A North Carolina restaurant took exotic cuisine to a whole new level when it announced that it would serve a tarantula burger to celebrate “Exotic Meat Month.”
Bull City Burger and Brewery in Raleigh announced that throughout April, customers could sample a tarantula atop one of their burgers with a side of “dirty fries” for $30 if they enter and win a raffle.
Winners of the raffle have 48 hours to pick a time and date to come into the restaurant and devour the spider-topped burger.
“Should you be unable to call within the two-day period to claim your tarantula, it will be returned to the spider burrow and raffled off to another lucky winner,” according to the rules stated on the restaurant’s website.
Those brave enough to take on and complete the restaurant’s “Tarantula Challenge” get a free t-shirt bearing the restaurant’s logo.
“There’s no age limit, so it’s really for an adventurous kid that likes to try new things — like kids that are eating spiders or ants already,” said Megan Cindrich, Bull City Burger and Brewery’s “media maven.”
The owner of Bull City Burger and Brewery, Seth Gross, introduced exotic ingredients such as elk, chocolate-covered bugs, and crickets to the menu seven years ago as a way to explore different “food trends.”
“He was just looking at what kind of food trends are out there and how people in other parts of the world eat — how they get their protein,” Cindrich said. “He thought, ‘Why not have the tarantula?'”
The restaurant’s special “free-range” beef burger contains gruyere cheese, spicy chili sauce, and an oven-roasted tarantula on top. And according to Cindrich, the tarantulas are safe to eat.
Bull City Burger and Brewery plans to continue the “Tarantula Challenge”—which is now in its third year—through the end of April. Six people have taken the challenge so far, with several more planning to take the plunge.