Forget Godzilla. Beginning Thursday, Burger King fans in Japan can get a mega-sized Whopper.

Microsoft is teaming up with Burger King to release the Windows 7 Whopper, our sister site Engadget reports. The burger features lucky-number-seven stacked beef patties and stands 5-inches tall.

Keeping with the seven theme, the sandwich will sell at 777 yen (or approximately $8.50) to the first 30 customers and will be available for seven days. For customer No. 31 and beyond, the tower-o-meat will sell for 1,450 yen -- almost double the promotional cost.

[Via Engadget]

Pat LaFrieda. Photo: Nick Solares.

Haute Burger. The idea seems silly of a food that was once so simple. (Grind meat. Form patty. Grill. Dress. Eat.)

That's no longer the case. Proprietary patties are big business, with big money to be earned in creating a mouth-watering blend of ground cow. A masterful mix could earn a chef the coveted crown of Burger King at one of growing number of cook-offs, such as the Feedbag's first annual cook-off in Summit, N.J., last weekend.

In New York, when a chef wants a custom burger, he often turns to third-generation meatman Pat La Frieda, whose family has been making burgers for nearly a century. He and his staff spend up to two months creating the right mix of meat for a chef.

"For the Shake Shack we made almost 30 different blends," La Frieda told us. "For Minetta Tavern's Black Label Burger, it was probably just as many. We tried different styles of meat, different weights. It was a process. I was eating burgers everyday."

We caught up with LaFrieda to get the juice on his family, the growing list of big name chefs trafficking in burgers and his decision this month to finally make three types of patties available to home cooks through Fresh Direct.

Corn relish. Photo: bookgrl/ Flickr.

As summer kicks into high gear, roadside stands and greenmarkets are bustling with fresh produce.

Fresh herbs, cut just that morning, perfume the air: sultry thyme, sprightly parsley and rosemary for remembrance. Sweet onions tumble out of bushel baskets and into burlap bags. Piles of peppers fight for your attention in red, green, orange, yellow and even black. And who can resist fresh ears of satiny corn?

As you lug all of your fresh produce home, don't worry -- as always, we've got your back. Beyond the jump is an original recipe to use that corn, those peppers and those onions to make a quick, fresh corn relish.

This relish has a Southwestern twang, but it can accompany virtually anything coming off of your grill for Fourth of July barbecues, from juicy burgers and seared steaks to perfectly smoked chicken. And if the summer corn is too irresistible to resist buying a bushel, you can double the recipe and send some home with your guests.

SoCal Burger. Photo: Yogma/Flickr

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• Drinks as fashion statements? Click here for a list of drinks and the wedding colors they match.

• Artificial sweeteners aren't for diet products anymore. The Times outlines the ins and outs of sweeteners, and how they're not only entering our cooking but are also ripe for mixing with regular sugar.
• Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson talks about his vegan lifestyle and how sometimes he slips (but only to be polite).
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• The Times investigates New York's burger scene, from wagyu, to a tasty side of french fries -- Flip, Black Iron Burger, and City Burger.
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• A comforting recipe for Roasted Pepper Tacos with Cream -- "soulful, easy and deeply flavorful."
• Bouley Market is on its way to getting a cheese room, and gears up to sell restaurant-quality vegetables.
• In case you don't have enough gadgets, King Arthur Flour and Crate and Barrel offer shiny new products.

On Tuesday, Burger King opened its first "Whopper Bar" at Universal CityWalk, an entertainment complex in Orlando, Florida. A stand-alone mini-restaurant, it is the first in what the company's president hopes will ultimately be 300-500 burger stands.

Russ Klein, Burger King's president for global marketing, strategy and innovation, refers to the concept as "Pimp my burger." As with the popular television show Pimp My Ride, Whopper Bars will enable customers to personalize a mass-produced product. Although the outlets will offer a "Bar Favorites" menu, with items like the Bourbon Whopper and Pepper Bacon Steakhouse XT, the highlight of the concept lies in its interactive nature. As in a Subway restaurant, customers will be able to watch their sandwiches being prepared and direct employees on which of the 22 topping choices to place on their burgers.

The small size of the bars, combined with their sleek red, black, and gray color scheme, is designed to make them attractive for sophisticated, upscale places, where space is at a premium. Future stands will be situated in cruise ships, stadiums, casinos, and similar places.

While I'm trying to avoid fast food these days, I may have to make an exception when the Whopper bar comes to town...there's something about that bourbon Whopper that seems to demand my attention!

Of all the trompe l'oeil (French for "trick the eye") cupcakes we've seen on Slashfood - toasted ravioli cupcake, ice cream cone cupcakes, caramel apple cupcakes - these mini-burgers, or "sliders," may just be my favorite. The buns are vanilla cupcakes, the burgers are bits of chocolate cupcake, lettuce is shredded coconut, and ketchup and mustard are red and yellow icing.

These come from Smiley's Sweets and Creations, via Tastespotting. I'm thinking these definately have a place on my upcoming March Madness menu...

If you've been searching for a fresh reason to cut back on your meat consumption, look no further. According to the National Restaurant Association, beef prices have risen almost 20% since August 2007 and are poised to go up another 5% to 8% over the next year. Part of this inflation is due to increases in the price of feed, although the cost of gas has also made it much more expensive to transport beef to markets. Regardless, this might be a good time to dust off some of your favorite tofu recipes.

