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The sign for Heart Attack Grill is shown at Neonopolis in Downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012.
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 | 6:45 p.m.
A Washington, D.C.-based anti-meat advocacy group is asking Las Vegas authorities to close the Heart Attack Grill after the restaurant's unofficial spokesman died of a heart attack.
Officials for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said Wednesday they sent a letter the Las Vegas Department of Planning asking it to shut down the famously unhealthy restaurant to prevent another death.
Susan Levin, the group's director of nutrition education, suggested that the diner could revamp its menu and reopen under another name, perhaps, "Better for You Burger."
The death of 52-year-old John Alleman, the restaurant's unofficial mascot, made national headlines this week. In 2011, another unofficial spokesman, a 575-pound man named Blair River, died at age 29.
After that death, the committee asked the restaurant to "declare moral bankruptcy" and close.
What a bunch of self-righteous busybodies.
"A Washington, D.C.-based anti-meat advocacy group is asking Las Vegas authorities to close the Heart Attack Grill..."
We already have way too much meddling from Washington, D.C. I strolled past the HA Grill recently. Plenty of warnings on its many posters outside. Assuming its duly licensed, Las Vegas authorities should tell anti-meat to mind their own business.
"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. . .they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves." -- T.S. Eliot
I'm a proud liberal, but asking for a restaurant to be closed because you don't like what they serve or think its unhealthy is absurd.
I hear heroin and crack are very enjoyable too, and I don't care who says they're bad for me. I'm going to do as much as I like even if it kills me. Now pass me my Heart Attack burger.
I live in Vegas and have for 27 years. This restaurant should have never opened. They cater to people that are obese and get to eat for free if they weigh over 350. That is a really great way to kill someone, by giving them an incentive and promoting bad health and eating habits. There have been a couple of fatalities now, and quite a few patrons have been sent to the Emergency Room. I hope they close this place down. Fremont St has enough restaurants including a brand new Denny's that opened in the front of the Neonopolis. They need to shut it down now before someone else dies.
All doctors should be executed.
It's the only way to be sure.
Why don't these East Coast busybodies try to just eliminate LAS VEGAS altogether, what with its smoking, and gambling, and liquor, and sex?! Oh, wait, they already tried?
Get a life, Washington. And let people live (and die) exactly how they like. "Ain't nobody's business if I do..."
dixielily, who are you to tell people what they should or shouldn't eat or what restaurants should be allowed to open? You really think someone eating some crappy food every now and then is causing these heart attacks? Only an idiot would think a restaurant is causing heart attacks. Hell the first guy was over 500 pounds, I think everyone saw that coming.
Grandstanding by a militant-type group, who like many others, wants to push a narrow agenda. There's not any great public outcry to close McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Jr.'s, Pizza Hut, Domino's, or Pappa John's. How many more millions of people eat at those places each day?
I'm a proud liberal, too. And like most proud liberals we believe in personal responsibility. My choice is to gauge myself at the seafood buffet. But it's not a lifestyle for me...it's a treat. The restaurant stays open as far as I'm concerned. Liberals make choices. It's conservatives who tell others how to live their lives from recent history.
Should Coca Cola go out of business also since a woman who chose to drink mass quantities of Coke died? GEEZ! Uh, this is America, right? People are free to choose what they want to consume, right? BTW, Stuart, you are incorrect about liberals vs. conservatives. The latter do not tell others how to live - where did you come up with that?
A Washington DC group is telling us what restaurants we should have in Las Vegas?
What business is it of theirs?
ObamaVille.
This is still a free country and if patrons want to go to this place that is their absolute right to do so. The last thing we need is some self righteous group telling us what to eat and where to eat. Let these people stay in Washington,DC where this kind of attitude is encouraged.
Hey Stuart there's so many things wrong with your Liberal statement I don't know where to start. Can't say whether " And like most proud liberals we believe in personal responsibility." OR "Liberals make choices. It's conservatives who tell others how to live their lives from recent history." is more bs.
Leave the Heart Attack Grill open!. It'll probably raise awareness more than any articles written by doctors in medical journals.
I've never been to the Heart Attack Grill. However, this political correctness of challenging everyone's rights is getting a little tiresome.
