Cape Girardeau man first to finish off 72-ounce steak

After downing a 72-ounce porterhouse covered in Heinz 57 sauce, garden salad with ranch dressing and baked potato with sour cream and butter in 25 minutes, Cape Girardeau's Tim Halter is undoubtedly the area's king carnivore.

But he seems surprised by all the interest in his feat.

"I was just hungry," he said.

Halter, 53, did it at Sidetracks Steak and Rib House in Jackson on Tuesday, the day the restaurant launched its challenge to eat the $50 meal in under an hour and get it free. Because Halter was the first to do so, he also won $106 from KWKZ 106.1 radio station.

However, because the restaurant couldn't find his name and the radio station employee with it couldn't be reached late Tuesday, he was unidentified in Wednesday's Southeast Missourian article on Sidetracks' unusual steak promotion.

Halter isn't particularly large but confesses to a big appetite.

"I was in there last week and they told me they were having it, so I decided to give it a shot," he said. "I wasn't really looking for publicity."

Halter operates the Oran Drive-In Restaurant in Oran, Mo., but it is closed for the winter.