A day after chowing down on 58 hot dogs and buns to win Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July eating contest, Patrick Bertoletti said he was in a “hot dog coma.”
“I can’t even think right now,” the Chicago resident joked Friday morning on 670 The Score.
The 39-year-old, who grew up in Palos Heights, bested 13 other competitive eaters to claim the mustard belt for the 10-minute race, held annually on New York’s Coney Island. Bertoletti told the radio show that he was “very nervous” before the contest, but managed to concentrate “into a different place” to pull out the win, which comes with a $10,000 prize.
“I still can’t really believe it,” he said. “I’m just not used to winning this event, and it’s a good day.”
Others are celebrating his success as well. Tom Drahozal, the principal of Morgan Park Academy’s Upper School, taught Bertoletti in social studies and coached him on the baseball team. He called him a “very analytical and very driven” student and baseball player.
“Those are two traits that have transferred well to the culinary and competitive eating worlds, and I’m sure have helped contribute to his success,” Drahozal said. “We’ve enjoyed tasting the food from his restaurants and it was great to see him break through yesterday for his first win at Coney Island.”
Bertoletti graduated from the South Side school in 2003, where he also played varsity basketball and soccer and co-hosted a show on the school’s radio station, school officials said. He was a co-owner of the now-closed Taco In A Bag restaurant in Lincoln Square.
Bertoletti lost weight and practiced for three months in preparation for the contest — surprisingly, he said it’s better to stay lean. He added that his apartment probably smells like hot dogs five days after his last practice session.
Bertoletti said he knew the pressure was on in the absence of reigning men’s champion and star competitor Joey Chestnut, who was initially banned after taking an endorsement with a plant-based proteins company. While event organizer Major League Eating reportedly walked back its ban, Chestnut said he wouldn’t return without an apology. He instead competed Thursday against four soldiers in Texas.
But reaching this goal has been a long time coming for Bertoletti, who is currently the nation’s ninth-ranked competitive eater, according to Major League Eating. He told the Tribune in 2006 that his twin sister recognized his potential, and suggested he enter his first contest at Bacci Pizzeria.
“I always ate way too fast as a kid. It’s been a lifelong thing,” he said at the time. “At Christmas, I would get a huge plate of food, eat it all, and go back and get another one … When I was at a barbecue in sixth or seventh grade, I ate like eight hamburgers. I knew I was good at it.”
Then a culinary student at Kendall College, who idolized French culinary legend Auguste Escoffier and was obsessed with sweetbreads, Bertoletti said the sport is “more of a mental thing than people realize.”
“Ten minutes is a really long time to eat full throttle,” he said. Some of Bertoletti’s other records, according to Major League Eating, include devouring 275 jalapenos in eight minutes, 10.63 pounds of corned beef and cabbage in 10 minutes and 21 pounds of grits in 10 minutes.
“I don’t do it for the money, or for the attention,” he said. “The weird thing is I’m a huge introvert on the outside but when you put me in a contest or you put me around food, I’m not.”
