers to Bananas Foster, we eat it all.. no rules.