Second Ave Deli SUES For Heart Attack Sandwich

NEW YORK -- A popular New York City deli says a potential legal challenge to its Instant Heart Attack sandwich isn't kosher.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court says the Heart Attack Grill restaurant chain has accused the 2nd Avenue Deli of stealing its idea to spoof healthy eating with calorie-bomb entrees like the three-patty Triple Bypass Burger. It asks the court to block the Arizona-based restaurant chain from pursuing a trademark infringement case.

The deli's Instant Heart Attack sandwich is a mountain of two potato pancakes and a piled-high choice of corned beef, pastrami, turkey or salami. The price: $23.95.

The Manhattan deli also has plans for a new Triple Bypass sandwich.

A Heart Attack Grill attorney hasn't returned a message seeking comment. A 575-pound man who served as the company's spokesman died in March.

Comments

[Fred Baker]

03:40 PM on 05/17/2011

Firstly, Jeremy Lebewohl's Uncle Abie was not the founder of the Second Avenue Deli nor did he make or invent any of it's famous Hi Caloric Yiddish specialties. That honor goes to Freida Baker and her husband Harry who originally opened the Deli on Second Avenue and Tenth Street in 1956, and it was her delicious recipes for Chopped Liver, Stuffed Cabbage, Matzoh Balls & Kreplach that made the Deli the talk of New York. It wasn't until years later that Abie bought it out and he and his family have since falsely claimed all credit for it's culinary fame. That's a "shanda" (Yiddish for shame), and so shame on The Lebewohl family for consistently repeating that lie in cookbooks and other media promotion!

Fred Baker
Son of Harry & Freida Baker

[WebSloth]

02:47 PM on 05/16/2011

there goes my high colonic coffee? thought I would put Capt. Ahab on the cup.

[jeffp26]

07:44 AM on 05/15/2011

Is this the same 2nd Ave. Deli that closed up to avoid lawsuits? Now they are suing to keep a name that literally disgusts me?

OK, so I won't ever set foot in the dump.

[cd1081]

03:20 AM on 05/14/2011

i could make that sandwich for under 5 bucks. much mouth watering - better.

[DrP]

11:11 PM on 05/12/2011

This whole story is ridiculous. The worst part of it and so many of the comments, is the continued misunderstanding of what sort of diet "causes heart attacks."
My sibs and I follow low-carb diets in varying degrees. When we visit our mother she does her best to accommodate our diets because she understands that our father's family had a serious history of blood sugar/insulin disorders. (so-called Type II Diabetes). We are all doing well managing our insulin resistance with our low-carb lifestyles. Last summer, my stepfather (who has made no attempt to hide his contempt for our dietary choices) made a huge show of eating Special K with skim milk, orange juice, and bread (sweet rolls, I believe) after making many comments about how he eats lots of fruit and very little red meat. We were all, of course, enjoying the baked omelet with cheese our mother had fixed.
Guess who had a quadruple bi-pass a month later?

[jeffp26]

07:46 AM on 05/15/2011

If you are a doctor, I understand why the average american is obese.

[billbcec]

11:42 AM on 05/12/2011

The funniest part about this lawsuit is the Heart Attack Grill and the names they use on their menu are a direct ripoff from a tavern in southern California called the 49er Tavern. This place has been around for over 50 years.

[mjackson3566]

10:39 AM on 05/12/2011

Get real people, no one forces you to eat this sandwich. just another way to get money!

[stape45]

11:23 AM on 05/13/2011

I'm totally real. There is no way I would buy that sandwich, even if the decimal were moved two places to the left. I would sooner eat the quarter.

[Stilyagi]

10:31 AM on 05/12/2011

I've got a better idea on competing with Heart Attack Grill:

"Suicide Sam's"

Our concept? Suicide by calories. Our specialty? "The Kevorkian". A sandwich so laden with fat and calories, it is delivered to your table by Jack Kevorkian himself. Along with a priest who administers last rites.

Not up for The Kevorkian? Try the "Lethal Injection". A lethally delicious injection of pork fat into beef jowls, deep DEEP fried in palm oil. Featuring 1% pure meat and topped with liquid bacon.

[DrP]

11:13 PM on 05/12/2011

Except that fat and calories do not contribute to heart disease.
It's sugar, starch and grains (carbohydrates)

[Stilyagi]

10:19 AM on 05/12/2011

$24 dollars for a smoked meat sandwich?? I agree, SOMEONE ought to sue.

[OcMeister CoH]

09:54 AM on 05/12/2011

They are suing over the name of the sandwich Or the fact that another chain wants to use their negative-health type names. It's a trademark infringement case. They are not suing over a person having a heart attack. If the sandwich name was registered already, they have every right to sue over its use.

BTW, it looks delicious. (but $24 for a sandwich is steep)

[Stilyagi]

10:21 AM on 05/12/2011

I don't think or see how they can sue for "trademark infringement" when the concept of unhealthy food is not a "trademark". Using the exact same name might be an infringement, but only if there were able to copyright the name of their sandwich.

[hagagaga]

09:33 AM on 05/12/2011

If you want to eat it, I won't stop you. I'll think you're an idiot, but I won't stop you.

[Ken Koziol]

08:15 AM on 05/12/2011

The heart attack should be the price. I can get the same sandwich down the steet foe 8.95.

[swampcabbage52]

08:14 AM on 05/12/2011

sue, sue, sue...bet you`re mama`s name is Sue, get a life and another heartattack sammich!

[rhettcbowling]

08:10 AM on 05/12/2011

It was food poisoning that was the actual cause of death.

[MrBadExample]

08:15 AM on 05/12/2011

Right. and his 575 pounds didn't complicate his care at all. It wasn't harder to move him about the hospital on his special bed, and xrays/sonograms are a snap when you're carrying two extra humans on your stressed frame. And it isn't like his heart was working extra-hard just to drag his carcass around. Absent his extra poundage, he'd still be alive.

Denial is more than a river in Egypt.

[SteveDenver]

06:19 AM on 05/12/2011

If they lose the case, they should be sentenced to Death by Chocolate.