Cheeseburger

This is a cheesesteak town, as we all know. And the city will always have that steak as its signature griddle move, its crossover dribble, its split-fingered strikeout pitch. But if you take a closer look at what menus are really pushing in town, from the high-end bistros down to the newest chains, you'll find more kitchen energy is devoted to reinventing the cheeseburger than anything else. As I tasted more and more evidence of this phenomenon, I knew I could no longer avoid the project I had put off for more than a decade: The Great Burger Quest.

This is a cheesesteak town, as we all know. And the city will always have that steak as its signature griddle move, its crossover dribble, its split-fingered strikeout pitch. But if you take a closer look at what menus are really pushing in town, from the high-end bistros down to the newest chains, you'll find more kitchen energy is devoted to reinventing the cheeseburger than anything else. As I tasted more and more evidence of this phenomenon, I knew I could no longer avoid the project I had put off for more than a decade: The Great Burger Quest.

When lawyer Carol Fritz decided to add "actress" to her resume last year, one thing stood in her way: She wanted to list her weight as 148, 10 pounds lighter than she actually was. "I like to think of myself as an honest person," the Powelton Village resident says. "I was ready to post that resume on the Internet with that number, so I needed to get there. I just needed an extra push. " That extra push for Fritz was using a financial incentive to help her reach her weight-loss goal.

PHILS' FAVORITE CHILDHOOD FODDER Larry Andersen: pudding cake. Lenny Dykstra: macaroni and cheese. Dave Hollins: pizza and wings. Pete Incaviglia: Italian sausage sandwich. John Kruk: cheeseburger. Curt Schilling: hot dogs. Mitch Williams: corn on the cob. -- From the Phillies 1993 Yearbook

La Trattoria will never win any beauty contests. The early luncheonette ambiance is very much like that of the "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger" diner on "Saturday Night Live. " That doesn't deter customers from flocking to this Old City restaurant for well-prepared down-home Italian food at prices that are very low for Center City. Nearly all the pasta dishes are under $6; the most expensive thing on the menu - grilled shrimp in garlic-lemon sauce - is $8.95. At these prices, you have do some work yourself.

We thanked them when they told us about movie-theater popcorn. After all, who knew that something that smelled so good was really a coconut-oil-drenched time bomb in a tub? And now a mushroom cheeseburger with onion rings makes a gastronomical graveyard!? Popcorn was the news a few years ago, so the Center for Science in the Public Interest alerted the media. And journalists bit. The headlines eventually led to a culinary revolution, pushing some theaters to go so far as to offer air-popped popcorn to the coronary conservative.

The quick actions of a school principal saved the life of a 13-year-old Drexel Hill Middle School student who was choking in the school cafeteria last week. The student, Michael Ennis, ran up to the principal, Charles Granger, when he began choking on a piece of cheeseburger at lunchtime. "He was in bad shape when he came over," Granger said. "As soon as it dawned on me, I turned him around and started the Heimlich maneuver," Granger said. "It makes you feel good that you were there and could help someone," he said.

The last meal. It's a condemned prisoner's last free choice, a final moment of dignity and, perhaps, even pleasure. And it's one of those odd details of life people want to know. Make that an odd detail of death. Whether it's a cheeseburger with fries, a steak and potatoes or even a bag of chips, the last meal is always dutifully reported in news accounts, along with the last words. Last meals - like the one that presumably will be served tomorrow in Delaware to condemned murderer Billy Bailey - go down in history, just like the names of presidents, the victors of wars and the life stories of sports heroes.

We were in a hurry, so when the waiter came to the table with the menus, we didn't bother to look. "I'll have a hamburger," I said. "The same," my lunch companion said. The waiter, a young man in designer tennis shoes, said: "Uh, do you mean the Quarterbacker?" "The what?" I asked. He opened the menu and pointed at an item. Sure enough, it said: "The Quarterbacker. " "No," I said, "I want a hamburger. " "Uh, the Quarterbacker is a hamburger. " "Then why don't you call it a hamburger?"

