‘Heart attack’ burger lands diner in hospital

Los Angeles – In one of the more unfortunate cases of a company living up to its name, a man dining at the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas had exactly what was on the menu: a heart attack.

The diner was eating a Triple Bypass Burger – which includes 700 grams of beef and a dozen bacon slices – last weekend when he began complaining of chest pains, a television report in Las Vegas said. Paramedics quickly arrived to treat the customer, who is now recovering after being taken to hospital.

The restaurant opened in autumn last year and quickly made headlines for its fatty foods, with meals regularly featuring nearly 10,000 calories.

Servers are dressed – scantily – as ‘‘nurses’’ who take ‘‘prescriptions’’ from their ‘‘patients’’. ‘‘Patients’’ who weigh more than 160kg eat for free.

‘‘Taste worth dying for!’’ the restaurant’s website crows.

Owner ‘‘Doctor’’ Jon Basso, who does not have a medical background, said the incident was horrible.

‘‘It’s not anything to be taken lightly,’’ he said.

He said the restaurant has warnings about its bad-for-you food on its door and menu but was still a ‘‘full house’’ yesterday.

Basso blasted tourists who had mocked the customer, saying they should be ‘‘sensitive’’.

‘‘I don’t mind if people demonise me because that’s part of our shtick – we’re the bad guys of the hamburger industry,’’ Basso said.

The eatery is far from the only one that has recently revelled in culinary excess.