Tony's Restaurant in Mich Serves Burger with 20 Bacon Strips

by Gus Burns | The Saginaw News

Tony's I-75 Restaurant in Birch Run sells a sandwich as big as your head loaded with 20 strips of bacon -- nearly 1 pound of artery-clogging, salt-cured meat. Its banana split includes a half-gallon of ice cream.

The behemoth BLT attracted the attention of the nation via an appearance on the Travel Channel's "Sandwich Paradise" last November.

Now, the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" wants to highlight the restaurant, 8781 Main.

Melanie Sochan | The Saginaw NewsJerry L. Duhart, 32, of Traverse City uses one spoon to anchor a banana split at Tony's Restaurant, 8781 Main Street in Birch Run, while digging into the ice cream confection with another spoon.

"They got an overwhelming amount of calls about us being on their show," said Steve Fritzler, 10-year owner of the restaurant. "You have to get a certain amount of referrals from customers."

Melanie Sochan | The Saginaw NewsBrian Becker, 35, of Saginaw, a cook at Tony's Restaurant, 8781 Main Street in Birch Run adds a pound of cooked bacon to a turkey club sandwich at the restaurant.

Fritzler said producers contacted him about three months ago and indicated they wanted to tape this summer.

On the day of filming, posted notices will warn patrons not to enter if they don't want to appear on TV.

A representative from show producer Page Productions of Minneapolis, Minn., would not confirm whether taping would take place.

The 25,000-circulation Canadian "Scope RV Camping Magazine" also featured Tony's, Frankenmuth's Bavarian Inn Restaurant and Zehnder's Splash Village Hotel and Water Park, Old City Hall Restaurant in Bay City and the Halo Burger in the Flint area.

Melanie Sochan | The Saginaw NewsThe bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich at Tony's Restaurant, 8781 Main Street in Birch Run contains one pound of cooked bacon.

"Sandwich Paradise" producers and crew, four people in all, flew in from California in September to tape the Travel Channel show at Tony's. They spent eight hours interviewing the owners, employees and customers, Fritzler said.

Business picked up after the broadcasts, including reruns earlier this month, he said. No reruns are scheduled now, according to tvguide.com.

"I'd say two out of 10 customers comment on seeing the show," Fritzler said.

Gus Burns is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9724 or gburns@thesaginawnews.com.