The Big Texan in Amarillo -- What Did I Miss?

Just got back from my route 66-ish road trip driving my now-graduated actor son to L.A. to seek fame and fortune. Biggest disappointment: we rolled through Amarillo late afternoon when neither of us were hungry for dinner, and Bruce didn't want to wait so we could try the steaks (but not the famous $50 48-ouncer finish-it-in-an-hour-and-its-free meal) at Big Texan. Yes, I've seen the joint on Food Network, and on the Simpsons episode where trucker Big Red drops dead from "meat poisioning" -- but I really wanted to know if the food was any good or just a tourist trap. Has anyone eaten there?
>>Brent

Hi,

I was at the Big Texan about 10 years ago, on my Route 66 trip which concluded in Arizona when I headed south to Phoenix.

We thought it was pure tourist trap, though it fell into the category of "So bad, it's good." You have to understand on that trip, I was stopping at all the Route 66 highlights. So if a roadside tourist trap had live Buffalo, I stopped to see the Buffalo. When I was a kid, my Dad would drive by all the cool stuff because it was a "Tourist Trap," though that stuff can be fun. We also checked the Cadillac Ranch and took lots of pictures. I came by a year later with my Dad who tried to insist we couldn't stop. He wasn't driving, so I stopped anyway.

At the Big Texan, I ate stuff I cannot easily get at home like rattlesnake and mountain oysters. We enjoyed the experience though it wasn't tempting to return when we retraced our Route 66 on the way home.

Did you stay in the concrete Wigwams near the Painted Desert? That was one of the highlights of our trip sleeping in those Wigwams. We met some Swedish tourists who spent considerable time documenting and photographing the place. The founder's children run the motel now. If you come on Sunday and there is room available, they will not let you a room. They observe the Sabbith and do not work.

[Please note I have always been the personality you see in my postings today. Before I found everyone here, I was just doing it solo.]

Wow, yes, thanks for the picture post -- we did pass the Wigwams. But I opted for the more familiar surroundings of Comfort Inn: needed the high-speed Internet connection to do work.
>>Brent

The Big Texan of today is not the Big Texan of old. I first encountered it back in 1968. Yes, we fell into the trap seeing the signs for 300 miles about the free steak. BTW, it's 72 ounces, not 48.

Back then it was actually a really good steak house. It was the kind of place where you walked in and it looked like a butcher shop where you got to pick out the exact cut of meat you wanted. The steaks we ordered were excellent.

We didn't try the 72 oz. monster, but someone at a nearby table did. It was absolutely the most disgusting piece of meat I've ever seen. It's basically a 4.5 lb. roast cooked like a steak. It was almost burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.

The next time we tried it was about 10 years later. I understand it had been rebuilt after a fire. The option to pick out your cut of meat was gone. The place had been turned into a real tourist trap and included tableside music with some guy walking around with a fiddle and a woman singing C&W songs. UGGGH.

The steaks weren't bad, but they weren't high quality steakhouse fare either. It was much better though than you'd find at most restaurants at highway interchanges. Much better than Denny's or Craker Barrel and far above Sizzler and Ponderosa, but well below Mortons or G&G.

Unfortunately that was still 27 years ago. I have no idea what it's like now. But if you're on the road and are going to stop for food anyway, you probably can't go wrong. Unless you're familiar with the areas off the interstate a little bit, you'd probably have a hard time finding a better steak on your own.

midas wrote:The Big Texan of today is not the Big Texan of old. I first encountered it back in 1968. Yes, we fell into the trap seeing the signs for 300 miles about the free steak. BTW, it's 72 ounces, not 48.

Midas,

I stopped at the Big Texan in the early 80's while riding cross-country on my motorcycle. I remember eyeing the 72-oz steak appreciatively, but didn't have the necessary week to spend in Amarillo to digest.

Enjoy,
Gary