Team Takeru. (Photo: Courtesy Hester Street Fair)
Speaking of iconic gurgitators who were conspicuously absent from this year’s hot-dog eating contest, Takeru Kobayashi wasn’t at Coney this year, but he did down 67 dogs in 10 minutes at Hester Street Fair’s hot-dog eating contest, and now – right now! – he’s grilling hot dogs in Bryant Park.
And not just any dogs – The Tsunami debuted his own line of Kobi Dogs at the 4th of July contest and he’s selling them until 10pm tonight ($3, plus fifty cents with avocado or cheese) during tonight’s screening of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
Suhyun Pak of Hester Street Fair (the concessionaire for the summer film festival) tells us Kobi has already lured many an autograph seeker. And we believe that, because Kobayashi. Is. God.
Pak says Kobi, who lives in Chelsea these days, may soon make an appearance at Hester Street Fair’s Lower East Side home base, and he isn’t the only competitive eater who’ll show up there: in August, the folks behind East Village spots Maharlika and Jeepney are planning to bring a baluut-eating contest to the Fair.