Giant Burger at 3760 Main Street in Springfield is throwing out a big challenge to those who love their beef.

During the month of October, participants may sign up at Giant Burger to compete in the “Five Pound Burger and Fries” contest.

For diners who eat the entire meal, it’s free. The catch? Those who don’t (or can’t) finish their dinner, pay $39.95.

To win, participants must eat five pounds of fries and a burger with two, 2 1/2 lb. beef patties.

If you take part in the contest, please post a comment and pictures here!

The original article can be viewed at http://springfield.kval.com/content/burgers

Copyright © 2009 Fisher Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Springfield, Oregon - Could you eat a 6 pound burger and 5 pounds of fries in an hour? A Springfield man tried to do just that Thursday afternoon at Giant Burger in Springfield.

Tyler Rhodes, 24, is the first person so far to attempt the Giant Burger Challenge.

If Tyler had finished, he would have got the nearly $40 burger for free.

Tyler got off to a great start, but with 11 minutes left, he threw in the napkin.

What was the hardest part? “Probably the fries,” he said.

Rhodes said he trained for three weeks by eating a lot and then nothing.

The original article can be viewed at http://www.kval.com/news/70583997.html

Copyright © 2009 Fisher Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Springfield, Oregon (KMTR) - Pull this one off and you end up on the Wall of Fame. “Wimp out,” and it’s the Wall of Shame.

Giant Burger Restaurant in Springfield is now featuring a five-pound hamburger. Anyone who can finish the burger—including the one-pound bun—plus five pounds of fries in one hour will get the $39.95 meal free.

Tyler Rhodes of Springfield was the first to try it.

He started out well, but at the half-hour mark, things didn’t look so promising. In another 15 minutes, neither did Tyler!

He finally quit with 10 minutes and about six pounds to go.

“The fries are filling,” he said, “so is the hamburger. It was a little bit… stuffing…”

More than 65 people are already signed up to take the challenge. Those brave enough to join them may sign up at Giant Burger on Main Street in Springfield.

The original article can be viewed at http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Giant-Burger-seeks-people-with-big-appetites/pKN9_DTVqEuCnwwt5WVXAQ.cspx

Copyright © 2009 Newport Television LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Giant Burger has been in Springfield since 1947. It opened as the Silver Bell, but what you see today is pretty much what you saw then, and that is the way the customers want to keep it.

Owner Brad Welt makes sure that the food and the style don’t change to much. He trusts his head manager Marilyn to keep things running smoothly and his cooks to keep making good old fashioned food.

It always amazes me how happy a place is when the staff genuinely likes their boss. It is also good for maintaining good quality food. For instance Marilyn has been at Giant Burger for 10 years and she loves working there.

The one unknown will be if when the older generation moves on will Giant Burger be able to attract new and younger people to carry on the 60 year tradition.

Brad believes creating a 5 pound burger might be the tool he needs to attract attention.

Right now the 2 pound burger is the largest on the menu and Marilyn says, “There are plenty of high school kids who can finish it.” You know what I say: Go big or go home. I think if someone can finish a 5 pound burger, fries, and a drink they should get a T-shirt saying I came, I saw, and I ate it all.

If you want to try one of the best burgers in town, skip the fast food shop, head down to Giant Burger, and enjoy a real burger with some real people.

The original article can be viewed at http://www.eugenereview.com/2009/07/at-giant-burger-size-matters/

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Review. All Rights Reserved.

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Giant Burger is a well-established burger joint in downtown Springfield, Oregon, which also sells lottery tickets and houses various slot machines. It is old school greasy, but also very tasty. As an extra, you get a colorful collection of locals as you fellow-patrons. I had been there several times before I started this blog, but had to go back for a real review.

Giant Burger advertises that it is one of the few places left that makes real burgers and that it has a selection of 20 different burgers. Its menu features all other old school favorites like curly fries, floats, shakes, etc. It further does some regular dishes, including home-made chili.

I had various burgers before and was almost always very happy (I was not impressed by the chili burger though). This time I arrived extremely hungry and decided to go all the way. So, I ordered a Western Bacon Burger (minus Swiss, plus baked jalapenos), curly fries, and the seasonal fresh strawberry shake for a total of $16.95. I know, a lot of money, but boy, was it worth it! The burger was absolutely delicious: a 1/3lb thick and juicy patty, two thick strips of bacon, two fried onion rings, baked jalapenos, and zesty bbq sauce. The only problem was eating it without having everything over my face. The curly fries were thick and perfectly fried. And then the milkshake, 16oz of ice cream, fresh strawberry and milk, mixed together in a near perfect, not too sweet, not too creamy, supershake!

VERDICT: 92/100

Giant Burger is one of those few remaining independent burger joints that survive because of sheer quality. Unfortunately, there is a hefty price to pay for it, but it is certainly worth it. Go when you are hungry, and you will leave satisfied.

The original article can be viewed at http://pigoutspots.blogspot.com/2009/05/giant-burger-springfield-or.html

Copyright © 2009 PigOutSpots. All Rights Reserved.

