A friend of mine told me that Jim Cramer did a special on Mad Money about Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. Apparently he loves their stock, but “…wouldn’t enter a Carl’s unless 24‘s Tony Almeida had planted a canister full of pathogen there, millions of lives were on the line and [he] was the only person who could diffuse it.”

As a result, Andy Puzder (the CEO) came on the show to talk with Cramer about his company, their burgers and, most importantly, their sexy ads with Padma Lakshmi and Paris Hilton. In the end, Cramer tried one of their burgers and loved it.

Looks like I’m not the only one who enjoys a burger from Carl’s Jr.

When I first learned of Padma Lakshmi doing a commercial for Hardee’s, I knew I would have to eat whatever she did. Luckily, her burger of choice was the Western Bacon Thickburger.

Now here is where things get a little confusing. In California, there is no Hardee’s. Instead, there is Carl’s Jr., which is almost exactly the same as Hardee’s. A quick look at their websites reveals only a change in the name. The logo and layouts remain the exact same. There is, however, another twist. At Carl’s Jr., there is no such thing as a Thickburger, rather, it is called the Six-Dollar Burger.

I went to the Carl’s Jr. in El Segundo, eager to take a bite out of Padma’s burger. Strangely, I found that all the Six-Dollar Burgers cost about a dollar less than their names would suggest. Fine by me. I asked the cashier what was in the burger and she told me it was bacon, cheese, onion rings and barbecue sauce. I could tell by the pictures of the other burgers that there would be no better unvegan options. The Western Bacon Six-Dollar Burger was so close to being a deliciously unvegan burger, but despite the fact that the onions on it were deep fried to a level of unhealthiness, I could not allow for them to be on my burger.

When my number was called, I grabbed my burger and began to eat. The loss of the onion rings made the burger a whole lot smaller than I would’ve liked. It didn’t look nearly as sexy as the one I had seen Padma eating, but upon biting into it, I felt that I could no longer complain. Rather than the typical cookie-cutter fast food burger, the consistency of this patty felt like it had been hand-compacted. The rest of the ingredients mixed pretty well with the beef. Sadly, it was over all-too quickly and I kind of wished the burger had been bigger even if it meant that it would have cost me six dollars. Most importantly, though, was that once I finished, I felt a connection with Padma Lakshmi that could never be broken.

As the host of Top Chef and the writer of healthy cookbooks, I originally wrote Padma Lakshmi off as vegetarian health nut. All that changed when I saw the picture to the left. There are few things that make me happier than seeing a beautiful woman taking down such a well-prepared piece of meat.

I also have found out that she will be doing ads for Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.) Bacon Western Thickburger. It’s enough to make me run out and find the nearest Hardee’s.Although I’m sure that burger comes with unvegan no-goes like lettuce, tomato and onion, I have to believe that Lakshmi likes it for the bacon and beef. After all, it ain’t easy being a beautiful unvegan hero.

For modeling with meat and bacon burgers and looking gorgeous doing so, Padma Lakshmi, you are a true Unvegan Hero.