Physicians panel lambastes Heart Attack Grill
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine became the latest group to attack, and perhaps become a marketing foil for, the Heart Attack Grill.
On Wednesday, Susan Levin, director of nutrition education for the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group, asked Las Vegas planning director Flinn Fagg to suspend the downtown restaurant's business license immediately "in the name of public health and safety."
The letter to the city follows the reported death in the past week of a frequent diner identified as John Alleman. The Heart Attack Grill has built an image around a menu that is ultrahigh in calories and cholesterol. Health-oriented groups have knocked the practice.
Alleman's death is the second that has been publicized among the restaurant's patrons. Two others reportedly suffered health problems while eating there.
Levin proposed that the restaurant rework its menu to include choices such as baked fries and come up with a new name, such as Longevity Grill.
Owner Jon Basso, according to the company's website, has built the restaurant's reputation on "embracing and promoting an unhealthy diet of incredibly large hamburgers."
As a result, "the restaurant has found itself in a continual state of self-defense against various activist groups and branches of state government."
However, that has not always been enough. The restaurant's two other branches, in Dallas and Chandler, Ariz., closed in 2011.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
