Heart Attack Grill's Biggest Fan, John Alleman, Dies of a Heart Attack
A man who was the self-proclaimed unofficial spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill, a famous Las Vegas eatery, has died of a heart attack.
John Alleman, 52, suffered a heart attack in Feb. 3 and as a result was put on life support. But after doctors revealed that he would not recover from the heart attack and that he could not breathe without a respirator, his family decided to take him of life support Monday.
The restaurant's owner, Jon Basso, revealed that he would stand in front of the eatery and endorse the belt-busting meals with customers coming just to see Alleman.
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"The customers just loved him … I told him I couldn't hire him, but I can throw you a free drink and burger once in a while," Basso told The Las Vegas Sun.
But Basso knew that eventually Alleman's frequent visits to the restaurant would catch up with him, and warned him to watch what he ate more carefully.
"I told him if you keep eating like this, it's going to kill ya," Basso said. "He'd say, 'I just love your place, Jon.' He's the only person I know who was probably at the restaurant more than I; he'd be here every darned day."
The restaurant has been featured on food shows as well as in several foodie magazines for the theme behind the restaurant. The wait-staff dresses in nurses outfits while customers are called patients.
"It's a lifestyle issue … we attract the avant-garde of lifestyle seekers." Basso said. "It's the Mecca for unhealthy lifestyles."
The Heart Attack Grill offers free meals to any customer who weighs over 350 pounds and features butterfat milkshakes, non-filtered cigarettes, "flatliner" fries and "bypass" burgers.
The restaurant's "Quadruple Bypass Burger" holds the Guinness World Record for the "most calorific burger," coming in at around 3 pounds and containing 9,982 calories.
Heart Attack Grill opened in October 2011 inside Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas.
