First Place
8 Bigmacs. Two SB-800 speedlights and on-camera flash (nikon CLS kicks ass) Nikon D80 I think at 1/125 f/5.6. Fast enough to shoot hand-held before it would tip over. The macs are skewered with two wooden kebab skewers to a piece of plasticine (unfortunately visible). Some photoshop curves and black and white mixing. -Zach Slootsky

Second Place
The Coburg Cafe's monster burger. Regular sized burger on top for size reference; 1 lb. hamburger, ham, bacon, swiss & american, on an 8" bun w/all the fixins' -Trask Blueribbon [Ed note: remember to tell us your camera/settings!]

Third Place
This photo was taken at my son's school cafeteria. We had lunch together. It was abysmal. Jello was good though. I snapped this photo with my Verizon HTC Touch. Basic settings. My technique was to hold back the vomit before I barfed on my phone. -Robbie Amburgey

Thanks for the entries, and look for a more classic Shooting Challenge topic next Monday—something more along the lines of photography for photography's sake. (Not that I don't love watching you poison yourselves in the name of art.)

The goal? "A contemporary, edgy, futuristic" look, according to CEO John Chidsey. One of an "upscale restaurant."

You can see the new design in the lead shot (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan). It certainly looks more industrial, like a motorcycle shop or maybe a Chipotle. But there are more aggressive design elements, like the saucer ceiling, that you don't really see in a stock chain restaurant...and that honestly feel a it more retro than they do "futuristic." (And on another note, are a couple of touchscreens randomly dispersed through the tables really enough to encourage casual, table ordering?)

Apparently 60 locations have already gone over the "20/20" makeover. Having witnessed their touchscreen menus in action, I'll say that while the system is somewhat intuitive, it's quite slow. Then again, maybe Burger King believes that if their restaurants are nicer, you might actually want to stay a while. [AP via ChipChick]

Lifehacker put together a great guide showing just what foods aren't so bad and what should be avoided at all costs. The good news is that good ol' Chicken McNuggets aren't so bad, providing 280 calories in a 6 piece box. And a hamburger has only 250 calories if you can stand eating it without cheese.

The bad news? A large Triple Thick Chocolate Shake has 1160 calories, 27 grams of fat, 168 grams of sugar and 510mg of sodium, which is just fucking insane. Seriously, if you want to cut a decade or two off your life, drink one of these every day. And a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese ain't much better.

Hit Lifehacker for the full list and all the details, but here's the one rule I always remember when I'm considering a McDonald's menu: don't eat at McDonald's. [Lifehacker]

Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.

And would it kill Apple to make a separate food section in the App Store?

Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.

The design is top notch. After it locates the nearest Chipotle, you can build your taco, burrito, bowl or salad exactly how you want it, easily adding in whatever fillings you want, plus sides and drink. You can even include special instructions, like "easy on the beans" before you check out. It's fast and pretty. And yes, it synchronizes and saves your order, so you can get your favorite gut-busting burrito every single day without going through the process of re-building it every single time.

Every food ordering app needs to be this good. Or, you know, maybe not.

Chipotle Ordering Application Now Available on the Apple App Store
Burritos on the go: Locate, Order and Pay Using iPhone and iPod touch

DENVER – August 25, 2009 – Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG and CMG.B) today announced its new ordering application is available on the Apple App Store. The mobile ordering app gives iPhone and iPod touch users the ability to create their favorite Chipotle order, place it at the Chipotle location of their choice, and also pay for their food direct from their device.

"The breakthrough iPhone and iPod touch have really given us the ability to deliver a compelling experience to customers which includes simplicity, personality and attention to detail," said Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle. "We are changing the way the world thinks about and eats fast food, and the iPhone and iPod touch give us powerful new ways to engage and serve our customers. While we have always made our high quality food affordable and accessible so everyone can eat better, we've probably never been this accessible."

Chipotle's time-saving app is being released in conjunction with a newly updated web-based ordering system, available on www.chipotle.com. Customers can place orders through a secure credit card payment capability that allows users to save their information for quick repeat orders and an expanded group ordering feature that allows customers to place multi-item orders under a single name. The app also allows customers to save their favorite Chipotle meals online, as well as those of friends, family, or co-workers. Using location-based technologies customers can also quickly find the nearest Chipotle.

