Salvadore Manillo:
CLASS OF 1971
Clifford J. Scott High SchoolClass of 1971
East orange, NJ
Franklin SchoolClass of 1967
East orange, NJ
Salvadore's Story
Salvadore (Jughead) Manillo - day job - Food Inspector, Board of Health...professional ambition = Competitive Eater with FOOD network show (hopeful)
Shortly after graduating Scott HS, I floundered around a bit. Got a job in FOOD at Atlantic City casino....put my nose to the grindstone and my chin in the gravy, so to speak, and catapulted from bus boy to head bus boy in less than two years. Saved a lot of cash - since I really never had to pay for meals...and the buffetts are pretty reasonable.
The food bug bit me and I decided to enter cooking school to become a chef.
Attended Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in NYC....but not did not graduate due to some financial problems and anger management issues which came to a head in a messy food fight after I lost my temper while preparing a souffle. No charges were filed and the school and I parted company.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that I did find gainful employment despite my non-grad CIA status as a chef at the Short Stop Diner in Bloomfield (until it closed) before setting my sights on a new opportunity - Celebrity Chef or Competitive Eater.
I tried to get a spot on public access tv with a homemade cooking show "Hunt it, Kill It, Cook it, Eat it" but apparently my squirrel and raccoon recipes were not really popular with anyone but my immediate family, hunting buddies, Short Stop patrons, and unsuspecting "food critics."
Great news is that I am writing a soon to be self-published niche cooking book - working title is "Roadkill Recipes...The Road Can Be Your Supermarket." These are my own recipes with a southern Italian flair !
I got all fired up over competitive eating when I saw that skinny Japanese kid win the Coney Island hot dog eating contest....so, I entered the Coney Island hot dog contest - but lost...won an artichoke eating contest while on vacation in Castroville, CA, came in second in an oyster eating contest in New Orleans, and lost a donut eating contest to a police officer at the Dunkin Donuts annual "Dunk-It for Diabetes" contest in NY. The snapshot above is of me at a pulled pork sandwich eating contest...as you can see, competitive eating does not exactly fill stadium seats...just the contestant's stomach. I finished that bad-boy, almost a personal best, but not fast enough to get a trophy...just bad gas and a stomach ache. Luckily, my ride had a convertible.
Finally got a day job as a Board of Health Food Inspector (Larry the Cable Guy's movie was my inspiration - but I am nothing like him) and that is where I...Expand for more
throw my particularly heavy weight around for now...for those of you who remember me as average size at CJS, I weigh in at about 290 pounds nowadays....my civil service gig has it all benes, health plan, and a pension plan, plus an hour for lunch ! All my experience in the hospitality biz really helps in this job - since I know the ins and outs of the food biz....todays special is tomorrows stew...this recession has turned the old three second dropped on the floor rule into 30 seconds and just not stepped on.....After all that, its hard to believe that I still go out to eat (often) But as I like to say, the buffet is my training ground.
I don't hold a grudge against the Institute, but now - much later in life - when I inspect a white table cloth restaurant sporting a big-shot chef, in my appointment as a Food Inspector, I give it the once-over, 'twice' - if you know what I mean....by the book. What goes around comes around.
Hobbies are pizza, cooking lasagna, thinking up recipes, raising pygmy goats, the shore, driving my truck, monster truck rallies, food, and the HGTV station. Also enjoy working out at buffets and John Candy movies
Would like to hear from people who like good food like me, and thought CJS cafeteria food sucked.
This just in....I was in the running for a spot on the reality series next season ... The Cutting Edge...but was rejected after first interview....that high-falootin chef thought I was a little rough around the edges.
And yes, I will be competing in the Roadkill Cookoff again this fall in Marlington, West VA. I have decided on an Indo-Asian fusion recipe that combines the greasy flavor of smoked raccoon with Ramen noodles and stir fried bruised vegetables. That one is money. If I don't win with that combo, someone paid the judges.
Memorial Day weekend 2009 - I was a Kings Dominion in Virginia...I was one of the fifteen participants in the funnel cake eating contest. Joey Chestnut (the favorite) won with 4.9 pounds in 10 minutes....I placed ninth (of 15) with 4.2 pounds in 10 minutes. I am getting better every day - watch for me at the Nathan's hot dog eating contest this year !
Fast forward to 2013 - I am looking forward to any reunions. I have decided to get into shape in 2014 and am trying out for a spot on the Biggest Loser. I am probably not heavy enough (currently 295), but I thought - whatever, give it a shot...believe it or not they provided refreshments at the audition ! Gotta go - lunch time !
Best wishes in 2014 to all Scotties everywhere....
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