Del Taco in Boulder is no more.

Since Dairy Queen's closure in 2006, the space at 1100 13th Street in Boulder has been a black hole for restaurants -- sucking the life out of them until they disappear altogether, leaving nothing behind but the faint smell of a working kitchen, a "For Sale" sign stuck to the window, and hordes of hungry college students, disappointed again. This space sucked in the 13th Street Cafe and the Kaddy Shack before that.

The latest to leave? Del Taco, whose Macho Burrito Challenge and Taco Tuesdays made it a favorite with students.

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Having just put down a three-pound peanut-butter-bacon cheeseburger, my hands still covered in peanut butter, I stared at just less than a pound of fries, amazed at how much I hated the curly bastards and how slowly I was consuming them.

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About 20 minutes into it.

I was about 25 wings into the Wing King Challenge at the West End Tavern -- fifty wings in thirty minutes -- when I realized I wasn't going to be able to finish the second half of the bucket of wings in the ten minutes that remained. I was starting to feel a strange sense of shame at being unable to complete this disgustingly gluttonous challenge when manager Chris Curtis stopped by to offer an oddly comforting bit of encouragement.

"At least your hands aren't shaking," he said.

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Oblio's

Open wide.

Oblio's Pizzeria, 6115 East 22nd Avenue, makes great pizza, and now the owners want you to eat it all at once. The Park Hill joint is offering an eating challenge that they call "28 inches of pure madness. Two people, one hour, no upchucking." If you pull it off, Oblio's -- known for its golf cart-driving customers -- will give you $100 bucks and initiate you into the Oblio's Hall of Fame -- for whatever that's worth. (We recommend spending at least some of the cash on the restaurant's awesome Sangrias.)

Want to take the challenge? Call 303-321-1511 to make a challenge reservation. Read about some of Denver's other eating challenges here.

Five. That's how many times the specials board describing the Nuclear Roll at Osaka Sushi said "very" before "spicy." Ten. That's how many ice cubes were on the plate owner Jay Chung gave me before I started inhaling this tuna roll topped with liquid fire. "Just in case," he said with a chuckle.

Thirty. That's how many minutes passed after I finished the thing before my mouth started to feel normal again.

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