The Center for Science in the Public Interest has announced their 2009 Xtreme Eating Awards. These are dishes from restaurants that the public health group believes everybody should stay away from because they are loaded with calories, sodium and saturated fats.

Some of the award winners are:
• Red Lobster’s Ultimate Fondue: Shrimp and crab meat in a lobster cheese sauce served in a sourdough bowl. It contains 1,490 calories, 40 grams of saturated fat and 3,580 mg of sodium.
• Uno Chicago Grill’s Mega-Sized Deep Dish Sundae: A monster chocolate chip cookie topped with a large portion of ice cream and covered with whipped cream and chocolate sauce drizzle. It has 2,800 calories and 72 grams of saturated fat.
• Applebee’s Quesadilla Burger: A mini-bacon cheeseburger inside a quesadilla. Two flour tortillas, two kinds of meat, two kinds of cheese, pico de gallo salsa, lettuce and a ranch-dressing sauce, served with fries. This meal contains 1,820 calories, 46 grams of saturated fat and 4,410 mg of sodium
• The Cheesecake Factory’s Chicken and Biscuits: A chicken breast served over mashed potatoes with shortcake biscuits, mushrooms, peas and carrots and covered with country gravy. Total: 2,500 calories.

Jayne Hurley, a CSPI nutritionist said, “It’s as if restaurants are on a mission to make bad food even worse. Fifteen years ago, restaurants entrees or appetizers might top out at 1,000 calories, and now we are finding in them in the 2,000 calories range.”

The public health group developed these awards to help bring about laws that make it mandatory for restaurants with more than 20 locations to post calories on menu boards and list calories, saturated fat, trans fat, carbohydrates and sodium on menus.