Yesterday, McDonald's announced that its second quarter profit for 2011 was up 19%, thanks to not only its usual McNuggets and Big Mac on the menu but its McCafe beverage drinks (which are high-margin items) as well as...Fruit and Maple Oatmeal. Yes, apparently America is looking for healthy items at McDonald's. more ›

Yesterday, we told you about Milk Burger, the new burger joint in Harlem with a menu suspiciously similar to Shake Shack's, and a ganked photo of a Shackburger on their website to boot. Now, the owner of Milk Burger is claiming he's innocent, blaming the flub on, of course, an intern. more ›

Since people are willing to pay cold hard cash to skip the line at Shake Shack, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that other burger establishments might try to duplicate some of the Shack's methods for success. What does come as a surprise is just how obvious MilkBurger in Harlem's thievery is. more ›

Would you eat a cow, and then wear its skin? Food just went from farm to table to your closet (we await the inevitable moniker for this group of foodie fashionistas: foodista?). According to the NY Post, Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg is selling leather goods constructed from the tanned hides of the locally sourced cows and pigs that make it to their menu. more ›

Finding the "city's best" of anything is a daunting task, requiring months or years of scouring every diner, deli and overpriced restaurant many times over. In just the past two years news outlets have named Peter Luger, Burger Joint, Best Burger and Shakes, and Bagatelle as having the best, and now the Daily News is getting in on the action for 2011. They recently named West Village standby Corner Bistro's burger the best in the city, which they call the "kind of fresh off-the-grill burger that reminds you of backyard BBQs." What, no Kobe? more ›

The gourmet burger trend has come full swing in the city, peaking with that $175 burger at Wall Street Burger Shoppe a few years back, and possibly ending with a return to no-frills burgers at Shake Shack. The Post took a look at one victim in the burger boom-and-bust, Old Homestead Steakhouse, who were recently forced to reduce the price of their $41 Kobe beef burger to $19. That $81 burger seems nowhere to be found. more ›

So the food snobs over at Zagat rated Five Guys the best fast food burger in the country, but what do New Yorkers have to say about their greasy patties? Inspired by a recent Consumer Reports ranking of 18 burger chains, the Post put McDonald's, Burger King, Five Guys, Wendy's and White Castle to the test. And if there's one thing this disparate group of city folk can agree on, it's that White Castle sucks. more ›

While its official opening is scheduled for tomorrow, the new Theater District outpost of Shake Shack had a "soft" opening yesterday (there was a soft opening for the UWS location in 2008). The Shack burger-lovin' Tweeted, "Still not that long of a line at Shake Shack Times Sq. But seating area more crowded than before," "Crazy lines out the door already," and "W 44th is open and mobbed!" more ›

If you're not completely sick after watching the hot dog eating contest, Crave Shack on Steinway Street in Astoria has a triple-dog dare for your stomach: a cheeseburger with a glazed doughnut bun and halal (turkey) bacon. They say that it's the first doughnut burger to hit NYC. Finally, someone heeded the call! This bad boy is only $6.50, and at least you can say the turkey bacon part is kind of healthy, right? more ›

Last night was the crowd pleasing, if awkwardly titled, "Blue Moon Burger Bash, presented by Allen Brothers, hosted by Rachael Ray." Held at the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn, former Top Chef contest Spike Mendelsohn won the judge's prize of his burger with blue cheese, bacon, and horseradish mayonnaise, while the popular vote was won by Lure Fishbar's Josh Capon. But clearly the real winners were those who go to try offerings from Al Roker, Shake Shack and more. more ›

Last month, a Sonic Drive-In opened in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, off Route 17. And apparently it's so popular that it's causing some problems. WCBS880 reports, "Just a couple of nights ago, an unruly customer who was turned away from the new Sonic restaurant sped off and dragged a police officer," who ended up with a broken leg and ankle. Oh, and the driver was unlicensed and is now in jail. Anyway, now the Bergen County prosecutor says "that drivers lined up for burgers will now get hit with a fine of $100 if they're blocking the highway." The Bergen Record reports, "Sonic officials said the company and its franchisee will continue to work closely with municipal authorities to control traffic around the drive-in. They also said that traffic volume typically levels off once a drive-in "becomes a more established part of community life." more ›