The Chipotle app is available for free from Apple's App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/

The app was developed by Pervasent, a Berkeley, Calif. firm that develops mobile applications, and Chipotle's internal IT team and designed by San Francisco-based Sequence.

About Chipotle

Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Through our vision of Food with Integrity, Chipotle is seeking better food not only from using fresh ingredients, but ingredients that are sustainably grown and naturally raised with respect for the animals, the land, and the farmers who produce the food. Chipotle opened its first restaurant in 1993 and currently operates more than 860 restaurants. For more information, visit chipotle.com.

[iTunes]

This is the Wendy's Napoleon, created using the raw materials of a Wendy's Baconator, large fries, small coke, 12 sugar packets and 2 packets of ketchup. Or how about the Le Chicken Confit, made with McDonald's chicken nuggets, large fries, a few packets of sauce, and Fruit and Walnut salad?

No crazy gadgets involved, but like I said, genius. [Fancy Fast Food]

[Thanks Brad!]

Adam's vivisection of the Col-Pop shows that the material between the pops and the pop is a thin membrane, but he doesn't comment on the effectiveness of keeping the two separate. I mean, the obvious problem with this triumph of science over nature is that piping-hot chicken nuggets will water your Dr. Pepper down to Diet Coke-like consistency, while cold soda will turn your steaming nuggets into tough, lukewarm chunks of breaded styrofoam. The chain offering this plastic marvel, BBQ Chicken, has locations in NY, NJ and NC—can any Giz readers offer a review?

Update: Adam goes diving a little deeper for us, revealing that pokey eaters will indeed be dealing with some soggy chicken, especially on a hot day. Check it: That said, I sooo hope Chik-fil-A is on this thing, pronto. [Serious Eats via BBG]

Product Page [Via ChipChick]

It's starting. Three Jack in the Box restaurants in San Diego are testing the custom-made fast food ordering kiosks, and twelve Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shops in Los Angeles will be the next to try them. Others are experimenting in small tests around the US. Hey, we don't mind if those machines begin to chant the mantra "To Serve Man," as long as that's not the title of a cookbook. – Charlie White

Jack in the Box Orders Up Experimental Self-Serve Kiosks [San Diego Business Journal]
Self-service coming to fast food [Dallas Morning News]

Unfortunately, there is no word on price or availability. This is more of a "check out my awesome charm collection that you know you want for your gadget cult, bitch" sort of posting.

Hit the jump for more yummy plastic cellphone charms.

– Mark Wilson

10 Fast Food Cellphone Accessories [via spluch]

All the ingredients were handmade down to the micro-fries and their teensy bag, and even the itty-bitty soda, and it all reportedly "tasted awesome." You'll walk away hungry from this meal; it's definitely not super-sized. – Charlie White

A Bite to Eat! [Craftster, via Boing Boing]

Touchscreens to order fast food [BoingBoing]

Living in a city without a car, I tend to forget the importance of the drive-thru. Like, who knew that 70 percent of sales at Burger King comes from the drive-thru window? Not I. So I guess it's no surprise that companies are trying to speed up the service by finding higher-tech ways to get your food to you faster. One of which seems to be getting rid of actual words and counting on you knowing what each picture means (I hope you're stylistically intimate with the difference between the Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder). However, another new trick is using call centers to take orders. A firm called TechKnow, Inc. has actually come out with a digital menu, which will suggest "missing side orders" that you may have "forgotten" and smaller chains are using confirmation screens, which will actually show you what you ordered so there will be no mistakes with that strawberry shake. Supposedly, this has helped boost accuracy by more than 11 percentage points in the past four years at McDonald's. Other systems include technology that helps cooks ensure that precooked food remains fresh by keeping track of how long it's been since it was prepared, and a computer system called Hyperactive Bob, which tells managers how much food they need to prepare by counting vehicles in the line and factoring in demand for current promotions and popular staple items. Wow. Lastly, the easy stuff. Checkers is catching up to larger chains like Wendy's by installing debit and credit payment systems as well as touch-screen computers for order-takers.

'I'd like fries with that, and step on it! [CNN]

The Meat Helmet [WMMNA]