The Lone Star 72 Oz. Steak Challenge.

the steak... Last Wednesday, we finally went to the Lone Star Cafe to take on the 72 Oz steak challenge. 2/3 people who attempted it succeeded and tasted the sweet victory of a huge free steak. (RECAP: Lone Star Steak Challenge , Training Day 1 , Training Day 2 , Training Day 3, Training Day 4). We called in 2 days before to reserve the steaks and they took our credit card number just in case we didn't show up to eat the steaks. I felt good that day and I prepared myself for the meal (at 9pm) by constantly eating very small bits of food all day (mostly yogourt and fruit). Daniel prepared himself on the day of the steak by playing some rugby to build up an appetite. The third contestant, Yale, went another route as he prepared his body to eat the steak by eating an XL bowl of Pho for lunch (beast!). When we walked into the restaurant, our other friends who came to witness the challenge ordered first and our steaks came soon after. The steaks were 72 Ounces (4.5 lbs) and each one sat on a sizzling hot plate. Each of us had to choose 1 side as well (Daniel and I got the garden salad, Yale got the mashed potatoes with gravy). Right when we sat down, our server brought over some nacho chips as well (Yale also killed these, he just keeps eating!). We all ordered the steaks medium rare, and they came out to be more like medium (if you want to try it, I would suggest ordering rare). As you can see in the pictures, the steaks are huge! Not only are they wide, but they are really thick. At the thickest point, they were probably over 3 inches thick.
If we finished the 72 Oz. Steak + Side in under 1 hour it would be free. When we first started eating it tasted pretty good, but as we approached the halfway mark, that was when things started slowing down. One person started to give up, as Daniel stopped at half the steak (he still ate an impressive 2.25 pounds of meat). Yale and I kept going, and by 3/4 of the way, I seriously started to not feel so well (haha!). I did not want to eat the steak anymore, but I continued to cut and chew. The hardest part was that my jaw was getting tired and the meat was quite dry on some parts (especially the charred parts). We did tell the waiter that the steak was way too well done for medium rare and they said we could get 25% off if we couldn't finish it (Daniel definitely benefited from this as the steak cost $54.99+tax if you can't finish it). At about the 50 minute mark, both Yale and I finished the entire 72 Oz steaks and quickly inhaled our sides!!! I wish I could say that I felt really happy about finishing it (LOL) but I really felt jealous of Daniel, who stopped eating his and felt great. The craziest thing that happened was that Yale then went on to finish off some Ribs from somebody elses plate. "When are we going to do the steak challenge again?!" was the first thing Yale asked me the next day.
Quick Notes: I could not have completed this challenge without the training that we did. Eating entire cabbages actually stretched my stomach, increased my appetite and helped me mentally when I didn't want to eat any more of the giant steak. In terms of price, this was the "DEAL OF THE YEAR." As you can see in the picture of the receipt, the two steaks me and Yale finished came to a total of $0. Between the 2 of us, that was 144 Ounces of meat + sides for nothing. "Some people run marathons, we eat!"
Can you do it? The staff at Lonestar told us that around 1/10 people who attempt the steak are able to finish it. My advice to you is to make sure you train and are able to eat a lot of the same thing in one sitting (ex. entire 4.5 lb heads of cabbage lol). On the day of, eat as light as possible, but make sure you eat little things throughout the day so your stomach doesn't shrink. During the challenge, my strategy was to cut the steak from one side only, to keep as much moisture and warmth in the giant steak as possible. Yale's strategy was to use huge amounts of HP steak sauce (a total of 3 bottles were used between Daniel and Yale). In addition to this, it is important to watch the time and to continuously cut and not stop chewing. If you can complete it, it is a free meal. I'm pretty sure that I have eaten much more at some all you can eat sushi places, but the huge steak and the 1 hr time constraint was a definite challenge. Try it at your own risk. Click here for locations

Here are 2 videos documenting our challenge.lol: 1. before we ate the steak and 2. the process of us eating the steaks...