Southgate (Michigan) grill aims for Guinness with 150-pound sandwich

Impressed by a giant 1-pound burger?

Hah! That's just an hors d'oeuvre compared with the monster burger they're cooking up at Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate today.

At 150 pounds, including its specially made bun and multiple toppings, it's designed to put Mallie's in the Guinness World Records book for the largest commercially available hamburger; right now that's a measly 123-pounder at a bar in Pennsylvania.

"We've actually done this in-house several times, so it's not a matter of whether we can do it," says owner Steve Mallie, 39. It's being able to make the sandwich publicly at an announced time, so all the necessary people will be on hand to record and verify the feat for Guinness.

Completed, the burger will be 26 inches across and about 2 feet tall, he says.

And if you and several dozen of your hungriest friends would like one of your own, that can be arranged. It's being added to the menu, "and with 24 hours' notice, we'll make it for you," Mallie says. The price is $350, which includes fries and pop.

The menu already features 6-pound and 12-pound burgers. The bar sells about five of the 6-pounders a week, mostly to families who cut it into wedges, he says.

For today's world-record attempt, chef Art Laramie will use 110 pounds of ground beef to create the prodigious patty, which will shrink to about 80 to 100 pounds as it bakes in the oven for eight hours. "We usually lose about 15 to 25% of the burger weight after it's cooked," Mallie says.

Assimacopoulos Supreme Bakery Distributors of Romulus will bake the bun, using a special form it had to create for the project.

"The toppings are going to be normal hamburger toppings -- cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion, pickle and bacon," Mallie says.

How much bacon? "Quite a bit. I can't give away all my secrets."

The sandwich will be assembled on a scale so the crowd can see whether the weight reaches the 150-pound target.

The day's events include merchandise sales, raffles and silent auctions. Part of the proceeds will go to Women Celebrating Life-Downriver, a breast cancer support and awareness group.

The whole event is "a good way to get some good exposure and raise money for a good cause. And to have fun," adds Mallie. A construction company owner, his lifelong dream was to own a restaurant, and he opened Mallie's two years ago after renovating a closed, rundown building.

Festivities will run from 2 to 6 p.m. today. The burger could come out of the oven anytime between 3 and 5 p.m., he said, although they're aiming at 4 p.m.

To meet Guinness' requirements for consideration, the event will be recorded in photos and on film, and witnesses and a "notable individual" -- in this case, Southgate Mayor Norma Wurmlinger -- will attend, promotions director Mike Matkin said earlier this week.

Mallie's is at 19400 Northline Road in Southgate. For more information, go to www.malliesbar.com.