Kenny's Burger Joint this month scored a colossal publicity coup, getting all the major media outlets in Dallas to report on the eatery's new massive $50 burger. A Hamburger Today, the nation's leading source of beef patty news, even picked up the story.
City of Ate didn't join the frenzy, partly because of our strong ethical opposition to press release-driven journalism -- and mostly because chef Kenny Bowers forgot to send us a burger.
But it turns out there's yet another reason not to get all gaga about the Frisco restaurant's 7-pound behemoth on a bun: Kenny's is two decades late to the oversized burger party.
Campo Verde in Arlington has been serving its 7-pound burger for "15 to 20 years," a staffer told me when I called to inquire.
According to the menu description, the "world's largest hamburger" is "lots of fun for parties and groups of 4-7 People! You won't believe it!"
Like the El Jefe burger at Kenny's, the Campo Verde burger comes with a one-hour challenge: Anyone who polishes off the plate in one hour or less gets the $45 burger for free. Bowers has apparently sweetened the deal, throwing in a $100 gift card for successful finishers. But he's upped the stakes by dressing his burger with French fries, chili, bacon, white queso, mayonnaise and pickled jalapenos.
At Campo Verde, the burger's served with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and cheese if you ask for it.
"We mainly get just large parties eating it," the Campo Verde staffer reports.
Predictably, the El Jefe burger's enraged health-minded eaters who've condemned the sandwich as a perversion contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic. Fine. But please, detractors: Don't forget to save some indignation for the restaurant that went there first.
