Single Bypass Burger at The Heart Attack Grill- Las Vegas, NV

Well, it's surely made headlines since it opened back in 2005- The now famous Heart Attack Grill- equally famous for it's patron's on-site heart-attacks as it is for it's celebration of gluttony and everything that's wrong with the American diet- serving food with unhealthy proportion sizes, packed full of grease, excessive calories and saturated fat.

At the Heart Attack grill it's easy to blow through your daily recommended intake of fat, calories, sodium and carbs in just one meal. The burger's are aptly named by their effect on your heart- from the single patty "Single bypass" to the 9,983 calorie 4-patty "quadruple bypass". On my visit, owner Dr.Jon even revealed a new menu that would expand the already belly bulging burger lineup to include an 8 patty burger Octupel bypass. He even added chill reminiscent of Tommy's famous chili topped burgers in L.A (where owner John got the inspiration from) to the menu. The chili can now be topped onto burgers or their famous lard-fried "flat-liner" fries.

All patrons that enter the restaurant are required to put on a hospital robe and are referred to as "patients". The waitresses are dressed in skimpy nurse outfits and Dr.Jon walks around in a dr's outfit complete with a stethoscope.

I gave the single bypass burger a try ($7.39) with bacon (5 slices bacon for .$92) topped with American cheese, sautéed onions and tomato on a kaiser. I added chili to my burger as well. The meat was flat-top grilled to medium with good beef flavor, but a tad dry- good thing that chili added enough moisture to round things out. It was a huge, hulking task to eat this monster burger but I made it about 80% before I had to throw in the towel (or in my case half a roll of paper towels that I used to stay clean while eating).

The chili covered single bypass burger

This place really isn't about the burger because the burger is average at best- it's about the experience, the celebration of gluttony - a virtual adult fast food Disneyland located in the only place on earth where this restaurant model could survive- Las Vegas.

The Heart Attack Grill is the kind of place that you'll probably try once- in fact, you should try it once, however, unless you are bringing in your friends to share in the novelty, the burgers and food just aren't good enough to make you a repeat customer. Oh and by the way- make sure you finish your entire meal 'cause if you don't you'll be spanked- yes- I know, I have the red ass cheeks to prove it.

Aburgeraday rating: 6/10

Double Cheeseburger at Jack's- Santa Cruz, CA

Jack's is an old school burger joint located in downtown Santa Cruz that caters to locals as well as tourists that flock to the local Santa Cruz boardwalk. Located on Lincoln street, Jack's has ample outdoor seating with limited dine-in seating as well. Parking in the Jack's parking lot can be a challenge but there's plenty of parking on the side streets if needed.

Jack's Santa Cruz, CA

All Jack's burgers are char-grilled over an open grill for nice BBQ char flavor. The Double Cheeseburger ($5.35) came with mustard, tomatoes, pickles, leaf lettuce and Jack's special sauce- which is pretty damn tasty I might add. I also added grilled purple onions which added some really nice caramelized sweetness. There wasn't anything really special about the beef patty, and, if it were juicer, could have made this burger spectacular, but it wasn't- the patty was still moist, semi-crumbly, had good seasoning, but not much else to say after that. The American cheese was thick and melty and acted as a good burger binder. The whole burger came assembled on a sesame seed topped kaiser roll which stood up right to the last bite even as it absorbed all of the accumulated condiment/juice mixture. At $5.35, the burger is a decent value for what you get, and when all is said and done, tastes pretty darn good too.
If you are ever in the Santa Cruz area- whether it's a lazy weekend afternoon, or for a quick lunchtime bite- I'd recommend that you give Jack's a try.

The Double Cheeseburger at Jack's

Aburgeraday rating: 6/10

Double Super Burger at John's Char-Burger, Livermore, CA

John's is tucked away between a used car lot and a coin-op car wash and serves up legit old-fashioned char-grilled burgers- At John's the ingredients are fresh, the burgers are juicy and walking through the doors make you feel like you've stepped back in time.

John's Char-Burger

The Double Super Burger ($7.45) is just one of the many burger creations on the menu. The two charbroiled patties (2/3lbs) were extremely moist and left a puddle in the plate as I ate it. The charring brought out just enough BBQ smokiness and the 2 slices of American coated the burger like a yellow melty jacket. A nicely toasted bun, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and mayo topped it all off. A great burger that will satisfy any meat craving- I recommend that you should try John's out!

The Double Super at John's Char-burger

Aburgeraday rating- 7/10

Double Cheeseburger at Mission Burger, Fremont, CA

Today's quest for burger perfection took me to Mission Burger in the Mission district of Fremont, CA. Located in a strip mall beside a used car lot and sharing a building with a pretty decent Mexican place, you'll easily miss this place unless you are looking for it.

Mission Burger

The menu consists of hotdogs, sausage on a bun, burgers and fries- all with very reasonable pricing. Please note that they don't take credit cards (not sure about debit cards) and they offer outdoor seating only so make sure to plan around the weather.