The dead man had ordered a bacon cheeseburger. A receipt from that meal was the unlikely clue that police said helped them unlock the mystery behind a fatal June 9 shoot-out in a suburban Montgomery County home and led to the arrest of two men in the attack. Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Upper Gwynedd Township Police Chief David Duffy announced charges Tuesday against two men who they say traded gunfire with Jermaine Edwards inside his North Wales home three weeks ago. The defendants, Niochie B. Lawson, 23, of Laurel, Md., and Jakel Stone, 20, of Hyattsville, Md., face charges of conspiracy, robbery, and related offenses.

When lawyer Carol Fritz decided to add "actress" to her resume last year, one thing stood in her way: She wanted to list her weight as 148, 10 pounds lighter than she actually was. "I like to think of myself as an honest person," the Powelton Village resident says. "I was ready to post that resume on the Internet with that number, so I needed to get there. I just needed an extra push. " That extra push for Fritz was using a financial incentive to help her reach her weight-loss goal.

NEW YORK - Wendy's third-quarter loss widened as the fast-food company paid off costs related to selling the Arby's chain. Shares of Wendy's tumbled more than 5 percent in early trading to $5.20. Wendy's lost nearly $4 million, or a penny per share, missing analysts' estimates. In the same period a year ago, when it was still attached to Arby's, the chain lost $909,000, which was break-even per share. This quarter's loss was largely from costs related to selling Arby's in July, including expenses for cutting jobs and retaining other employees.

Description: Quarter-pound fresh, not frozen, hamburger, plus American cheese, red onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo on a toasted, buttered bun. Chain: Wendy's. Price: $3.99 plus tax. Location: 15th and Chestnut streets. Order time: 11 minutes. Review: Everyone in the Chain Gang agreed this was a tasty cheeseburger, but it was not hot and it was certainly not juicy. We can, however, understand why Wendy's is not trying to market a "Lukewarm Gray 'N Dry" cheeseburger.

Being a "fat kid growing up in Philadelphia," says Matt Levin , "I've always loved Tastykake. " Levin, chef-owner of Adsum, a bar-restaurant in Queen Village, was distressed to hear of the bakery's financial woe. "They were once a small business. I'm a small business. I should try to do something to help them out," he said. And then things got messy. He is serving Kandy Kake Sliders - burgers made of ground brisket topped with American cheese and a mixture of Sriracha hot sauce and sour-cherry jam and sandwiched between Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes.

The dead man had ordered a bacon cheeseburger. A receipt from that meal was the unlikely clue that police said helped them unlock the mystery behind a fatal June 9 shoot-out in a suburban Montgomery County home and led to the arrest of two men in the attack. Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Upper Gwynedd Township Police Chief David Duffy announced charges Tuesday against two men who they say traded gunfire with Jermaine Edwards inside his North Wales home three weeks ago. The defendants, Niochie B. Lawson, 23, of Laurel, Md., and Jakel Stone, 20, of Hyattsville, Md., face charges of conspiracy, robbery, and related offenses.

There are easier ways to celebrate high school graduation than to run for your baseball team's life. For verification, check with Matt McAllister . . . who perhaps by now has even stopped panting. What a day to remember for McAllister, a 6-foot, 175-pound pitcher-third baseman, and the other baseball playing members of Archbishop Wood High's senior class. From graduation at 11 a.m., in Villanova's Pavilion, to a 10-6, come-from-way-behind win over West York in a PIAA Class AAA first-round playoff at La Salle High's Ward Field (4 p.m. start)

Andy Burgers are always on the menu Saturday night. Asked to recall a memorable speech by his head coach during his six seasons with the Eagles, cornerback Lito Sheppard could come up with only one thing. "I'll treat you to some cheeseburgers," he said, laughing about Andy Reid's signature Saturday night ritual. "He says that every week. It's the snack after the meeting. There are other things you can eat, but the cheeseburgers are always on the menu. " Reid's cheeseburger promise has been consistent since he became the head coach in 1999, with one exception.

This is a cheesesteak town, as we all know. And the city will always have that steak as its signature griddle move, its crossover dribble, its split-fingered strikeout pitch. But if you take a closer look at what menus are really pushing in town, from the high-end bistros down to the newest chains, you'll find more kitchen energy is devoted to reinventing the cheeseburger than anything else. As I tasted more and more evidence of this phenomenon, I knew I could no longer avoid the project I had put off for more than a decade: The Great Burger Quest.