January 17, 2017
Hey downtown day-walkers – odds are pretty good the place you stop for your morning coffee, grab lunch, or chow down on hangover food just might have been featured on Friday’s episode of the new Food Network reality show, “Ginormous Food.”
Three restaurants common to Philadelphians who live and work in Center City and Germantown kicked off the second episode of the new show, which features jaw-unhinging eats from all over the U.S.
On “Philadelphia’s Beasts of the East,” the show’s host, Philly native and comedian Josh Denny, came back home after 18 years to start the Philly tour with a visit to Spread Bagelry in Rittenhouse Square.
“It’s almost the size of the entire table,” Denny said of the giant lox, white fish and cream cheese bagel known as “The Whale” served at Spread Bagelry on South 20th Street.
At Jake’s Sandwich Board at 12th and Sansom streets in Midtown Village, Denny prepared to devour the “100/100,” a monstrous sandwich comprised of a protein base of half bacon and half pork shoulder. Owner Gary Dorfman piled three pounds of bacon, a half a pound of sharp provolone cheese and gobs of Sriracha mayo in layers on this larger-than-average hero. It comes out to be 24 inches long and weighs in at nine pounds.
During the episode, Denny served a table of two female Jefferson Health professionals the “100/100,” but neither could fit the sandwich in their mouths.
“Are you guys in medicine?” he asked.
“Billing,” one woman replied.
“Don’t choke! Do you have any idea how much that’ll cost you!” he joked.
Last on the day’s dining docket was the Trolley Car Diner at 7619 Germantown Ave., home of the “Car 23,” namesake of the original 1952 trolley car for which the diner was named. Denny learned how the trolley car was mounted on a truck and driven more than 100 miles to Germantown in 1999 from Wilkes-Barre.
Weighing in at 10 pounds, the “Car 23” is a huge French toast – 16 inches long and six inches in height. It’s just one of the Trolley Car’s oversized dishes, and Kitchen Manager Michael Fee uses several layers of cinnamon-raisin bread, sweet cream cheese spread, and blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and banana to finish it off.
Next on "Ginormous Food," Denny heads to Baltimore, Md., where he explores the city's "biggest and baddest" big-mouth bites. That show will air on Friday, Jan. 20, at 8 p.m.
