A customer eating a "triple bypass burger" at the Heart Attack Grille in Las Vegas ... may actually need one:

A man who scarfed down a burger and fries at a Heart Attack Grill restaurant in Las Vegas over the weekend actually suffered a heart attack mid chew, authorities said.

Witnesses said the man, who was in his 40s, was grubbing on one of the grill's notorious "Triple Bypass Burgers" when his symptoms started.

Link (Photo: Matt York/AP)

Mario fans, make your own 1UP Mushroom Burger with tips from momo! at Instructables. This particular burger has a veggie mushroom patty, but you can get the same effect with meat. The spots on the bun are mozzarella cheese! Link -via Laughing Squid

If you've eaten at a Wendy's fast food joint recently, you've noticed that their restaurants have a bit more customers. Indeed, Wendy's is set to outpace Burger King to claim the number two spot in burger sales (behind the behemoth McDonald's).

What's Wendy's secret? It seems like the company has graduated from asking "where's the beef?" to "what shape should it be?":

After struggling in third place for years, Wendy’s underwent a change in ownership in 2008, after which it spent a year and a half overhauling its menu. The brand undertook extensive consumer tests on every element of its dishes, from potatoes to pickle slices (it opted for crinkle-sliced over plain). One breakthrough came when Wendy’s executives realized that customers perceived their burgers as overly processed because of their square shape. Although they’re actually fresh, their shape was giving them a bad rap among the more discerning diner Wendy’s was trying to court.

Martha C. White of TIME's Moneyland blog has the story: Link (Photo: Paul Vernon/AP)

Ah, the sacrifices that lab mice made. All that perfectly seared tiny organic burger that they have to eat. You know, for science.

Here's how researchers at Harvard University subjected mice to delicious food in order to find out the evolutionary advantage to eating cooked versus raw meat:

"It came out looking like a beautiful little mini hamburger," says Rachel Carmody, a graduate student in evolutionary biology at Harvard who cooked up the mini-burgers in Petri dishes.

This feast for furry critters was all in the name of science, of course. Carmody and her colleagues served up the mini burgers as part of an experiment to determine the differences in energy provided by cooked versus raw foods.

It turns out that cooked meat delivers more energy than the raw version — which may have given ancient humans an evolutionary advantage. But the extra energy from cooked food may now translate into unwanted pounds because nutrition labels don't reflect the fact that we process cooked food more efficiently.

Link

Now this is super-sizing! Behold the Pizza-Size Burger from Burger King of Japan:

Wide is what you get with Burger King Japan's 8.8 inch (22cm) diameter Pizza-Size Burger. Note that only the buns are extra-wide, in between are four regular Whopper-sized beef patties arranged in a four-leaf-clover pattern. The fillings and toppings are also normally sized but at least they're provided in abundance.

Link

Love White Castle burgers but hate their too-teeny-tiny booths? What's a steamed steamed-burger fan to do? (See what I did there?)

Here's what one self-described "not humongous but a big guy" White Castle fan did: he sued 'em under the Americans with Disabilities Act!

A devoted, 290-pound White Castle fan is steaming mad at the fast-food chain, which he says repeatedly broke promises to make the booths in his local eatery bigger.

All stockbroker Martin Kessman wants is a place at the table. But when the 64-year-old walked into the White Castle in Nanuet back in April 2009 for his usual No. 2 combo meal, he got an unpleasant surprise.

“They’re stationary booths,” he told The Post. “I’m not humongous, [but] I’m a big guy. I could not wedge myself in.”

Mortified and in pain from smacking his knee into one of the table’s metal supports, Kessman limped out of the restaurant, and later penned a complaint to corporate headquarters.

And how did White Castle respond?

White Castle replied with three “very condescending letters” -- and an offer that added insult to injury.

“In each letter was a coupon for three free hamburgers -- but the cheese was extra!” according to a lawsuit Kessman filed last week in Manhattan federal court.

Cheese was extra? That alone is worth a lawsuit! Link (yes, with photo of the guy)

(Photo above: Ben Britten/Wikipedia)

The Oinkster Restaurant in Eagle Rock, California recently implemented an interesting marketing ploy. Instead of traditional paper coupons, they commissioned 2nd Wind to cut wooden burger nickles out of red oak using their laser cutters. They wil get you half off a regular priced burger and can be used again and again in what’s probably the greenest coupon ever.