Wendy's, which has raised the price of its quarter pound burger by 4-8 cents in the past year, will probably be joined by McDonald's in its efforts to deal with meat inflation. The ultimate fast food joint is contemplating either raising prices on its dollar menu or changing the items that it offers.

The great meat shortage of the 1970's, which also resulted in price inflation, arguably led to America's culinary renaissance and the increased popularity of pasta, tacos, and other foods that didn't rely heavily on meat. One can only wonder what this new meat inflation will lead to!

We've mentioned it a couple of times before, in our review of GQ's Best Hamburgers and our Ten Best Burgers in NYC, but it's time to take a proper look. It's the Soup Nazi of burger joints, it's a best kept secret in New York City: it's The Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien.

Located at 118 West 57th Street, Le Parker Meridien is one of those hotels that epitomizes New York class. It's where you can get a $1,000 omelette, where guests on Regis and Kelly are kept, and it's a $499.00 minimum if you want to sleep there tonight.

Upon entrance, one is immediately struck by the spacious marble lobby, accentuated with giant mirrors. One corner appears to be under construction. Like, there's this large, velvety tarp hiding something. A curious person might try to peer down the little hallway which appears to lead to an employee's only area next to the big tarp. That curious person would see this neon sign.

Saturday was the 13th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, so I decided to celebrate by visiting a Malaysian burger shack. And I didn't need to hop on a plane to do it either. Thanks to Dave Cook of Eating in Translation I learned of Bazaar Ramadhan just hours before the event kicked off. It was held in the Banquet Hall of the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations. There was all manner of Malaysian home cooking on offer, including several varieties of the famous rice dish, nasi lemak. In addition to the traditional accompaniments of salty dried fish, peanuts, cucumber and hard-boiled egg I got some sambal sotong, a dark black mess of squid that had been cooked in the pungent Malaysian paste, sambal. It was good, but as you've no doubt guessed by now the food that excited me most was Malaysian hamburgers.

I first heard of Malaysian hamburgers from my friend Zak Pelaccio whose restaurant Fatty Crab slings some wonderfully juicy and well-spiced Malaysian-inflected sliders. He'd always told me they were inspired by the Ramly Burger, a traditional Malaysian street food. Until I saw this video detailing the construction of "The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia," I had no idea what a Ramly Burger was. Apparently it involves grilling an egg in a pool of margarine dropping a slice of cheese on top of the egg and enfolding a patty inside.

When I approached the cheerful group of kids working the Burger Shack stall my heart skipped a beat as I saw copious amounts of margarine being spread on to whole-wheat buns that were being griddled alongside beef patties and eggs in ring molds. "Ramly burger?," I asked. There was no response but the kid in the blue shirt kept calling out, "Get your genuine Malaysian fast food right here."

After a number of months of hemming and hawing, I finally bit the bullet and joined an organic home-delivery fruit and produce service. It's awesome, and completely worth it. However, it means that I have to keep on top of my cooking. With this week's box scheduled to arrive this afternoon, I needed to clear out the remaining pieces of last week's score. That meant finding a use for some broccoli.

Seeing that I was also craving one of my super-delicious elk burgers, I decide to pair the two. I somehow knife-wrestled a patty from the frozen pile without losing a finger, and then grabbed the green stuff. The broccoli was fried until soft, and then set on the cheeseburger with some Kozlik's blonde mustard (so good), tomato, and mayonnaise. Teamed with some fries seasoned with ground anardana (pomegranate), smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and this was the best burger and fries that I've had in eons.

What's your favorite unlikely burger topping?

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• Restaurant Review: The Bread Bar -- not bread, but "very nearly the best Indian food I've encountered in Canada" according to reviewer Chris Nuttall-Smith.
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• The woes of finding a good burger.

Starting this Thursday Burger King is extending hours at its U.S. locations into the wee hours, specifically 2 a.m. or later. Don't get too excited night owls; the late-night munchies friendly sked only runs from Thursday to Saturday. It makes me wonder whether BK's looking to compete with White Castle, long the late-night go-to meal for drunks and stoners alike. I can't remember the last time I ate at a Burger King. Sadly, I can remember the last time I ate at a White Castle.

Folks who are creeped out by the plastic-faced King will be glad to know that he's not the point man for this campaign. BK has appointed Sean "Diddy" Combs as its new late-night ambassador. I don't watch much television these days, but according to the press release the first TV spot, "Diddy's Way," has begun airing. I wonder if the commercial features an urban-contemporary take on the Burger King song. One thing's for sure. Since it's directed by Spike Lee, the content has got to better than the stuff on Diddy's BK-sponsored Youtube channel.

Grilling and the summer season go hand-in-hand. So it's only natural that, once Memorial Day arrives, you break out the grill and the coals and the burgers (or, if you're me, the latter is of the faux variety).

But what if you're not too keen on that lighter fluid/coal taste on your food, and you don't want to invest in a gas grill? No problem - get yourself a Baja BBQ Firepack from Mike and Maaike. It's a great eco alternative to your typical grills, (46,200 tons of lighter fluid are sold each year, and they emit 14,500 tons of VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds, which can deplete the ozone layer and are generally unhealthy for our lungs).

So, how does the Baja BBQ work? Simple: Light the chemical-free, 100% recycled and biodegradable paper pulp container that contains 2 pounds of charcoal. It burns down on its own and after 15-20 minutes, you'll have a pile of charcoal that will perfectly grill your meat, veggies, or dessert without any of the added chemicals or gross lighter fluid taste.

via [joshspear]