Lab analysis reveals burgers shouldn't be an everyday treat
July 15, 2010
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Amy Pataki
RESTAURANT CRITIC
No one ever claimed a fully loaded banquet burger is health food.
But compared to the biggest, gooiest hamburgers in the city, the double banquet burger at Original Motorcycle Gourmet Burgers is practically dietetic. And this is for a burger that still contains half the sodium an average male needs in a day, along with 75 per cent of the calories and 90 per cent of the fat.
“It is basically a heart attack on a plate, and these are the best numbers? Scary,” said registered dietitian Nicole Shuckett.
The Toronto Star rounded up five artery-clogging, kidney-stressing hamburgers from independent restaurants for laboratory analysis. Most exceeded the daily recommended allowance of fat and salt. And that’s before adding fries.
Many of the burgers were too big to fit into takeout containers, or mouths. In Taiwan, diners are apparently damaging their jaws because of humongous hamburgers. A dentist told The China Post problems can arise when tucking into burgers higher than eight centimetres.
With the exception of the high-end Bymark, whose $35 brie-and-truffle aioli USDA Prime burger ranked No. 3 in fat, calories and salt, the hamburgers were from restaurants where the main role of vegetables is to cover a patty.
“Okay, was anyone surprised? I’m not. If you’re on a diet, don’t eat a burger,” said Bymark chef/owner Mark McEwan.
Some even boast about unhealthiness, like The Burger Bar. Its $18 OMGTMJKM (Oh My Goodness, This Might Just Kill Me) Burger is an eight-ounce beef patty topped with chili, a fried egg, three cheeses (blue, brie and chevre), bacon and an onion ring. It comes, cheekily, on a whole-wheat bun.
“This isn’t a health food store, it’s a fast-food burger place,” said Shant Mardirosian, owner of The Burger’s Priest, where a juicy patty comes topped with cheese-stuffed, deep-fried portabello mushroom caps.
Then there’s Dangerous Dan’s Diner, which made its reputation with gut-busting fare.
Menu items are marked “not very good for your heart,” especially the Quadruple C, also known as the Colossal Colon Clogger Combo. For $24, you get a 24-ounce burger topped with a quarter pound of cheese, a quarter pound of bacon and two fried eggs, with a large shake and small poutine. It takes 20 minutes to cook the softball-size patty.
Dangerous Dan’s owner James McKinnon says about 15 people a week order it, like the eight Oakville teens who staged an eating contest there last week. Three finished the burger.
“It’s always the skinny ones,” he said.
Not surprisingly, the burger in the Quadruple C is the unhealthiest of the bunch, with 1,528 calories, 94 grams of fat and 2,272 milligrams of salt.
“Hmm, I thought it had more fat,” McKinnon said. (Dangerous Dan’s Kevorkian Burger features in this week’s The Dish by Megan Ogilvie.)
apataki@thestar.ca
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Quadruple C burger
Restaurant: Dangerous Dan’s Diner
Address: 714 Queen St. E., 416-463-7310, www.dangerousdansdiner.com
Price: $23.95 (includes small poutine and large milkshake)
Toppings: 4 oz (120 grams) each of cheese and bacon, two fried eggs
Serving size: 568 grams
Calories: 1,528
Protein: 119 grams
Fat: 94 grams
Carbohydrates: 51 grams
Sodium: 2,272 mg
83 per cent is patty
OMGTMJKM (Oh My Goodness, This Might Just Kill Me) Burger
Restaurant: The Burger Bar
Address: 319 Augusta Ave., 416-922-7423, www.theburgerbar.ca
Price: $18
Toppings: Chili, fried egg, three cheeses (blue, brie and chevre), bacon, an onion ring
Serving size: 493 grams
Calories: 1,261
Protein: 104 grams
Fat: 75 grams
Carbohydrates: 42 grams
Sodium: 2,463 mg
40 per cent is patty
Prime burger
Restaurant: Bymark
Address: 66 Wellington St. W., 416-777-1144, www.bymarkdowntown.com
Price: $34.95
Toppings: Brie de Meaux, grilled king mushrooms, truffle aioli
Serving size: 333 grams
Calories: 949
Protein: 71 grams
Fat: 62 grams
Carbohydrates: 28 grams
Sodium: 1,665 mg
61 per cent is patty
The Priest
Restaurant: The Burger’s Priest
Address: 1636 Queen St. E., 647-734-0617, www.theburgerspriest.com
Price: $9.99
Toppings: Cheese-stuffed, deep-fried portobello mushroom caps
Serving size: 321 grams
Calories: 803
Protein: 40 grams
Fat: 50 grams
Carbohydrates: 49 grams
Sodium: 1,285 mg
72 per cent is patty
Double Banquet Burger
Restaurant: Original Motorcycle Gourmet Burgers
Address: 4 Temperance St., 416-366-6464, originalmotorcycleburgers.com
Price: $11.50
Toppings: Cheddar, sugar-cured bacon, tomatoes, grilled onions
Serving size: 340 grams
Calories: 770
Protein: 54 grams
Fat: 40 grams
Carbohydrates: 48 grams
Sodium: 1,020 mg
53 per cent patty