Is Ellen Degeneres starting a boycott of growing burger chain Five Guys? This poorly-written flier says so! Eater found some of these stuck to the windshields of cars left on Waverly Place last night, but this is the first anyone's heard of night manager Carlos "Leo" Rivera's "discriminating views" of the neighborhood gays. more ›

La Cense, an 88,000 acre Montana ranch that uses sustainable farming methods to raise 100 percent grass-fed cattle, launched its first burger truck in midtown today, at 48th Street and Park Avenue. And the crowds went wild! La Cense's consulting burger chef is none other than Adam Perry Lang, the pitmaster-owner of Daisy May's BBQ, not to mention a classically trained veteran of the Le Cique, Daniel, and Chanterelle kitchens. And so a long line of determined guinea pigs formed almost immediately this morning, and according to some reports it stretched over a half hour long. more ›

At Harlem eatery Ottomanelli Brothers, customers are encouraged to enter the "Hulk Steak Burger Challenge": A diner who consumes the 24-ounce steak burger (three "normal" hamburgers stacked with cheese and bread on a bun topped with fried onions), plus fries, plus a 20-ounce soda within 20 minutes, gets the next lunch special free. According to co-owner Nick Ottomanelli, only two men have won; a mysterious dark horse from Britain and a big cop who "ate it with his bulletproof vest on, and had a piece of cheesecake afterward." Yesterday former New York Knick Cal Ramsey (pictured) gave it a shot and after ten minutes announced, "I'm already out of gas." According to City Room, neither he nor his two friends came close to winning because nobody could "finish their huge goblets of soda, which really makes this challenge a gut buster." Sure, blame the soda, not Ramsey's sub-par performance; there's always some excuse for a Knicks loss, isn't there? more ›

Burger King's new ad campaign is a series of commercials depicting a taste test between the Whopper and the Big Mac. The twist here is that the taste testers are blessed souls living in areas so remote that they've never even soiled their intestines with Burger King! Yes, such oases do exist—or rather they did, before ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky airlifted in the fast food, as the teaser trailers suggest. The campaign calls them "Whopper Virgins," and AdFreak detects a none-too-subtle whiff of corporate colonialism. And Marilyn Borchardt of Food First tells the Daily News it's insensitive because "the ad's not even acknowledging that there's even hunger in any of these places." (But watch the trailer; they do look hungry!) And if these 141 words here have proven anything, it's that the campaign is already a success. more ›

Meat-lover Rachael Ray hasn't given up on her dream of opening up a hamburger pub in midtown. She's been talking about it for years now, but you really want to believe her (or stop her) when she tells the Post, "I'm going for a '60s back-in-the-day Rat Pack-y kind of hangout, and I want the bar to be really central [and] the burgers to become a very social thing. I want people to come to the bar to see beautiful proper martinis being made and to enjoy some sliders." more ›

Alloro: Green Lantern, party of seven? The photo above depicts Alloro, a new 50-seat Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. The chef is Salvatore Corea, a native Calabrian, who’s leaving front-of-the-house duties to his wife Gina, just like a real-life Artie and Charmaine Bucco. Let’s just hope the mob doesn’t torch their place. Per the press release, the menu features “classic Italian specialties transformed into gastronomical creations,” such as loin of lamb in a fresh mint reduction with eggplant purée and pecorino cheese foam. And Alloro has the additional virtue of granting diners invisibility on St. Patrick’s Day. 307 East 77th Street, (212) 535-2866. more ›

Save room for tongue! Bubby’s restaurant, the longtime Tribeca haunt of lettuce-fed models, will now be serving beef exclusively derived from grass-fed steers. Cattle raised on a grass, as opposed to the unnatural method of grain or corn, are much healthier and yield beef lower in saturated fat. While the trend is nothing new, what sets Bubby’s apart is that owner Ron Silver has committed to using every single part of the steer, from “tongue to tail.” more ›

The other night we found ourselves craving shwarma as we strolled the stretch of Flushing’s Main Street that’s home to kosher groceries and dairy restaurants. As Gothamist approached Pita Hot, with visions of rotating meat dancing wildly in our head, we noticed an orange storefront out of the corner of our eye. Next to the utilitarian space that’s home to some of the borough’s best shwarma was a joint with a day-glo orange sign that... more ›