How to Make the Perfect Burger

Sadly, it's not as exciting as it sounds

(NEWSER) - Just in case KFC’s Double Down isn’t sufficiently artery-clogging for you, Carl’s Jr. has the solution: A footlong cheeseburger. Creatively dubbed the “Footlong Cheeseburger,” the $4 sandwich is being tested in at least one California restaurant, the Orange County Register reports. The good news: The sandwich actually sticks out of the to-go bag. The bad news: Rather than crafting an actual footlong burger, Carl's Jr. employs three normal-size patties. More»

Skip the mundane (ketchup, lettuce) and the overly fancy (brie, Kobe)

(NEWSER) - Kevin Pang sent six months eating cheeseburgers, and he's sharing his hard-earned expertise with his fellow meat-eaters. From the Chicago Tribune:

• Cheese: Just say no to feta, bleu, or brie.
• Condiments: Skip the ketchup and mustard; head directly for the mayo.
• Bun: Yes, there is a taste difference between toasted and untoasted. Opt for toasted, preferably buttered.

From onion blossoms to overhyped chefs, these things need to go away

(NEWSER) - Asked to name the decade's worst dining trends, chefs and other food experts couldn't shut up. There were too many (including "mache, water sommeliers, organ-meat entrees, unisex bathrooms, bacon tattoos on chefs, over-flaunted kitchen burns, chefs tables") for Christopher Borrelli to list them all, but he hits the top 10 in the Chicago Tribune:

• Fried onion blossoms: Too sweaty, too greasy, too little onion, and too much fried stuff.
• The $40 entree: When your neighborhood bistro has hit these heights, it's time to say enough is enough.

Calorie counts are a bummer, and unisex bathrooms are embarrassing

(NEWSER) - Why must everything, from burgers to pizza to Vietnamese street sandwiches, have a high-end gourmet version? Those three things should die, along with 9 other food trends that bug Esquire:

1. Faux speakeasies: spots with no phone number, sign
2. "Farm to table": idea is fine, but the expression must die
3. Unisex bathrooms

Physicians group wants president to stop unhealthy photo ops

(NEWSER) - Part of being president is being photographed chowing down on burgers and hot dogs, but a group of DC doctors thinks President Obama needs to put a stop to the practice. “The White House would never set up a photo op of a president with a cigarette, so why show him eating foods that cause cancer?” says a director at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. More»