"Fine" Dining25 Jun 2025

Nathan's Famous: How Joey Chestnut Made a Fake Contest a National Obsession

🌭 Nathan's Famous: The Hot Dog Empire with a Big Secret 🌭

This week, we dive mouth-first into the greasy, glorious history of Nathan's Famous, the iconic hot dog brand that gave us Al Capone's favorite beach snack, a gluttonous holiday tradition, and the most American sporting event of all time: the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

From shady police bribes to feeding royalty to Joey Chestnut's triumphant return after an Impossible controversy, this episode covers over a century of beef, buns, and barfing-for-glory. Joining me is comedian Marty Cunnie (who saw Chestnut live in action!! I'm fangirling).

🍺 A President Served Nathan's to the Queen of England
💵 Bribing Cops Was Just Good Business
📉 The Hot Dog Eating Contest Origins Are a Complete Lie
🏆 Joey Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Wrestling Vibes & Wet Buns
🇺🇸 Chestnut Returns for His 17th Mustard Belt
📺 Netflix's "Unfinished Beef" Wasn't Canon
😬 Coney Island: Hot Dogs, Broken Glass, & Weird Tits
🏠 Marty's Dream Restaurant Is Just His 3AM Apartment

💬 COMMENT BELOW: How many hot dogs is too many?

📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY:
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💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): https://discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4
🎥 Watch full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@finediningpodcast
🔗 All links: https://www.linktree.com/finediningpodcast
🎤 Marty Cunnie on IG: @martycunniecomedy

Patreon Producers: Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van

👉 NEXT WEEK: We review the original Nathan's Famous location in Coney Island to see if the dogs are still worth the pilgrimage — or if the legend should stay in the history books.

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