El Gordo. The fat one.

Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, hot sauce, beans and your choice of chicken, steak or pork stuffed into a single monster-sized burrito and weighing in at two pounds.

“That’s an approximation,” Panchero’s Mexican Grill assistant manager Alex Ruiz said. “It probably weighs a little more with everything on it.”

Panchero’s, located at 109 Welch, will be serving El Gordos a plenty on Saturday night in the first two-pound burrito eating contest in Iowa State University history.

As the restaurant’s hallmark, the El Gordo burrito is described as Panchero’s “favorite menu item among students with a real appetite.”

The burrito is especially popular late at night, Ruiz said. “People come in and coach their friends — ‘You can do it.'”

While Saturday’s contest will be the first of its kind at the restaurant, Ruiz said “not organized” competitions take place frequently.

“People come in and place bets among themselves,” Ruiz said. “People get serious. The most I heard of was a $100 bet that a guy couldn’t eat three in a half hour.”

Three two-pound burritos in a half hour — is that humanly possible?

Iowa City resident Ramon Doran proved it was when he ate over three El Gordos at the Panchero’s contest held in Iowa City last weekend. His strategy? Putting as much food into his mouth as he could, his roommate said.

“We gave him as much time as he wanted,” Panchero’s of Iowa City manager Dean DeSchepper said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Ten students participated in the contest in Iowa City last weekend, DeSchepper said. “One guy even had a coach.”

The El Gordo eating contest has been held in other Panchero’s restaurants across the Midwest and was put together as a fun way to welcome students back for the fall semester.

“It’s a way to get our thanks out to college students,” DeSchepper said.

Contestants in Saturday’s competition will have only one hour to eat as many El Gordo’s as possible, Ruiz said. They will be allowed to order El Gordos without onions or hot-sauce, but the remainder of the items must be on every burrito.

“There will be no leaving the restaurant once you begin,” Ruiz said. “And I think bathroom breaks will be a no-no.”

Panchero’s manager Andrew Ziehr will be judging the contest, which will allow half and quarter portions of El Gordos to be calculated.

The winner of the contest will receive a semester’s worth of free burritos, which Ruiz said equals out to one burrito a week for 16 weeks.

The event will take place from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. with the actual eating contest scheduled sometime around 5:00. KCCQ radio personality “The Dark Knight” will be broadcasting from the event.

“We are going to try to get him to do it,” Ruiz said. “He comes in here a lot.”

Coinciding with the contest, Panchero’s will be offering any burrito for $1.07 with the purchase of a burrito of equal price. Panchero’s will also be giving away T-shirts and KCCQ will be giving away CDs.

“We just want to get a bunch of people together and have some fun,” Ruiz said. “And hopefully see a nice show.

“It’s a lot of food for anybody, I don’t care who you are.”