The Award Few Restaurants Want to Win: These Are Among the Country's Most Caloric Dishes

The Xtreme Eating Award is one that most restaurants would not want to win. The awards put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest details the most caloric dishes offered at chain restaurants — and just how much exercise the average person would complete to do to burn it off.

The Cheesecake Factory took three of the nine slots this year, but the nonprofit said it "could have easily swept the entire list." Take its "Bruleed French Toast." That brunch treat, which comes with bacon, would require seven hours of swimming in a lap pool to burn 2,780 calories, CSPI said.

The Cheesecake Factory's Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic and its Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake were targeted for their respective 2,410- and 1,500-calorie counts. Those, if you're wondering, would require about nine-and-a-half hours of exercise combined.

Image source: bbqmag/Flickr

Image source: Michael Stout/Flickr

These awards come after Cheesecake Factory founder and CEO David Overton told the Wall Street Journal last year when the restaurant was working to reduce some of its calorie counts that he was "was sick of winning that prize."

Moving on.

The burger chain Red Robin was listed for a "monster meal," which included its A.1 Peppercorn hamburger, topped with bacon and fried onions, a round of steak fries and its "Monster Salted Caramel Milkshake," which adds up to two days worth of a person's suggested calorie intake — 3,540 calories — according to CSPI.

Image source: Robert Simmons/Flickr

Someone craving Mexican food might want to go all out with a beef and chicken enchilada, a beef taco, pork tamale and chili relleno, otherwise known as the Chevys Super Cinco Combo at Chevys Fresh Mex restaurants. This also comes with a side of sweet corn and beans to round it out. But you better plan on playing more than three hours of tennis to work off its 1,920 calories.

Joe’s Crab Shack, that has fish, right? And fish is healthy, right? Perhaps, but not necessarily if you chose the restaurant's The Big “Hook” Up platter, which CPSI reports at 3,280 calories from its "friedfoodaganza."

Check out all of CSPI's Xtreme Eating 2014 award "winners" in its full report.

(H/T: Buzzfeed, Daily Mail)

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Front page image via Robert Simmons/Flickr.