CityNews Connect: Manitoba’s extreme food challenges

Manitoba’s food scene has something for everyone, with incredible flavours, culture and legacy built into every bite.

In some cases, it can also be uniquely for those with a more adventurous pallet.

This culinary adventure explores three of Manitoba’s most extreme food challenges.

The Crispy Wing (Winnipeg)

Winnipeg’s The Crispy Wing on Notre Dame Avenue opened in May 2022.

“I had 32 flavours when I opened the restaurant. And now I have 71,” said owner JeanPaul Champagne.

“I mainly deal with chicken wings, fingers, poutines.”

Champagne, who was an outreach worker at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre before opening his restaurant, says he always had a passion for chicken wings.

“I bought these wings and I made them up and cooked them and said, ‘well jeez, I can sell these. They’re good, you know?’ And then it started from there,” the restaurateur said.

Among The Crispy Wing’s offering is a hot wing challenge that’s not for the faint of heart: The Devil’s Dust 2.0 Challenge.

“It’s got three of the world’s hottest peppers: Apocalypse Black Lava Pod, Carolina Reaper and Ghost Pepper,” Champagne explained. “Apocalypse Black Lava Pod has 2.5 million Scovilles in it. Carolina Reaper has 2.2 million Scovilles and Ghost Pepper has one million Scovilles. I combined them all together and then there you go. You’ve got the challenge.”

Joining CityNews reporter Joanne Roberts on the challenge was competitive food eater Anthony Javier.

He said his last competition involving wings was two years earlier and it did not go well. He also admitted being slightly worried about the heat in Champagne’s challenge.

“Kinda, but I’m planning to just zone out and, mind over matter type thing,” Javier said.

“I’m gonna put my glasses on, music, and tune all you guys out. And hopefully just eat as fast as I can.”

The challenge: eat 12 spicy wings in five minutes. Those who are successful get their photo on The Crispy Wing’s wall of fame.

Though it wasn’t easy, Javier did what he does best and finished the dozen wings with time to spare. CityNews reporter Joanne? Not so much (she only managed to eat one wing).

“Congratulations to you (Javier), you’re one of the winners and now your picture will be up on the wall,” Champagne said.

“And congratulations to you (Joanne), to try, I got a special shirt for you. Thank you for taking the challenge. I’m sorry you didn’t win.”

Carlo’s Cucina (Gimli)

After that amuse-bouche, Javier was ready to take on another of Manitoba’s food challenges.

The next stop was Carlo’s Cucina in Gimli for the Viking: Canada’s second-largest burger. It’s the brainchild of owner Carlo Guzzi.

“We opened in 2017 in Winnipeg, for one year,” Guzzi said. “And one day I took a drive up to the Interlake and I knew.”

Guzzi says he’s passionate about food, having grown up in a household where food was always very important.

“My mom’s a very passionate chef,” he said. “She gave me a lot of special things, and cooking’s one of ’em.”

Guzzi says The Viking is “no joke,” weighing in at just over 12 pounds.

“It’s a monster burger, and in a couple moments you guys are about to see,” he said.

“It’s 18 patties of Black Angus, certified Angus beef. It’s a couple handfuls of fried onions, 25 pieces of bacon, pickles, 18 pieces of cheese, an order of onion rings, lettuce, tomato. And to top it off, our secret sauce and our specialty bun from Arborg Bakery.”

Feeling “pretty confident,” this time around – because there was no spice involved – Javier says the key to prepare for such a big meal is eating easy to digest food like vegetables and drinking a lot of water.

“Goodness,” Javier exclaimed when he came face to face with The Viking. The competitive food eater admitted he had never eaten something so big in his life.

Pushing aside the feelings of betrayal at seeing Joanne order a normal-sized burger, instead of taking on the challenge herself, Javier set out to conquer the behemoth. And while the attempt was a worthy one, he was no match for The Viking.

“I thought I could, but I couldn’t!” he said.

“I’m happy that you guys came down here and got your opportunity to A, try the Viking and B, be a part of such a, you know, commodity,” Guzzi said.

“I just want (people) to come here and have a good experience, go home and make memories with their family. That’s what Carlo’s Cucina is about.”

Kyu Bistro (Winnipeg)

Back in Manitoba’s capital – and days to digest and recover – CityNews met up with Javier for the third and final extreme food challenge.

The scene for this meal was Kyu Bistro, where the Godzilla Ramen awaits the city’s bravest eaters.

The Japanese restaurant on Isabel Street opened 15 years ago.

“There was no ramen in the city at the time, 15 years ago,” said chef and owner Calvin Truong. “It was very, very closed-off scene. But now there’s tons of different ramen shops. Everyone’s doing their own style and things like that. When we came up with the concept of Kyu, it was actually based off the Kyushu prefecture and their ramen styles that we kind of embodied into what we are doing every day here now.”

Truong says the Godzilla Ramen challenge – “a beast in itself” – is brand new. It’s 4.5 lbs. of ramen in one giant bowl.

“1.5 pounds of noodles, 1.5 pound of protein, 1.5 pounds of veggies, 170 grams of corn, 170 grams of fungi, 230 grams of pork belly, 230 grams of chashu, 350 grams of bean sprouts, 140 grams of chicken karaage, 140 grams of Naruto,” Truong listed.

“We want to just kind of test the people about their ramen abilities to see if they’ve got enough might to conquer Godzilla.”

Javier says he prepared by chugging a lot of water. “I think I can do it,” he said.

“I’m just glad that you’re actually having this one with me.”

When it was all said Javier put together an impressive effort and came close to the bottom of the bowl, but he tapped out at the very end.

“He did super good actually,” Truong said. “I thought he was gonna crush it all the way. And at the last moment, I guess it was just, Godzilla got the best of you, man.”

Truong was significantly less impressed with Joanne’s performance.

“I think it’s full of ramen still,” he said. “You tried, you tried. I’m gonna give you a high five for that one.”

Truong says the Godzilla challenge is open to whomever is ready to take up the gauntlet.

“It’s obviously pretty challenging,” he said. “And we’ll just see how people go with it, you know? And if we need to get a round two going, we’ll give you guys a call.”

That should be enough time to let Javier recover, train, and come back stronger for a shot at redemption.