Burger Challenge

The Backyard Grill is known for its delicious burgers. We cook 'em how you like 'em over a mesquite fire. Our burger story begins in 2001 when The Backyard Grill opened its doors. On the original menu there were only 5 burgers: Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheeseburger, Mushroom Swiss Burger & the Chili Cheese Burger. It was nearly two years later when our first signature burger was born: THE M.O.A.B. BURGER (Mother Of All Burgers). This mouthwatering burger has a ½ lb. juicy patty, sliced bacon, American cheese, Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion with mayo and mustard on a fresh bun. This burger was intended to be our signature burger… until the Fall of 2007.

That was when we introduced THE BIG DADDY. This daddy has TWO ½ pound burgers with double the fixins' that the MOAB has. In the beginning, we used to time guests to see how fast they could eat The Big Daddy. My best time was 8 minutes… which I was very proud of for about a week. When the time to finish The Big Daddy approached the 2 minute mark (this included the fries), we knew something had to be done.

In the Fall of 2008 we introduced THE GRANDADDY. This tower of meat has FOUR ½ lb. patties with the same fixins' as The Big Daddy. We still kept time, but this one was more of a challenge. The average time to eat The GRANDADDY was about 25 minutes, but it could be done by most who attempted it. Everyone who finished The Big Daddy or The Granddaddy had their picture taken and they were posted on the wall by the front door.

In the summer of 2010 I was watching Man vs. Food and I thought it would be funny if we got them to come to Houston and visit The Backyard Grill. We were told that The Granddaddy was not big enough to make the show.

Not big enough? The Granddaddy was 2 lbs of beef with 4 slices of cheese, 4 slices of bacon, mushrooms and jalapenos…how could this not be big enough? After much discussion, we know what we had to do….MAKE IT BIGGER. We decided that whatever we did it would be difficult to eat. So, rather than go higher we went wider.

On June 30, 2010, THE BEAST was born. The Beast has 4 lbs of ground beef, 8 slices of bacon, 4 slices of American Cheese, 4 slices of Swiss Cheese, mushrooms, jalapenos and the rest of the veggies on a 10 inch bun. To date 596 people have tried and only a handful have walked away with a free burger and a full belly. 

If anyone eats it in less than one hour it is FREE! We were not sure it could it be done. I wasn't going to try it. I'll split it with you (we call that a Beast Feast).

Over the years we have had some notable eaters take on the challenge & walk or crawl away winners. (below are their stories)

IF YOU ARE READY TO TAKE ON THE BEAST, CONSIDER THIS YOUR ENGRAVED INVITATION. COME ON OVER AND STEP UP TO THE PLATE. 

YOU AREN'T SCARED ARE YOU? 

🍔 APRIL 27, 2024

Bandana Eats (Stan Van Gorden stopped by and ate the Beast in 40 minutes and 24 seconds.

🍔 FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Molly Schuyler returns with a friend and we put together a "super  Beast) by add a couple extra pounds of beef and another 1/2 pound of bacon to it. We let them eat it together and they destroyed it in 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Although this does not count as a record, we find it worth mentioning. 

🍔 FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Molly Schuyler brought two friends (Killer Dan and Andrew Puhl) and all three of them completed the challenge. It was a first, but the real story is that Molly destroyed the Beast in 11 minutes and 40 seconds. Side note, they came here after competing in a Jalapeno Eating contest earlier in the day. 

🍔 MAY 12, 2019

Brandon Da Garbage Disposal Clarke became the 5th person to defeat the Beast and set a new record of 14 minutes and 33 seconds. (loosely challenged by Chad Pilbeam) 

🍔 NOVEMBER 06, 2017

Eric the Electric became the fourth person to complete the Beast by eating all of it in 51 minutes and 25 seconds.

🍔 NOVEMBER 30, 2016
Jon Hopkin became the third person to complete The Beast by eating all of it in a record time of 39 minutes and 50 seconds.

🍔 MARCH 29, 2014
Ramsey Hilton became the second person to defeat the Beast.  Although it took him almost the full hour – HE DID IT! Many have tried…but only two have succeeded. We Triple Dog Dare you to try the Beast.

🍔 MAY 08, 2011
Nicole Doty walked into The Backyard Grill and ordered The Beast. The staff was in shock. They asked her if her guests would be arriving soon to have the Beast Feast. She told them that it was all for her. She finished it in 40 minutes. The staff asked her to sign her ticket so we could get her name. She signed the ticket as asked and wrote something on the top as well. After she left, the staff laughed as they read her quote which is now posted on the wall: TWAS BEAUTY THAT KILLED THE BEAST!