Cheesecake Factorys Chicken and Biscuits

At some restaurants, it seems, you don’t have to order the super size to get a mondo number of calories. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition and food safety watchdog group, recently released its annual Xtreme Eating Awards, given to chastise restaurants for their oversized, unhealthy meals. See if you can guess how many calories is in your next entree. All the correct answers show up in the organization’s 2009 awards.

— Betsy Q. Cliff, The Bulletin

Which of these dishes has more calories?

a) Cheesecake Factory’s Chicken and Biscuits entree

b) KFC’s 8-piece Original Recipe bucket and five homestyle biscuits

c) McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese and medium fries

Answer: (a) Cheesecake Factory’s entree has 2,500 calories, KFC bucket has 2,380 calories and McDonald’s meal has 1,120 calories.

The government recommends most Americans eat 1,500 milligrams of sodium or less per day. Which restaurant entree packs nearly three times the recommended amount?

a) Olive Garden’s Tour of Italy (Lasagna, chicken parmigiana, fettuccine Alfredo)

b) Red Robin’s Chili Chili Cheeseburger

c) Applebee’s Quesadilla Burger

Answer: (c) Olive Garden Tour has 3,830 mg sodium, Red Robin burger has 1,745 mg sodium and Applebee’s burger has 4,410 mg sodium.

Which restaurant dish has more than the daily recommended allowance of 2,000 calories?

a) Chili’s Big Mouth Bites

b) Uno Chicago Grill’s Mega-sized Deep Dish Sundae

c) Longhorn Steakhouse’s Chocolate Stampede

Answer: All of the above. Chili’s bites have 2,350 calories, Uno dessert has 2,800 calories and the Longhorn dessert has 2,180 calories.

The government recommends Americans eat 20 grams of saturated fat a day or less. Which dish serves up more than 3½ days’ worth of saturated fat?

a) Olive Garden’s Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta

b) Cheesecake Factory’s Fried Macaroni and Cheese

c) Red Lobster’s Ultimate Fondue

Answer: (b) Olive Garden’s fonduta has 28 grams of saturated fat, Cheesecake Factory’s entree has 69 grams and Red Lobster’s fondue has 40 grams.

Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest and restaurant Web sites