Tell the Washington D.C. nutcases where they can put their next burger.
Let it stay open. If you are stupid enough to eat there, you deserve what happens to you.
Obama was voted back in, so complete goverment control of our way of life should come as no surprise to anyone..
I admit it! I was wrong! The moment I read the headline, I was anticipating that all of you power hungry leftists would have a field day trying to impose your will on folks. I admit it! I was wrong and am happy to be so. Not one "trusted" comment in favor of the nutcases who call themselves the "Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine." There are worse things then eating food that "clogs" your veins and one of them is losing your freedom to do so to "goody-two-shoes" like them!
Oh leave us alone you self-righteous bores. If you don't like the restaurant don't eat there, and definitely don't tell me what to eat, drink or how to live my life. Yes, I have eaten there. A small burger, it was delicious. Tourists, at least the ones I have taken there, really enjoy it. The Heart Attack Grill is a fun place to go. At least you know what you are eating, not like some of the fast food establishments there are around.
@summerof69 you have serious issues that you should have addressed. I didn't vote for or like Obama but I am so tired of the clueless louts who equate everything in their measley existence as his fault or the governments fault! The idiots oops "Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine" should mind their own business and butt-out!
I don't see the government mentioned in this article. The calls are from private organizations. Nor is there any indication Obama, or his administration cares whether Las Vegas tourists eat themselves to death. Nor is there any indication that the members of these organizations live in the East: just that their HQ is in DC just like the NRA.
Sadly, our city has become a Mecca for those who are large can eat until they burst. At least something lives up to the hype. But just as a bar cannot serve aa drunk, perhaps this place should stop serving after a ton or two of its own volition.
I'm confident that this effort won't succeed, but I would be extremely troubled if it did. Where do you stop?
Once everyone is REQUIRED to have insurance, then everyone will be REQUIRED to have health tests.
Your higher taxes will then have a deduction based on your health score.
Once we have single payer, communities' health compliance can be controlled with the allocation of federal funds. The better the health of a community is judged to be, the more money they will receive.
Someday, Washington will close the Heart Attack Grill.
What is important here is that these people have money and the media pays attention to them.
What I don't get is how any business owner flaunts that their product gives people heart attacks. He knows what he's doing. Telling people who weigh over 350 lbs. to eat for free is like telling an alcoholic free drinks and kill their liver or die of alcohol poisoning. He's doing this to drum up business even if it kills his customers and obviously doesn't care. The guy used to be a nutritionist! So I'm not saying a patron shouldn't be allowed to go there or shut him down. It's just a crappy way for him to do business.
While I've never patronized this establishment, and never will, and think it's disgusting that they capitalize on people's addiction to unhealthy food, no one is making anyone eat there. If a 400 lb fattie wants to stuff his face with a fat, calorie, sodium and cholesterol laden gut bomb that's their choice, and they should have that choice.
Too bad those of us who take care of ourselves, eat healthy and exercise to maintain our health have to pay for their excesses in higher health insurance premiums.
If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one. If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't` eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy. If a liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.
If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
If a person of color is conservative, they see themselves as independently successful. Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.
If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.
If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church. A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)
If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.
If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed. If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.
<<Obama was voted back in, so complete goverment control of our way of life should come as no surprise to anyone..>>
@summerof69: Can't you read? Guess not. What an assinine statement.
If a person already weights over 300lbs, he/she already is destined for a fatal heart attack whether they dine at this joint or go eat sea food from a buffet.
<<Too bad those of us who take care of ourselves, eat healthy and exercise to maintain our health have to pay for their excesses in higher health insurance premiums>>
And it will only get worse in the next 10-20 years when all the obese kids hit their teens with a multitude of diseases brought on by them being fat and eating unhealthy diets.
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Really? Why don't I see this outrage toward the sex trade?! Why don't we close the casinos too, because they cause people to go into debt. Good Grief. Critics GO AWAY.
Comment removed by moderator. Refers to removed comment.
Det_Munch please list any articles or links that supports your theory that anyone over 300lbs. will have a heart attack. For years I weighed 305lbs. Trained 6 days a week. Did cardio for at least an hour along with weight lifting. My diet some days would exceed 8000 calories. I'm now 56, still train and weigh about 275. Haven't had a problem yet. SOOOooo please send links.
hmmm. I think this time I have to steal one from the NRA! Burgers don't kill people, stupid people that eat themselves to death kill people!
