So she suggested "the heart attack on a plate."
This seems to me to fall into a third category. I'm just not sure what that category is. It has elements of horror -- the heart attack part -- but at the same time, there's a fascination. You just feel that whatever the food is, it might taste really good. ...
To make it interesting, I think these should be dishes you can get in restaurants.
Editor Amanda suggested the obvious one: the beer-battered burger stuffed with cheddar and deep fried at Mother's Federal Hill Grille, which is actually called the Heart Attack on a Plate.
OK, I actually don't think that would taste good, but it might be a matter of my brain getting in the way of my tastebuds. Other people love it.
I would go with the 48-ounce porterhouse at Shula's. It seems, I don't know, more refined somehow.
I don't think we'll be able to come up with eight more quite so ostentatious examples. But there must be other incredibly rich entrees, side dishes (the ultimate mac and cheese, perhaps?) and desserts worthy of inclusion.
(Photo by Mike Buscher/ Special to the Baltimore Sun. When I put in the key words "heart attack on a plate" to find this photo in our archives, it also brought up a photo of a Major League baseball umpire who died.)