May is “National Hamburger Month” and naturally, Margaritaville is celebrating!

This year, Margaritaville celebrates all things hamburger with Meat us at Margaritaville, a month long promotion focusing on the American classic, and offering a variety of burger and beverage features. “With close to 25 years of serving up our signature Cheeseburger in Paradise, we have guests that have grown up on our burgers,” explains Tamara Baldanza, Margaritaville’s director of marketing. “It only makes sense that during National Hamburger Month, we would celebrate this great American food and the folks who love to eat them!”

Nationwide, the Margaritaville restaurants now serve-up over 1 million burgers annually. This year, Margaritaville encouraged its Facebook fans to log on and vote on their favorite burgers created by various Margaritaville chefs. The 5 winning burgers were announced on April 21st and will be featured during the month of May at all participating Jimmy Buffett restaurant U.S. locations.

Here were the winning burgers:

• Carolina Cheeseburger (Chef Kevin Muldoon/Myrtle Beach)
• Caprese Burger (Chef Dan Murray/Orlando)
• Cajun Surf and Turf Burger (Chef Mark Collins/Mohegan Sun)
• Goin’ Back to Cali Burger (Chef Ron Sturm/Key West)
• Smokey Mountain Burger (Chef Randall Aguillard/New Orleans)

Become a fan of Margaritaville on Facebook. And while you’re at it, become a fan of BuffettWorld on Facebook too!

After some minor snags and slight alterations, construction of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Restaurant & Bar has been approved by Nashville’s Metropolitan Historic Zoning Commission:

Plans for singer and beach lover Buffett’s Margaritaville project will move forward with its signature parrot logo perched atop a 16.5-foot sign along downtown’s honky-tonk row.

The $10 million restaurant also will get windows that open to let in fresh air, despite earlier concerns by preservationists that such a design wouldn’t be historically accurate for the area.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Historic Zoning Commission, accepting most of its staff’s recommendations, approved the façade of the beach-themed restaurant at 322 Broadway.

Commissioners also allowed a key sign planned for the corner of Fourth Avenue South and Broadway to rise a foot higher than under normal design guidelines.

Earlier this year, Buffett’s Orlando-based Margaritaville Holdings leased the 18,000-square-foot site from Corner Partnership with plans to open a restaurant by December.

Developers initially had proposed to the commission’s staff a height of 25 feet for the sign. They later scaled that back to 16.5 feet. The staff recommended a foot less, but Buffett and company got those 12 inches back in the end.

“There’s still a concern that it sets a precedent, but we tried to craft our motion so that we were as specific as can be,” said Ann Nielson, chairman of the commission that governs the look of buildings in the city’s historic district.

The staff also felt that letters that light up one at a time on a sign didn’t meet the Broadway Historic District guidelines. But commissioners said the sign is OK since there are other brightly lit signs in the district.

Developers had insisted that windows that open to catch an occasional breeze were critical to the restaurant’s image and Buffett’s plans.

View artists renderings of the restaurant and bar here and check out the official site at www.margaritavillenashville.com.

Jimmy Buffett’s latest offering, the live acoustic double CD Encores, will sell between 30,000-35,000 copies in its first week, according to forecasts from Hits Daily Double.

Buffet Hotel, Jimmy’s last studio album, sold 68,000 copies in its first week back in December.

Glee: The Power of Madonna will top next week’s chart with a total of 100,000-120,000 sold. AC/DC’s Iron Man 2 soundtrack is on pace for between 80-100k.

Encores is available exclusively at Walmart stores and Walmart.com for $12.00. The MP3 album is also available from Walmart.com for $9.00.

Update – It’s also available for purchase at Margaritaville.com

Margaritaville.com has confirmed that Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will perform at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 23rd.

Tickets go on sale Monday, April 26th at 10 am PT through TicketMaster

Book a hotel in Las Vegas now!

(H/T Billy Ray)

Jimmy Buffett’s new live acoustic double album entitled “Encores” hits stores today! Swing by your local Walmart or Margaritaville to pick it up, or order online for $12.00 at Walmart.com. The MP3 download will be available at Walmart.com only.

“Encores” features 22 of Jimmy’s intimate final encore songs recorded during the 2008/2009 tour. This unique collection showcases Jimmy solo acoustic (12 songs), features a few special guests and is unlike anything he’s released before.

Track List:

Disc 1

1. Come Monday
2. Tin Cup Chalice
3. Growing Older But Not Up
4. Coast Of Carolina
5. Paradise
6. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
7. Nautical Wheelers
8. Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season
9. Banana Republics
10. He Went To Paris
11. Last Mango In Paris

Disc 2

1. L’air De La Louisiane
2. Reggabilly Hill
3. Coast Of Marseilles
4. Lovely Cruise
5. Oysters And Pearls
6. Wildflowers
7. Defying Gravity
8. Big Old Goofy World
9. Death Of An Unpopular Poet
10. Blowin’ In The Wind
11. A Pirate Looks At Forty