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By Jeff Vorva
At one time, it may have seemed impossible for Palos Heights native Patrick Bertoletti to win the Nathan’s Hog Dog Eating contest.
After all, Joey Chestnut was roasting opponents year after year by winning 16 titles since 2007 and had a streak of gobbling up championships eight years in a row heading into 2024.
But Chestnut signed a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods – a vegan-based company – and that didn’t go over too well with the Nathan’s officials or the bosses at Major League Eating and they barred him from the July 4 contest.
That meant there would be a new champ and the impossible turned possible as it turned out to be Bertoletti, who woofed down 58 hotdogs and buns in 10 minutes to win the coveted Mustard Belt in Coney Island, New York.
Bertoletti, who is nicknamed “Deep Dish” didn’t break any records en route to the title but he does own the world record for most milk consumed in an hour – 2.5 gallons – in 2014. He owns 31 world records in other food categories. He once ate a close to 5-pound turkey in 12 minutes.
The 39-year-old Morgan Park Academy graduate has finished in the top three of the Nathan’s event before, but this was his first championship.
“With Joey not here, I knew I had a shot,” Bertoletti said on an EPSN interview after the competition. “I was able to unlock something that I didn’t know where it came from.”
Bertoletti actually retired from the Nathan’s event for 10 years but returned in 2022.
He is a chef and co-owner of the Taco in a Bag restaurant in Lincoln Square in Chicago.
EATING RECORDS
Palos Heights’ Patrick Bertoletti owns world records in more than 30 eating categories including:
Pizza – 47 slices in 10 minutes
Chicken wings – 4.1 pounds in eight minutes
Grits – 21 pounds in 10 minutes
Jalapeno peppers – 275 in 8 minutes
Key lime pie – 10.8 pounds in 8 minutes
Kolaches – 44 in 8 minutes
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – 42 in 10 minutes
Shoo-fly pie – 11.1 pounds in 8 minutes
Waffles – 29 8-ouncers in 10 minutes
Whole turkey – 6.91 pounds in 8 minutes
