Is anyone investigating Anne Rice's god-man's role in the death of Copeland, because those two had some serious aesthetic beef!

@soybomb: Just about to say that:
[www.nola.com]

The movie version of this story will be called Transfatters.

That settles it then. I was just wondering what to have for lunch... Fat Burger it is!

Ray Kroc. Colonel Sanders. Roy Rogers. Kenny Rogers. They all lived forever.

You could, too, if you made enough to deep-fry hundred dollar bills.

Also in January, the Hamburglar was mortally wounded during a break and enter outside of Cincinnati.

@SarahHeartburn: You would link to Nola.com, which celebrates the one city where it is absolutely, physically, solid-reporting-has-verified-this, impossible to eat healthy (at least in the principal areas). My second favorite city, New Orleans.

Fuck Carl' Jr. I ate there on a hungover drive from San Diego to LA once and though I technically wasn't going to die I wanted to for the better of part of the next day and a half. Driving through LA traffic with all gauges in the red and no relief in sight, not cool.

Fuck KFC. Kennedy Fried Chicken for life.

I am immediately printing out this article and showing it to my Mom to prove she was lying to me about this and other things. I just knew that my acne was not caused by masturbation.

@SarahHeartburn: i liked this section from the Time's Picayune (what i refer to as the Times) Obit:

One such restaurant - Straya on St. Charles Avenue - triggered a noisy public feud in 1997 with the vampire novelist Anne Rice. She used her voice-mail message and a series of full-page advertisements in The Times-Picayune to attack the restaurant's decor, which included tasseled black curtains and a pair of sleek black-leopard sculptures flanking the entrance to the rest-room area.

"The humblest flop house on this strip of St. Charles Avenue has more dignity than Mr. Copeland's structure," she said in her opening salvo.

One reason she felt so passionately about the building at 2001 St. Charles Avenue, was that she said that the Vampire Lestat, her dominant character, left her there, before Straya opened, after seeing his reflection in the window of what had been a Mercedes-Benz dealership. Rice also said she had planned to open a restaurant, Cafe Lestat, in a Magazine Street building she owned, but that never materialized.

Mr. Copeland's response, also in a full-page ad in The Times-Picayune, was good-humored, offering to treat her to dinner and to help her find Lestat. He even spoke of launching a month-long "Find Lestat" promotion and dressing his staff like vampires.

But he also filed suit, claiming that she had defamed him and that she violated fair-trade laws because "her comments were made in the context of her being a business competitor," Mr. Copeland's lawyer said.

Civil District Judge Robin Giarrusso threw out the suit. Mr. Copeland, accepting defeat, invited Rice to dinner. Rice, who did not accept his offer, moved to California in 2004, settling in Rancho Mirage after brief stints in San Diego and La Jolla. Straya, a phonetic spelling of "strella," the Spanish word for star, has become a Cheesecake Bistro.

This wasn't Mr. Copeland's only high-profile skirmish. In December 2001, he got into a fistfight with Robert Guidry, a former casino owner, and his sons in Morton's The Steakhouse, an upscale restaurant.

The two multimillionaires had been rivals for a riverboat-casino license in 1993. Mr. Copeland lost, and he blamed Guidry. Guidry, who had built much of his fortunes on tugboats, contended Mr. Copeland had relied on connections to delay his hearing for the license.

If I owned a fast food restaurant, I would seriously consider having myself cryogenically deep-fried until science discovers a cure for male pattern baldness.

@Calitri: Stick with In-and-Out. Besides getting the best fast food burger, you won't be rewarding Carl's Jr. for it's nauseating man-slob ad campaign (featuring amplified chewing mouth noises).

It's better to deep fry
than to saute;
KFC is here to stay.

@Mike_Jahn: My favorite young relative now works as a cook there, so I feel proud of my family's contribution to the hardening of arteries in my third favorite city.

Speaking of things coming in threes: The mayor of Detroit has been charged with perjury for lying about having an affair with his chief of staff, and may go to jail.

He said "chief of staff."

@BadUncle: In-and-out is by far superior. That goes without saying. Unfortunately, I found myself on a desolate stretch of highway in dire need of something greasy. Little did I know how one fateful decision would steer the rest of my day's course and possibly scare me for life.

@BadUncle: I wish New York had In-and-Out. I had it for the first time a few months ago and it is indeed the best fast-food burger.

Popeye's: We'd only serve the hot 'n spicy chicken if weren't for white people.

@TedSez: Meh. Let me know when they catch up with Mayor McCheese while he's having a gang-bang with all six McNuggets.

@SarahHeartburn: Every time I'm down there my ritual includes fried catfish and two bottles of Turbodog at the Market Cafe at Decatur and St. Philip.

@FitnessMadeSimple: Checkers and, dare I say, Sonic (gross) are the closest east coast equivalents. Still, neither holds a candle. They really should just bring In-and-Out over here. The world, or my world, would be a better place.

The other part of this story is that zillions of canteloupes have just been recalled because of salmonella. We really need to rethink this whole food-health thing. Snoot food may be coming to an end.

@soybomb: too much fat in that comment..

@famousauthor: Yeah, really. We think we're taking the moral high ground when we eat fruits and vegetables. Why, because when we cut them up we can't hear them scream?

Enjoy lunch, vegans.

What was the fate of White Castle's founder? Even drunk, those babies are hard to choke down. Besides the grease, you literally exude onion odor for days afterward.

@gawksFromaRock: if you think tawdry millionaire fist fights (in steakhouses) and anne rice feuds are fatty, then i guess there's no way we're going to save this marriage.

@mitchel_stevens: That halal chicken is tough and stringy. I shall raise a spicy, moist and tender Popeye's breast in memory tonight.

@Calitri: I've never had Checkers or Sonic. White Castle is my favorite burger place over here, but I will never stop longing for In-and-Out until we finally get one.

@TallulahSkankhead:
But it's next door to Otto's! And the grease-heat is so comforting on cold, winter nights.

@Truculent: ZOMG, White Castle belly bombs! I forgot about them.

@TallulahSkankhead: Amen. I'll be doing the same. Plus, if you get red beans & rice as a side, you'll have good luck all week, according to New Orleans lore.

Colonel Sanders died at the age of 90 from cancer.

If anyone cares...

@FitnessMadeSimple: Maybe you could get Anne Rice to go for In-N-Out--they have Bible verses on all their packaging.

@SidAndFinancy: @TallulahSkankhead: Don't forget the buttermilk biscuits and their damn fine cole slaw. Love that chicken from Popeyes!

OOOOOH Mr Copeland. You and your Super Popeyes kept me a happy gal the 3 miserable months I lived in Nawlins. But your Copeland's restaurant? It was a fucking joke. I've had chinese food taste more authentic cajun than that shit.