Every other Wednesday night, New York skateboarding legends host Skate Night in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Alex Corporan and Big Jim Moore, together with NYSkateboarding and the Gnarmads, host a wild night of PBRs, shots, skate videos, skater boys and girls, and, most importantly, eating contests.
So far, the contests have featured everything from Chicken & Waffles from Sweet Chick to Stove Top Stuffing at Thanksgiving time to Meatballs from The Meatball Shop. It used to be held at Epstein’s Bar (R.I.P.) and is now at the dark, narrow and unpretentious dive bar, Leftfield. Wind your way to the back room where a covered pool table is the surface upon which the gorging for prizes takes place.
Last Wednesday night, featured burritos the size of a newborn baby from Chef Alison Rivera of Mission Cantina…
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Then moved to a very special side-bet from The Last Suspect: a Sriracha drinking contest.
Would we have been as pumped if the contest was to drink Tabasco or Cholula? Probably not. Sriracha’s got style, and, strangely, even sex appeal. This chili sauce, affectionately referred to as “cock sauce” or “rooster sauce,” has become an important ingredient in subculture, much like PBR. In short: People are completely devoted to this hot sauce — obsessed with it, even.
The devotion that people show to Sriracha isn’t without grounds. It tastes great, and you can put it on anything from your morning eggs to fried chicken to sorbet according to The Sriracha Cookbook! If you’re interested in the appeal of the Rooster, there’s this documentary — but today, let’s talk about the eating contest:
The bet: Three contestants, three bottles of Sriracha, and two minutes. People chanted to give them three minutes, but judges didn’t budge. Not only did the winner have to finish the whole bottle of Sriracha, he also had to wash it down with a shot of tequila.
Skate legend Big Jim (who emceed the event) had a look on his face right before they started that said no f*cking way are they going to do this.
The Result In Vertical Video Glory:
In 20 seconds, Andy Millien, also known as Turtle Boy, absolutely CRUSHED his bottle of Sriracha in a fit and frenzy that left the audience shaken. The collective shock and awe will resonate through all spectators for some time. The best part? He was wearing a dragon costume when he accomplished this feat. Just for the hell of it!
If you haven’t met Andy Millien of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, now’s the time. He skates for Bustin’ Street Crew, Acapulco Gold, Alchemy Wheels and Park Deli Skate Shop & Flowers and he drinks hot sauce like a f*cking champ.
We caught up with him the day after his Sriracha binge with three very important questions.
What was it like to drink that bottle of Sriracha? Tell us EVERYTHING.
Drinking the bottle was insane. I thought the faster I chugged it, the less I would taste and better chance I would have to win. It worked. The heat definitely kicked in right after I was heated, literally. I threw up twice right after also. It was terrible.
[Side note: The spicy vomit smell lingered in the bathroom the rest of the night.]
How did you feel the day after?
TMI alert!!! I woke up to explosive diarrhea and an uneasy stomach. Worth it for 100 bucks, especially since I was short on rent this month.
[Another side note: Spicy food can indeed cause diarrhea. Some people refrain from Sriracha for this very reason.]
Would you ever do it again?
Would I ever do it again?? Hell yeah! I’m all about the cash. As for right now, I don’t want anything to do with spicy hot things for at least a month.
It’s also worth adding that even though Turtle Boy puked twice afterward, he was still skating around Ludlow Street like he was the king of the universe after the event. A hundred bucks richer, and bragging rights for days.
