Remember that sweet moment in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp when the dogs are having a romantic dinner, slurping spaghetti, and, unaware that they’re eating the same noodle, meet for a doggie kiss in the middle?
Maybe David Burmeister will let you and your sweetie re-create that scene. It might take a while, though. The owner of Mangia Italiano, Burmeister is going for the Guinness World Record for making the longest unbroken noodle. At 8 a.m. this coming Monday, Nov. 16, he’ll cordon off a one-eighth–mile track on the Tower Grove Park North Service Road and loop more than 2 miles’ worth of pasta along the ground. Using a portable generator, a pasta-making machine and a very steady hand, he will have to best the current record (10,935 feet, according to Mangia, and who would know better?) without breaking the noodle.
The pasta from the attempt will be donated to the Rev. Larry Rice’s downtown homeless shelter – so show up Monday morning to support Dave in his noble (and hopefully notable) noodling!
– Byron Kerman
This article appears in Nov 1-30, 2009.