Behold the Whatafarm burger, which according to alanbeam.net, via about.blank is "a burger ordered from the Whataburger chain and includes chicken, egg, cheese and bacon. 2 parts cow, 2 parts chicken, 1 part pig."

I'm all for the orgiastic multi-species chow down, what with my penchant for Kentucky burgoo (2 formats of cow -- old and young, lamb, pig, and chicken) and applaud the orderers for their gastronomic gumption. If I were being all harrumphy about it, I could note that the menu offers pig in sausage form and a fish filet as well and they opted for neither, but hey - Michelangelo didn't knock out the Sistine Chapel on his first jaunt up the scaffolding.

We salute you with all hooves, claws and trotters up!

[Via about:blank]

Chances are, if you didn't make reservations last year for Valentine's Day this year, you might be out of luck, unless of course, you don't mind sitting across a table covered with a white tablecloth, candles, roses and...tiny square hamburgers?

White Castle is having their annual Valentine's Day celebration on Thursday February 14, 2008 at their restaurants around the country. But you can't just saunter in during the event, which lasts from 5 - 9 PM. Reservations are required. Check the White Castle website for locations and to make reservations.

We already know that Chipotle, the fast food Mexican chain that was in the same fresh and fast league as Baja Fresh and La Salsa, went public a few months ago. Don't know what happened since then, but McDonald's one of Chipotle's largest investors with a 69% stake, has announced its plans to sell five million more shares of its stock and be completely Chipotle-free by the end of the year.

 

McDonald's plans to use the funds to buy backs its own stock.

My hopes for a Grilled ChickenMcNugget quesadilla have been dashed.

Are you the next Ronald McDonald?!?!

Ok, so it's not really a clown casting call. McDonald's has put out a global casting call for the new faces to adorn their packages that started yesterday, and will end May 31, 2006. The casting call is open to anyone and everyone, and simply requires candidates to upload a digital picture of themselves and submit a story in 100 words or less about what they love - anything. Their website doesn't even specify that the story has to be about why a person loves McDonald's. I wonder if the person even has to eat McDonald's.

The photo shoot will be in August in London for the lucky "winner."

Watching UCLA stomp all over LSU tonight, I noticed that there were quite a few commercials for McDonald's. Now I'm quite certain that these commercials run fairly often, but my eyes and brain have somehow become numb to them. However, tonight, I actually took notice because I tried to think about the last time I went to McDonald's. Furthermore, I started to think about some other interesting questions regarding America's McClownBurger: what is the average length of time since someone has eaten at McDonald's? Would it be safe to say that, across the population, on average, it's been 24 hours?

I thought about it because I proudly thought to myself, "It has been a LONG time since I've eaten at McDonald's." In fact, I don't even remember the last time I let a Chicken McNugget pass my lips. Then I realized I was totally wrong. Just a few months ago, I was forced to stop at a McDonald's in the wee hours of the morning for coffee, long before any of the other places likes Peet's or Coffee Bean in my area were open.

Scary. I've been to McDonald's as recently as four months ago. (My pit stop at the mega McDonald's in Chicago doesn't really count.)

Just when I thought there wasn't enough room for yet another Mexican fast food place, Chipotle opened up in my neighborhood right alongside Taco Bell (which is nasty, but the original), Del Taco, El Pollo Loco, Baja Fresh, La Salsa, Rubio's, and Wahoo's.

But Chipotle didn't just blend in with the lot of them. They had a twist. Chipotle went beyond Baja Fresh's menu of no microwave ovens nor can openers, and served a very simple menu, with ingredients in front of you, sort of like a hybrid of In n Out's minimalistic menu and Subway sandwich artistry before your eyes. I went a Chipotle kick for about six months, but got bored a little with a rather narrow menu.

Now, the business, which launched in 1993, has just gone public, and the founder, Steve Ells, has found himself worth $44 million (share prices doubled on IPO day). Ells originally thought the fast-food burrito place would be the "cash cow" to fund his dream of opening a high-end restaurant after studying at the CIA and cooking at Stars in San Francisco. Ha. He could probably buy a restaurant or a half-dozen now.

Who knew a little dried pepper could be worth $44 million?