Mary Susan Littlepage

Tall stacks of thick, big-ass pancakes--pancakes that take up more plate space than personal-pan pizzas do--sit on a table in front of a stage at the Filter coffee shop in Wicker Park.

For this night, Filter is Pancake Central, and five brave souls will try to eat the most pancakes--made in the Filter kitchen, of course--in ten minutes.

Filter manager Natalie Mau, an energetic, heavily tattooed woman, decided to host the contest to celebrate her two-year anniversary of working at Filter as well as her love for pancakes. She eats pancakes every day, and she loves pancakes so much that she even has a tattoo of a heart, featuring a banner that reads "pancakes."

Mau introduces the "pancake soldiers": Jamie, Mike, Juan, Sean and Mark.

Jamie is a last-minute replacement for another contestant and is representing ladies; Mike, a beefy-looking dude rocking a "ribfest" T-shirt, once won a ribs-eating competition; Juan once won a hot-pepper-eating contest; Sean, a thin goateed dude, has been friends with Mau since high school; and Mark, a regular Filter customer with long hair, looks comfortable in a green-and-blue plaid bathrobe.

"You guys ready?" Mau asks. "You hungry?"

Mike pumps his fists in the air, and Juan rolls up the sleeves of his green T-shirt and palms his hands to the sky in "raise the roof" fashion.

Then the contest is on.

Mike mashes a pancake. Mark dips a pancake chunk in syrup. And Juan, mouth full with pancake chunks, puts a cell phone to his right ear and says, "I'll call you back." Then he puts the flip-phone away, not missing a bite.

Sean mashes a pancake and drinks water. Mike and Juan grab more pancakes. Mike mashes up a pancake so that it looks like a deformed burrito.

The clock is ticking, and Mike and Juan become the leading competitors.

Time runs out, and Mike and Juan both have unchewed food in their mouths. Some pancake chunks are sticking out of Juan's mouth. Juan leans back, looking as if he hopes all the food in his mouth will get swallowed quickly. He tries not to laugh, but he can't help it. So, as he laughs, he winds up spitting some pancake chunks into his cup of water.

It's close, but Mike Sergo, 27, of Edison Park, is the winner. He ate four big-ass pancakes, and Juan ate 3.5 to 3.75 pancakes. The others ate one to 2.5 each.

At Pancake Central, though, everyone is a winner: Mike wins a $50 gift certificate from Uprise Skate Shop to buy a new pair of shoes, Juan wins a tattoo from Tatu Tattoo, Mark wins a Filter gift certificate, Sean wins a bag of coffee beans, and Jamie wins a $10 gift certificate from Swank Frank to buy some hotdogs.

And Mike says he is ready to pass out.

(2005-07-05)

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