Brace Yourself as Fatburger Lands in the GTA

The GTA now has itself a Fatburger, courtesy Frank Di Benedetto, the franchisor for Canada, and CEO of Frankie's Burger Enterprises and Ricky's All Day Grill. The 1,600-square-foot Fatburger (slash Buffalo's Express) at 10 Disera Drive is located above a yoga studio.

"This will be the farthest east the popular eatery has reached from its headquarters in the Greater Vancouver area," wrote the company in a media announcement.

In the pantheon of U.S. burger chains, Fatburger ranks somewhere between McDonald's and Burger King and the likes of Shake Shack and Umami Burger. For many, however, Fatburger is merely a rap lyric reference, in songs like Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day" and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Going Back to Cali." Officially, the company is mum about such shout-outs: "We'd love to tell you about the late night talk show hosts and rap stars who've made us the happenin' place—but our attorneys won't let us."

Some hip hop stars have gone a step further to show Fatburger the love. Kanye West once led a not altogether successful effort to open ten Fatburger franchises in his native Chicago and Pharrell got lucky with a Fatburger partnership in China.

The Fatburger menu for Canada includes standards like the "Original" and "Double Fat Cheese", as well as oddballs like the "Hawaiian Cheeseburger" with "maple bacon, Swiss cheese, pineapple, and teriyaki sauce." Plus "hand-battered onion rings, fries and hand-scooped milkshakes", natch.

· Fatburger Canada [Official Site]
· All Opening Announcements [-ETO-]