Man vs. Food is one of those wacky niche shows on one of those wacky niche cable channels that has slowly been growing its audience through sheer word-of-mouth.

This week, its popularity peaked with a two-hour live special on Wednesday night in Miami, in preparation for Sunday’s Super Bowl. Series star Adam Richman downed a 48-ounce porterhouse steak in less than 20 minutes. Boo-yah!

The show, which you might think should be on the Food Network, is on the Travel channel. Each episode visits an American city, delving into its food culture and heritage. It is part travelogue, part food review, part cooking show, and part competition, as Richman tackles a restaurant’s "challenge" at the end of each hour.

It is, in annals of this genre, great. It launched in late 2008, and has two seasons under its ever-expanding belt.

Part of the show’s charm is the host, Richman. He is young, chubby, funny, smart, and clearly in love with food and his job. I’m not sure how he landed this gig, but this native New Yorker was born for it.

The show’s way of combining travelogue with oftentimes disgusting local culinary treasures is also appealing. They’ve been from Alaska to Hartford and everywhere in between. Many of the challenges involve ginormous variations on the great American hamburger or pizza, but Richman tackles his share of spicy foods as well, including one in which the chef had to wear a gas mask while preparing the dish, so as not to succumb to the deadly gas that was released during cooking.

My 9-year-old son and I stumbled across the show about 6 months ago. We have since become addicted, and we can watch every episode over and over again. We often wonder about Adam’s health and well-being (according to Wikipedia, "to maintain his health while indulging for the show, Richman exercises twice a day while he’s on the road. When the schedule permits, he does not eat the day before a challenge and he tries to stay "crazy hydrated" by drinking lots of water or club soda and forgoing coffee or soft drinks. After taping for a challenge is complete, Richman spends an hour or so on a treadmill.")

The two-hour "live" special Wednesday night was not as good as the regular show, because it was an hour too long. Richman did his usual visits (pre-taped) to Miami’s food institutions (a Cuban sandwich place, Joe’s Stone Crab) and then there was lots of filler during the live stuff leading up to the actual challenge.

The challenge was to eat the 48-ounce porterhouse steak at Shula’s steak house (owned by former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, who looks great) in less than 20 minutes.

Richman did it in just over 17 minutes. It actually looked like he could’ve done it in about 12 minutes, and he slowed down because they had to fill the time. I can’t even imagine all that chewing.

How about you? Have you taken a bite out of Man vs. Food?