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A bit about the show: MEAT & POTATOES

Premieres: Friday, September 24th at 10pm

Meet Rahm Fama. Actually, Meat Rahm Fama! A chef and meat nerd originally from New Mexico, Rahm combs the country for the choicest cuts. He obsesses over meat with fellow chefs, local foodies, and passionate chowhounds across the United States, making several stops in each episode to sample their meaty fare. From mounds of meatballs in New York and chicken-fried steak in Texas to loaded gourmet hotdogs in Chicago and monster beef patties in Oregon, Rahm’s carnivorous curiosities uncover the most mouth-watering meats and the side dishes that so perfectly complete them. Rated “M” for Meat, vegetarians beware.

A very special thank you to those of you who participated in the show. Please know that we could not have done it with out your help!

For more information about the show and episode schedule please visit: http://www.foodnetwork.com/meat-potatoes/

Springfield, Oregon - When your nickname is “The Bottomless Pit,” it’s only a matter of time before your capacity to consume will be put to the ultimate test.

For 24-year-old Tyler Rhodes of Springfield, that test came Thursday afternoon at a burger joint named, appropriately enough, Giant Burger.

Rhodes was the first of more than 60 contestants who have signed up for a promotional event in which they put their mouth where their money is: Eat a five-pound hamburger and five pounds of fries, within one hour, and it’s free. Fail, and you’re out $39.95.

Rhodes, a big bear of a man, was confident. “I believe I could eat the whole thing,” he said, an hour before his date with density. “My friends are pretty much saying that I’m crazy, that I won’t be able to do it. But I’ll probably get the money back.”

The event was the brainstorm of owner Brad Welt, who said he felt the restaurant needed to live up to its name. Customers were plowing through the menu’s one- and two-pound burgers without blinking, he said.

The restaurant’s burger challenge drew a sizeable afternoon crowd, including TV cameras and other news media. Rhodes is a regular at Giant Burger and as he settled in at a table in the center of the cozy wood-paneled restaurant, the lunchtime staff and 20 or so friends and other onlookers egged him on — at times encouragingly, but also with good-natured ribbing.

“If you don’t at least get done with that first patty, you’re losing the nickname ‘Bottomless Pit,’ ” Tyler’s buddy, Sterling Shafer, called out. “We’re demoting you to ‘Pothole.’”

“It’s easy to talk smack when you’re not staring at a heart attack,” shot back Jeremy McDonald, a restaurant food supplier, laughing.

Giant Burger customers describe the place as old-fashioned and old-school, even military-friendly, and Welt allowed that his contest might rub some people the wrong way. “This is all in good fun,” he said. “We’re not trying to hurt anybody.”

Or get hurt, as the case may be. Contestants were required to sign waivers, in an effort to protect the restaurant from any legal action that could arise from the burger challenge.

Health experts, meanwhile, were wincing at news of the event, calling it another example of food wrongly used as all-you-can-eat entertainment in a county and a country with rising obesity.

In fact, there are extreme health risks from eating such a meal, said Nancy McCaffrey, a dietitian at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. The five-pound burger and five-pound fries combo carries a payload of more than 700 grams of fat alone — more than 10 times what the body needs in a single day, McCaffrey said.

“If you have a history of heart disease, a high-fat meal can constrict arteries — I’m not going to say you’re going to get a heart attack, but you could get chest pain,” McCaffrey said. “There’s a possibility of high blood pressure, diarrhea, you could be throwing up. It’s not a good idea to be eating this way.”

It’s unclear whether the ramifications of a 13,000-calorie lunch weighed on Rhodes’ mind as he dug into a burger behemoth as big as his own shaven head. To his left waited a small mountain of fries that could have sated a classroom of third-graders.

Rhodes, easy-going and well-tattooed — HATE inked on one hand and LOVE on the other — ate with the slow determination of someone putting up a wall, brick by brick.

After 22 minutes, and with neither of two, 2.5-pound hamburger patties showing much of a dent, he declared himself “almost full.” At 39 minutes, he sighed heavily and adopted the thousand-yard stare of a battle-weary soldier. “Oooohh,” Rhodes said.

“He’s slowing down,” manager Marilyn Magill said, chuckling. “I’m trying to think of a way to describe him.” She thought for a moment. “Droopy,” she decided, and laughed again.

At 47 minutes, with Rhodes’ resolve clearly flagging, the chants started up: “Go Tyler go! Go Tyler go!”

“Shovel it!” one offered. “Put your face in it!” another added. “Hell, no,” Rhodes responded.

It wasn’t to be. A minute later, Rhodes waved the white flag. “I’m done,” he said. “That’s it. I’m done. Ooooh.”

The final tally: Rhodes had eaten perhaps 1 1/2 pounds of hamburger and 1 1/2 pounds of French fries in about 50 minutes. His unsuccessful conquest would earn him a spot on the restaurant’s “Wall of Shame” — and, no doubt, a sigh of relief from dietitians and doctors everywhere.

Joining Rhodes on the Wall of Shame will be 48-year-old Brian Stenholm of Springfield, a second contestant who fared a little better Thursday evening, getting about halfway through his burger and fries. But Stenholm also left the restaurant a humbled man. His plans for the rest of the night?

“Not eating,” he said. “I’m going home and lying on the couch and digesting.”

As for Rhodes, when he called it quits, rose to his feet and patted his now-prominent belly, the restaurant erupted in applause and Magill stepped forward, enveloping him in a huge hug. “Give him a hand,” somebody yelled out.

“I don’t need a hand,” Rhodes responded. “I need a cigarette.”

The original article can be viewed at http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/updates/23362994-55/story.csp

Copyright © 2009 The Register-Guard. All Rights Reserved.

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