3540-calorie chain restaurant meal wins an Xtreme Eating Award

Each year since 2007, the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) looks at the meals served in America’s chain restaurants and confers its Xtreme Eating Awards. These awards highlight the meals that are shockingly high in calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugar.

The ‘winners’ of the 2014 Xtreme Eating Awards have just been announced and as an added bonus this year’s awards will indicate the amount of physical activity needed to burn off each meal’s calories.

The Cheesecake Factory, a 150-outlet mall fixture, was once again named a ‘winner’. The chain sports numerous highly qualified Xtreme contenders, including a 2800-calorie brunch item, a 2400-calorie pasta and a 1500-calorie slice of cheesecake. But its Bruléed French Toast, a plate of custard-soaked bread, topped with powdered sugar and served with maple-butter syrup and bacon was particularly notable. This meal would require one to swim laps for seven hours to burn off its 2780 calories. It also has almost five days’ worth of saturated fat (93 g), 2230 mg of sodium (more than a day’s worth) and 24 teaspoons of (mostly) added sugar.

Other winners of the 2014 Xtreme Eating Awards include:

• The Cheesecake Factory’s Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic doesn’t sound excessive and features mushrooms, tomato, peas and caramelised onions. But cream sauce helps bring its caloric payload to 2410 calories, the calorie equivalent of a five-hour jog, as well as three days’ worth of saturated fat (63 g) and 1370 mg of sodium.
• The single unhealthiest meal CSPI found came from the 470-outlet Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. It’s a ‘Monster’-sized A.1. Peppercorn burger, Bottomless Steak Fries and Monster Salted Caramel Milkshake, which has a grand total of 3540 calories, three-and-a-half days’ saturated fat (69 g) and four days’ worth of sodium (6280 mg). CSPI estimates the dish has 38 teaspoons of added sugar. To dispose of those calories, the average person would need to walk briskly for a full 12 hours.
• The Big Slab of St Louis-Style Spareribs at Famous Dave’s yields one-and-a-half pounds of pork. Add Famous Fries, Wilbur Beans and a Corn Bread Muffin and the meal has 2770 calories, 54 g of saturated fat, 4320 mg of sodium and 14 teaspoons of sugar. Not planning on mowing the lawn for seven and a half hours hours after dinner?
• Joe’s Crab Shack attracted CSPI’s attention in April when it discovered that the chain still used artificial trans fat in its kitchens. This wasn’t one of the meals with trans fat, but The Big Hook Up platter at Joe’s is one of the highest-calorie entrées CSPI has ever found. It’s a ‘friedfoodaganza’ of something called Great Balls of Fire (“seafood and crab balls full of jalapeños and cream cheese coated in panko breadcrumbs … served with ranch”), Fish & Chips, Coconut Shrimp, Crab Stuffed Shrimp, Hushpuppies, and Coleslaw. The entire meal has 3280 calories, 50 g of saturated fat and 7610 mg of sodium. To burn off that many calories, one would need to play golf (without a cart or a caddie) for 11 straight hours.

“When French toast is ‘Bruléed’, fries are ‘bottomless’ and steaks are now garnished with not just one, but two Italian sausages, it’s clear that caloric extremism still rules the roost at many of America’s chain restaurants,” Einstein said. “Two out of three American adults are overweight or obese and one in 10 adults has diabetes, thanks in part to The Cheesecake Factory, Chevys Fresh Mex, Maggiano’s Little Italy and much of the rest of America’s chain restaurant industry.”

Some help may soon be on the way as the health care reform legislation signed in 2010 contained a requirement that chains with 20 or more outlets disclose calorie counts on menus. The menu labelling regulations are being finalised by the Food and Drug Administration and the White House.