Link

Great food that comes to you in a giant box with wheels, complete with punny names? No wonder people love food trucks!

If you've been wanting to start your own food truck business, but couldn't come up with a witty name, this one's for you. Burnsy of Film Drunk illustrated some of their blog readers best suggestions for movie and TV-themed food truck names: Link - via That's Nerdalicious

"I plan on eating Big Macs until I die," the Fond du Lac, Wis., man said. "I have no intentions of changing. It’s my favorite food. Nothing has changed in 39 years. I look forward to it every day."

Gorske, 59, says he’s in good health and that he has the checkups to prove it. His cholesterol level is low and he was given a clean bill of health two months ago during his last physical, despite the fact that he exercises minimally.

Take that, Morgan Spurlock!

Link (warning: auto-starting video clip) | Photo: Patrick Flood/The Reporter

What’s left? How about a name that’s either crazy or so crazy it’s genius (especially since it got ‘em a lot of free publicity). Here’s the Fat Ho Burgers in Waco, Texas:

23-year-old Waco, Texas native Lakita Evans worked her way through college so that she could open her own restaurant. That’s pretty much the American dream, so why are people in the community’s feathers ruffled? Because she decided to call her restaurant "Fat Ho Burgers."

Urlesque has the video clip: Link

The Burger Baby is but one of 10 Burger-inspired designs, as compiled by Nora Vega in this nom-eriffic post over at Oddee. Hmmm… burger …. Link

Burger King has just released a new food item that will surely have purists (and perhaps normal people) seething in rage: the bastard child of the unholy mating of burger and pizza:

The New York Pizza Burger ($12.99) is a 9-and-a-half-inch wide burger made with four Whopper patties topped with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, and Tuscan pesto sauce.

Link – Thanks Larry!

Update 8/20/10 – Oops, the original posts and photos are from Me So Hungry and A Hamburger Today – Thanks Robyn!

If you think about it, “bacon burger” is kind of a coy tease. Ground beef patty with a slice or two of bacon. Come on! A real bacon burger would be one made from ground bacon – but can that be done? Or is the bacon burger simply a figment of culinary imagination?

Thankfully, we don’t have to wonder anymore. Matt Blum of GeekDad did the experiment in his Great Bacon Odyssey:

I wanted to cook the burger under the broiler, as I did with the bacon-wrapped burger last week, on a rack set over a Pyrex dish to allow the rendered fat to drain. Having read about the difficulties people making such burgers have had keeping them together, I decided to add one large egg to the food processor along with the 19 slices of bacon. I ground the bacon and the egg together, then, using my hands, pulled the mixture out and used a hamburger press to make a burger. It is possible that my hands have been greasier at some point in my life, but if so I have (fortunately) forgotten it. I was not quite prepared for the raw burger to look like pure fat, and I must admit that it didn’t look very appealing. But it was for science, so I soldiered on!

Link (with video of Matt eating the bacon burger, of course!) – via Gorilla Mask

Of course, if you love bacon, we’ve got the goods for you: NeatoShop’s Bacon Store

See it? Made by London creative brand agency Cow – via Cakehead Loves Evil

Like its name says, This is Why You’re Fat website is dedicated to chronicling the brave culinary concoctions guaranteed to give you a coronary by day’s end. I think I’ve gained a few pounds just looking at the photos, and therefore can’t wait to show my latest find: the Bacon Cheese Turtleburgers!

Details at Interwebs Randomness and Other Inspiring Tales – via This is Why You’re Fat

Some chefs have probably never heard the phrase "too much of a good thing" as they create some of the world’s most stuffed food. WomansDay takes a look at 9 stuffed-to-the-brim food creations, like this db Burger Double Truffle from db Bistro Moderne above:

This specialty sandwich, available at db Bistro Moderne in Manhattan, sells for a whopping $150—but it’s certainly something to marvel at. Stuffed inside the burger are braised short ribs along with a flavorful helping of foie gras, which is topped with 20 grams of shaved black truffles and served inside a crispy Parmesan bun.

Bon appétit! Link

Our very own Jill Harness found this and other fun burger-related items, as posted on her neat article at InventorSpot: Link