Double Cheeseburger at Mission Burger

I ordered the Double Cheeseburger ($5.29) and it came cooked to medium well topped with american and what looked to be white american cheese served on a toasted hoagie roll- which made it more like a cheeseburger sub sandwich than your typical round burger- a different approach for sure. The beef patties were fairly juicy with good bbq flavor from being char-grilled over an open flame. Good beef flavor, a bit of crumble and  lettuce, onion, tomato, mustard mayo to balance it all out- Not bad at all and worth a trip if you are in the area.

Aburgeraday rating- 6/10

Double Charburger at The Habit Burgers, San Mateo, CA

The Habit burger grill is a small chain of upscale burger restaurants located throughout California with a few locations in Arizona. Their motto is "there's no substitute for quality" and the restaurant seems to live up to these expectations. The San Mateo location is pristine and a tad bit clinical feeling. When you walk into the store you sense that you are in a high end burger joint...it's spotless and I'm sure that it would have that "new car smell"...if it were a car. You'd expect that the prices would reflect this impression, but it's the exact opposite. The burgers are really affordable and you get your money's worth and more.

The Habit Burger Grill

Habit burgers are always fresh, never frozen and char-grilled in an open kitchen in full view of the cash register. That's good if you are one of those paranoid "germ-o-fobes" types that needs to see how your food is handled so you can eat without having a panic attack.

The Double Charburger at the Habit

The menu is simple- consisting of burgers, sandwiches, salads, fries, rings and shakes. I went for the the double charburger that includes 2 char-grilled beef patties, 2 slices of cheese, fried onions, lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo- a real bargain at ($3.85) based by today's fast food standards.

The double charburger was excellent. You could taste how the char-grilling permeated the meat with that smoky bbq taste you can only get over a bbq grill. The 2 slices of cheese complemented the juicy and crumbly beef patties- cooked to a perfect medium. Adequate seasoning, fresh toppings, and most importantly- a toasted fresh bun put it all together.

The habit burgers are affordable, have excellent quality and will keep you coming back for more. I highly recommend that you search out a location and try one soon.

Aburgeraday rating- 7/10

Cheeseburger at Jeffrey's Burgers, Menlo Park, CA

As a carnivore, a meat craving can occur anytime, anywhere. These cravings often come unannounced and sometimes in the most inopportune times, like at 8AM in the morning on a Sunday when everything is closed or when the only thing available is breakfast, or while sitting in a busy meeting at work. Luckily for me, my latest craving happened on a weekday at work-  It was 10AM, lunch-time was nearing, my stomach was grumbling- I needed to act...so I sent a quick email to some coworkers and assembled a posse in search of a nearby burger joint. Since we were on the clock I did a local Yelp search which brought us to Jefferey's Hamburgers in Menlo Park.

Jeffrey's Hamburgers

Jeffrey's burgers are USDA choice Angus beef- ground fresh daily- made to order and flat-top grilled to perfection- ask for medium-rare and you get it that way. Service is also friendly and efficient with at least 3 register areas waiting to take your order when you arrive. Choose from a fairly extensive menu that consists of sandwiches, fish and chips, hot dogs- what look to be some good salads (especially Jefferey's signature salad), burgers and made to order milkshakes.

The Cheeseburger at Jeffrey's

I ordered a cheeseburger ($5.59) medium rare. Burgers are delivered "naked" to your table (unless you order a specialty burger like the pineapple teriyaki) where you proceed to the condiment bar to dress them up as you like- I added mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles and relish. The bun was toasted nicely and was fresh. I was impressed by the thickness of the American cheese on the burger- it seemed to be nearly double what I'm used to. It had great melt and held the semi-crumbly beef patty nicely after each bite. The burger was cooked perfectly medium-rare- as ordered, and extremely juicy. Good seasoning, nice outer crunch on the patty with moist juicy inside. Although the burger was excellent, I kinda wish that Jeffrey's offered some sort of burger sauce. I really think that would take their burgers to the next level, however, the mayo mustard and ketchup do a fine job and still made this a burger that I will be coming back for.- Jeffrey's makes great quality made to order burgers and has enough on the menu to please kids, vegetarians and carnivores alike. If you are every nearby, I'd recommend that you drop in and give it a try.

Aburgeraday rating- 7/10

Cheeseburger at Giant Burgers, Union City, CA

Questionable location in a shady strip mall- check
Aging sign that reads 1/3Lb. Giant Burger at entrance- check
Dining area mysteriously empty during a weekday lunch hour- check
Unappetizing fresh meat stacked in kitchen prep area- check
A Cheeseburger from Giant burger...NOT priceless

Giant Burgers

I don't have much to say that's positive about Giant burger, so let's just get to the point. I ordered the Giant Cheeseburger ($3.80). It came with a single patty cooked to well done, that was dry, dense and flavorless. Topped with melted cheese, very powerful onion (may have been cooking onion, but definitely not sweet onion), lettuce, tomato and mayo. The bun was pulled from an open bag within reach of the cash register. Toasting it on the flat-top saved it, but it couldn't save the burger- I left a third of it on the plate and headed out. Not worth the trip, nor worth the effort to do a comprehensive review.

The Giant Cheeseburger at Giant Burgers

Aburgeraday rating: 4/10