Eat right. Exercise. Die anyway.
Get over it.
In this day and age it is a rare occasion to find a product that actually works as advertised.
ridiculos to close this place we already have too many people telling us what to eat and not to eat with bloomberg banning 16 ounce sodas and mrs. obama telling kids they cant have bake sales in schools
Dear Susan Levin, M.S., R.D
Perhaps when approaching someone with unsolicited advice or expertise you have some common courtesy and politeness, it may make the dish you're serving more palatable and the person more receptive to your message they may even see it like a big dish of comfort food rather than some bland chickpeas smashed on flat bread. I understand you're concerned about humans consuming large doses of fat and the glorification of this behavior, but you will not be effective in evoking change just by having four letters on the back side of your name. If something prevents you from practicing good bed side manner perhaps you should take on bigger fish like the Discovery Channel with their shameless "US of bacon" or the Travel Channel with "Man Vs Food" but if you insist on going after small business try a little natural honey you might find yourself more regular.
Mr. Alleman's lifestyle, not the Heart Attack Grill is responsible for his death. The Grill does not misrepresent itself in any way, hence the name.
I'm with Governor Chris on this. My pulse is 60. Body temp a little below normal. LOW cholesterol with high trigs and HDL. I'm no longer a skinny kid but I'm not as plump as my mother, grandmother..... I am so SICK AND TIRED of M.D.'s telling me to lose weight before they've seen my blood chemistry. Last time I was in, the nurse said something about lab staff impressed with chemistry and they didn't know that I've got the post-50 figure. I don't do marathons but I move about some. I've always walked a bit. Time for medical "arts" to figure out that some of HAVE TO weigh more than the height/weight charts--otherwise we're constantly hungry. I've even heard of a recent study that says heavier people live longer than "normals." OK so the study didn't look at morbidly obese. So maybe the charts are off some OR maybe some dna is different.
Just like the gun owners who are against gun control until it's their child who's slaughtered, the Heart Attack Grill fatties will greedily take medicaid/medicare after they've eaten themselves into a coronary disability. What a bunch of two-faced hypocrites these conservatives are. It's screw the gov't until they need help and then it's gimme gimme.
Heart disease is the leading cause of American deaths -- possibly one of the most preferred means of death (hence its popularity) when considering alternatives such as "responsible" medicine which offers prolonged agonizing internal organ deterioration/failure to precede death.
Life is short -- everyone dies -- too much of anything isn't good -- enjoy.
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Ratkinson says:Just like the gun owners who are against gun control until it's their child who's slaughtered, the Heart Attack Grill fatties will greedily take medicaid/medicare after they've eaten themselves into a coronary disability. What a bunch of two-faced hypocrites these conservatives are. It's screw the gov't until they need help and then it's gimme gimme.
Read above many Liberal posters agree that this organization needs to mind their own business. As far as the guys weight, he was 29 years old and 180lbs. So much for you doing the minimal reading on this story.
No restaurant promises Eternal Life with their meals. Organizations that make those claims offer more of a Paleo Diet then grease, cheese and leaf on a sesame seed bun.
When visiting downtown Boston, on the island, stop in at Durgin-Park. They have a large selection of fantastic prime rib dishes served at picnic tables and have been open as a restaurant since 1827. While that infers that they have an abiding business plan and a very loyal customer base, over 99% of their previous clientele are dead, but not because of the meals.
Another study group passing around their Ideas. This person did not die because he ate at the Grill it is because of what he ate all of his life. How about the people who inherit bad cholesterol in their genes. I think more people are killed by crossing the roads in Las Vegas than the heart attack grill will ever do in. If you can not get drivers and pedestrians to follow the rules how in Hell do you think people will follow what to eat. We kill more people in this country with automobiles and guns and not to many solutions are in the future for this but as long as your cholesterol was down you lived a healthy but short life. Groups like the one mentioned in this article need to set guidelines not put businesses out of business because of one incident. CSI Las Vegas needs to investigate this since they film on Fremont St quite often lol.