Big American Burgers For Japanese Beef Lovers

Clocking in at a sound 645 calories, the Texas 2 Burger is like jumping off the nutritional cliff. But that didn’t prevent slim Japanese men and women of all ages to dive into the chili melt when it hit McDonald’s menus last Friday.

“I really loved the Texas Burger last year so I couldn’t wait to try the new one,” said Satoshi Tanaka, a 38-year-old engineer standing outside a McDonald’s outlet in the haute Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo on Jan. 7, the big launch day. Mr. Tanaka was among the many hungry patrons crowded into the pristine long counters during lunch rush hour , with a large silver box stamped with “Texas 2” open before him. One customer had dozed off, having likely surrendered to an inevitable food coma.

McDonald’s Japan launched the Texas 2 Burger as part of its “Big America 2” campaign, an encore to its successful crusade that named beef patties after U.S. locales last year. And among the four-burger series, the Texas Burger was the only one to get a younger brother. The other burgers – the California, Hawaii, and New York — were replaced with equally extravagant creations named Idaho, Miami and Manhattan this year.

If, as they say, everything is indeed bigger in Texas, then this creation inspired by the Lone Star state is no different. The Texas 2 Burger is a towering stack with chili, cheese, bacon, onion and a mustard relish sauce packed between the three buns. Taking a bite of the sandwich is akin to having the entire school lunch buffet on sloppy joe day explode in your mouth. It was a rioting mouthful. But the chili was undoubtedly the lead topping. It was almost too overpowering: the taste of the chili lingered even after two sticks of gum