An empty plate with a knife, fork and spoon laid beside it, photographed from above
Ledger · opened 11 March 2017 · last entry 22 Nov 2026

Forty-one settled

The whole record in one place, including the nine that went the other way. A result only enters this page once both weigh-in slips are signed by the house.

32Beat
9Beaten

The bar is drawn to scale. It is the only chart on this site that flatters me.

The last fourteen

Gross weight is food only, tare removed. Elapsed is the house clock, not mine.
No.DateHouseDishGrossLimitElapsedVerdict
4122 Nov 26Hollis Diner, Bowling GreenNine-egg skillet, plate clean4 lb 6 oz30:0017:40Beat
404 Oct 26Pike & Anchor, MonroeSix eighteen-inch pies6 lb 11 oz45:0045:00Beaten
3912 Sep 26Dell's Chophouse, FremontRack and a half, cornbread5 lb 2 oz90:0024:18Beat
3830 Aug 26Lake Street Grill, SanduskyThe 7 lb brisket tray7 lb 4 oz60:0058:36Beat
378 Aug 26The Boundary, AdrianEight-pound dairy sundae7 lb 12 oz30:0030:00Beaten
3619 Jul 26Krause's Counter, ToledoThe Maumee Tray, second go6 lb 2 oz32:0029:41Beat
3527 Jun 26Ninth Street Deli, LimaFour-pound reuben, no sides4 lb 1 oz25:0021:03Beat
346 Jun 26Harbor Room, Port ClintonPerch, forty fillets5 lb 9 oz40:0040:00Beaten
3316 May 26Dell's Chophouse, FremontHalf hog platter6 lb 0 oz50:0038:52Beat
3219 Apr 26Hollis Diner, Bowling GreenHash, twelve rashers3 lb 9 oz20:0014:12Beat
3128 Mar 26Pike & Anchor, MonroeThree-pound calzone3 lb 1 oz18:0011:52Beat
307 Mar 26The Boundary, AdrianEight-pound dairy sundae7 lb 12 oz30:0030:00Beaten
2914 Feb 26Lake Street Grill, SanduskyFive-pound chilli bowl5 lb 0 oz35:0027:31Beat
2824 Jan 26Ninth Street Deli, LimaTwelve sliders, one basket4 lb 9 oz30:0024:18Beat

Entries 1 to 27 are in the printed book, which lives behind the counter at Krause's. There is no digital copy and there is not going to be one.

Chart No. 3

Weight against the clock

A scatter chart of forty-one attempts plotting gross weight in pounds against elapsed minutes, with the attempts that were beaten drawn as open rings above a rising curve015304560345678Gross weight, poundsElapsed, minutesEverything beaten sits in hereThe curve: minutes I should need

How to read it

Filled dots cleared. Open rings did not. The curve is a fit through my own clears and it is useful because it is boring: above six pounds it goes near-vertical, which means every extra ounce costs minutes I do not have.

32 clears, 2 lb 12 oz to 7 lb 4 oz
9 failures, none under 5 lb 9 oz
The dead zone: 6 lb and over, under 45 minutes

If a venue asks for a six-pound dish in half an hour I turn it down, and the reason is in the top right corner of this chart rather than in anything I believe about myself.

A woman in a plaid apron standing in a dimly lit dining room
He is the only one who asks for the scale before he asks for the menu. We have had two hundred and eleven attempts on the sundae and he is one of nine who came back for a second go at it.
Gayle Renner · owner, The Boundary, Adrian, Michigan
Attempt 37 · Beaten
Spoken 8 Aug 2026, four minutes after the bell. Attempt 37, beaten.
Photographs kept by the houses

What they looked like

  • Ribs and corn laid out on a checked tablecloth with sauce pots
    No. 33 · Fremont · 16 May 26Half hog platter, 6 lb 0 oz, cleared at 38:52
  • A plate of sliders and waffle fries on a red surface
    No. 28 · Lima · 24 Jan 26Twelve sliders in one basket, 4 lb 9 oz, cleared at 24:18
  • Six dressed hot dogs on a wooden board with dipping pots
    No. 24 · Napoleon · 2 Nov 25Sixteen dogs on the board, 4 lb 2 oz, cleared at 19:56
  • A stack of pancakes on a white plate next to a glass of milk
    No. 21 · Bowling Green · 14 Jun 25Twenty-four cakes and the milk, 5 lb 4 oz, beaten at 40:00
  • Six whole pizzas side by side on a yellow surface, seen from above
    No. 18 · Monroe · 9 Feb 25The first of the six pies, 1 lb 2 oz each, beaten at 45:00
A bearded man in a dark shirt photographed against a dark green wallToledo, 6 Dec 2026. 218 lb on the morning of a rest week.

Questions the ledger gets

What counts as settled?

Two weights and a time, signed by whoever runs the house. If the kitchen will not weigh the dish in front of me the attempt still happens, but it goes in as unsettled and it never appears here. Four have gone that way since 2019.

Why publish the nine?

Because a booker needs to know what I cannot do, and because a record with no losses in it is an advertisement rather than a record. The sundae at Adrian has beaten me twice and will probably do it again.

Do you train for a specific dish?

Yes, at half size, on the Thursday. If the half runs over 40% of the house limit I cancel, and the venue is told that evening. It has happened five times and nobody has ever argued about it.

Is any of this a world record?

No. These are house records on nine menus in two states. Twenty-two of the forty-one are the standing best time at that address, which is a smaller and more honest claim.

What happens to the food you do not finish?

It is boxed and it goes to whoever is in the room, and I pay for it. On the pie night at Monroe that was two and a half pies and eleven people. The $94 on the ledger is that bill.