Gyoza Eating Contest Returns to Little Tokyo: Grab Your Chopsticks + Loosen Your Belt

Think you could eat 264 gyoza in 10 minutes? That's the record the world's best competitive eaters will have to beat in order to snatch the title from 2011 champion Pat Bertoletti at this year's Day-Lee Foods World Gyoza Eating Championship in Little Tokyo.

Two of the biggest superstars in the competitive eating worlds, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut and Patrick “Deepdish” Bertoletti — who have both held the title in the past two years — will square off in what's considered the West Coast equivalent of the Independence Day Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest held in New York.

The reward will be $5,500 in cash prizes and, of course, the satisfaction that no other person on earth can devour juicy Japanese potstickers at a faster rate.

The event, part of the 72nd annual Nisei Week Japanese Festival, takes place on Saturday, Aug. 18, at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center Plaza in Little Tokyo. Admission is free but seating is extremely limited, so arrive well before the 2:30 p.m. start time if you want to catch all the gluttonous action.