Columnist John Katsilometes: The Readers Digest version of the ‘Big Daddy Burger’ competitive eating contest at the Plaza

Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 | 4:24 a.m.

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach John Katsilometes at kats@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-2327 or (702) 812-9812.

For breakfast Saturday, Rich LeFevre had an energy bar.

For lunch he had a 9-pound hamburger.

The Henderson resident messily known as "The Locust" devoured the massive sandwich known as "The Big Daddy Burger" in front of 200 onlookers at the Plaza Showroom. He and the other 14 top competitive eaters in the country took part in "Big Daddy Burger Contest," an annual curiosity won for the second straight year by Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, whose winning time of 27 minutes was more than 20 minutes faster than her winning mark a year ago.

"I ate the meat first, then the bun," said Thomas, who weighs all of 110 pounds, post-burger. "Last year I had about four bites of meat left and I just had to wait and wait until I could eat those last four bites."

The burger is available at the Plaza's Upper Deck restaurant. It costs $50 and can feed a table of 10.

LeFevre, who tips the scales at 135 pounds on a 5-foot-3 inch frame, left a large portion of the bun to one side as he disassembled his burger -- then forgot about that fist-sized piece of bread as he battled Thomas for the lead.

"I had to eat all of that, and that was the difference," LeFevre said.

Thomas won $4,000 in the event, sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. LeFevre took home $2,500 -- and a free lunch.

NoteMart

HooterMania: Spotted a bright-orange Cadillac Escalade on I-215 the other day adorned with the Hooters logo and a license plate reading "HOOTER4." The SUV is part of a small fleet of Hooter Mobiles crisscrossing the city as the hotel-casino once known as San Remo prepares for its grand opening on Feb. 3. Two Escalades and a Ford Explorer make up the fleet; the vehicle bearing "HOOTER1" is fastened to a Mercedes driven by Hooters Chief Operating Officer Michael Hessling) ...

Speaking of cars ...: The District at Green Valley Ranch morphs into a Cadillac Ranch on Feb. 12 with the auto show "Cadillac Through the Years." Twenty-five class c Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles dating from 1903 will be on display; no word on if Mel Larson will tool up in one of his famous Circus Circus-pink Caddies ...

Four on the floor: The Stirling Club at Turnberry Place featured an intimate show by vocalists Bill Fayne, Mark Giovi, Bobby Black and Teddy Davey on Thursday night. The quartet goes by the name Las Vegas Tenors and the high-energy show ranged from Bon Jovi ("Bed of Roses") to Andrew Lloyd Webber ("Music of the Night"). The boys get together whenever schedules permit -- all have gigs around town and Fayne is music director for Clint Holmes. Their CD is a lot of fun; for information go to www.lasvegastenors.com ...

"Viva" moment: A heavyset gentleman in a red sequined Elvis costume (big glasses, oversized sideburns, the whole deal) was spotted playing blackjack midday on Tuesday at Palace Station ...

Network has Caan-do attitude: NBC announced Sunday it is moving the hit series "Las Vegas," starring James Caan, to a new night, from Monday to Friday, in March ...

No, it wasn't me who said this: During the opening of the "Southern California Minimalism" exhibition at Las Vegas Art Museum. As a large group toured the exhibit following a few words by LVAM consulting Executive Director Libby Lumpkin, a man turned to a couple and observed, "That's the problem with minimalist art. There's not very much of it."