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Delray restaurant's food is deadly — will lawsuit kill it?
By John Tanasychuk, Sun Sentinel
9:57 PM EST, January 29, 2010
Iggy
Lena and Bob Kutnick knew it was a good idea — open a medically themed
sports bar with unfashionable menu items, such as Chili Chest Pain
Fries and The Heart Stopper, a 3-pound burger.
Decorate with a heart defibrillator and a dialysis machine. Make the
tables look like wheelchairs, put salt and pepper in pill bottles, and
present the bill in a plastic first-aid kit.
The result is their 6-week-old Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Delray Beach,
where the menu warns that "consumption of our food will definitely lead
to obesity" and there is a standing offer of free food to anyone over
350 pounds.
Lena, who worked in his father's restaurants before becoming a
paramedic 10 years ago, calls it a melding of his two seemingly
disparate careers.
"I had a party of 12 people in the other night," said Lena, who will
soon offer free in-house CPR classes. "No one was under 70. Two of them
were on walkers and they loved the place."
Just this week, however, Lena and Kutnick got some bad news. It didn't
come from one of their white-uniformed, fishnetted nurse-waitresses. It
came in a federal lawsuit from Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Ariz.
Jon Basso, owner of the Arizona eatery, says the South Florida pair
stole his idea and he wants them to cease and desist. In other words,
get rid of the medical theme or shut their doors.
"Heart Attack Grill is the originator of the medically themed hamburger
grill and restaurant," said Robert Kain, Basso's Fort Lauderdale
attorney. "It sells high-calorie food products and we have had very
extensive media coverage, including numerous shows on the Travel
Channel and the Food Network. In my mind, we are just as well known as
McDonald's."
Kain said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, counts about 30 similarities between the Delray Beach and Arizona eateries, from the EKG heart monitor imagery on their signage to the free food offer for customers over 350 pounds.
Kain said he successfully shut down a Pensacola-area restaurant called
Flat Liner Grill on behalf of Basso. Likewise, he said Heart Stoppers
Sports Grill misappropriated its theme from Heart Attack Grill, which
owns five trademarks including "Single Bypass Burger" and "Double
Bypass Burger."
Lena and Kutnick do say they discussed the possibility of a Heart Attack Grill franchise in South Florida.
But not so fast, said Eric Lee, attorney for the Delray Beach restaurant.
"Their theme is completely different," he said. "That's one of the
reasons they didn't continue discussions with [Basso], because they
weren't interested in his theme. They didn't steal the same trademarked
Single Bypass, Double Bypass burger that he does. They didn't limit
their menu like he does. They don't require their nurses to dress in a
provocative manner. It changed the clientele from the Hooters-type
crowd to a family-type restaurant."
While the Heart Attack/Heart Stoppers dispute winds its way through
court, each seems to have tapped into a fascination with overeating and
unabashedly high-calorie foods.
"There's a rebellion against gourmet restaurants and healthy food
establishments," Kain said. "And that's why there's so much interest on
television."'
On Wednesday, the Travel Channel's Man v. Food comes to
Shula's Steak House in Miami Beach for a live episode. Host Adam
Richman, who travels the country in search of regional foods and then
challenges himself to break eating records, will attempt to consume a
48-ounce porterhouse.
On the Food Network, Guy Fieri has become famous for showcasing some of the country's most high-calorie food on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
ESPN's live broadcast of the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July
International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an Independence Day staple.
It's created a new kind of foodie, folks who go out of their way to sample high-fat fare wherever they go.
Here in South Florida, blogger Sef Gonzalez eats his way across the
region as The Burger Beast. He's eaten everything from the Big Sloppy
(he gives it 5 out of 5 stars) at Charm City Burger Company in
Deerfield Beach to The Heart Attacker half-pounder (3 1/2 out of 5) at
Heart Stoppers.
"At some point, everyone retaliates against something," said Gonzalez.
"Every time you turn on the news — which is probably why I don't watch
the news — it's 'This is good for you!' and 'This is bad for you.'
Sometimes you should just throw everything out the window and eat what
you want."
Heart Stoppers customers said they were just as interested in good food and good value as they are in the medical theme.
"I'm 90 pounds away from eating for free," said a half-joking,
260-pound Dan Pagano, who was finishing up his $8.25 half-pound burger
and fries at Heart Stoppers. Pagano, who writes service orders at a
nearby car dealership, has been eating at Heart Stoppers twice a week
since it opened.
Lynn Boyle, nursing director at nearby South County Mental Health Center in Delray Beach, said she was intrigued with the theme.
"I heard they all dressed up as nurses and I wanted to check them out,"
she said. "At my hospital, they never let us wear fishnets."
John Tanasychuk can be reached at jtanasychuk@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4632.