Fat Sal's Big Fat Fatty sandwich: truth in advertising

It sounds like a plot from the HBO show “Entourage.” The character Turtle has a harebrained scheme to open a sandwich shop with a headline-making sandwich. But the deli, Fat Sal’s, is real and it's co-owned by one of the show’s stars, Jerry Ferrara, along with Josh Stone and Sal Capek, all friends who have known each other since childhood. And there's even a famous, or rather infamous, sandwich.

The Southern California restaurant recently opened in Hollywood — there are also locations in San Diego and Westwood. On the menu is an extreme — and extremely large — sandwich.

The Big Fat Fatty pretty much lives up to its name. The behemoth includes ingredients that are actually other fast-food favorites — all in one ginormous sub: cheesesteak, five cheeseburgers, 10 chicken fingers, pastrami, bacon, five fried eggs, a basket of french fries, 10 onion rings, 10 jalapeno poppers, marinara, chili, and something called fat sauce. It looks like it could easily feed a family of 12. The cost of this bad boy is $49.95, and according to the website, there is only one way to order it: If one intrepid eater accepts the challenge.

“This sandwich is available for our food challenge only, however if eaten by one adventurous soul in 40 minutes or less, the sandwich is free and that amazing human can create and name their very own ‘fat sandwich.’” Diet-friendly, it's not.

"She's big," Stone told San Diego station NBC7. He said the idea for the competitive sub came to him in a dream. "I was very hungry when I went to sleep. And I was full when I woke up," he said.

The Thrillist provides a step-by-step photo gallery of the mammoth mountain of food being assembled. It claims that the food log weighs nine pounds and stretches to 27 inches. This is not for the weak of stomach.

"We came up with this monster sandwich with every ingredient from every sandwich, and it still tastes good," Capek told Yahoo News by phone. And the challenge rules are clear and, at least for now, remain unchanged. "The thing is you either did it or you didn’t do it. You didn’t almost do it. You win or you lose. No second place," Capek added.

There is a Fat Jamie sandwich, named for some soul who managed to eat the artery-clogging meal under the allotted time and got to name a sandwich as a prize.

Stone said only two people have won the competition in about 700 to 800 tries.

Yelp reviews provide some flavor to the experience: “Thank god I don’t live in L.A. or I’d die of a heart attack,” Carlin Y. wrote.

Tawny I. added, “If you don't care about your cholesterol, your waistline or any type of healthy-ness do not hesitate to make the trek out to Fat Sal's for one of their scrumptious heart attack sandwiches.”

Nico L. wrote, “Awesome sandwiches made to make you put away your food snobbery and set aside your health concerns.”

Of course the Big Fat Fatty sandwich isn't the only item on the menu. You could come in to order a salad, Capek noted. As far as we know, there are no competitions around salad eating.