Postcard from Amarillo - “Busting Belts at The Big Texan”

Unlike many places visited in this series, The Big Texan Steak Ranch isn’t hidden off some hard to find back road, and isn’t exactly starved for attention. But while it migrated to I-40's shoulder over 50 years ago, its story was absolutely born on Route 66, and flies in the face of anyone who might make the mistake of dismissing Amarillo as “dull.” What’s more, when you enjoy a meal there you’re not just getting prime rib and potatoes, but the kind of fun house “eatertainment” experience the good old American road trip was once known for. Join us as we step inside this delightfully over the top steakhouse to learn of its origins from 2nd generation owner Bobby Lee, hear stories from its first greeter Dale “Tex” Burroughs, enjoy a tableside serenade from singing cowboy troubadours and even cheer on a contestant bold enough to tackle their infamous 72 oz Steak Challenge!

TRANSCRIPT

(As this transcript was obtained via a computerized service, please forgive any typos, spelling and grammatical errors)

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Evan Stern: (00:00)
Hey, Y'all. Evan here. If you've been listening for a while, you might notice a common thread in the places I visit is that you don't know how much longer some of them will be around. Now, I hope I'm not tempting fate, but I don't think Amarillo's Big Texan Steak Ranch exactly fits that mold. It's also certainly not hidden off some hard to find back road and is what you might call a textbook tourist destination. But while it migrated to I-40's shoulder over 50 years ago, its story was absolutely born on Route 66. And when you go there, you're not just getting prime rib and potatoes, but a taste of the kind of fun house experience the good old American road trip was once known for, and like me, I think you'll find it's a darn good time. I'm Evan stern. And this is Vanishing Postcards.

Evan Stern: (02:34)
Those cords are the opening strains of Amarillo By Morning, and it doesn't surprise me when John and Josh Weatherly tell me it's easily. their most requested tune. But this father and son duo aren't gigging at Smokey Joe's or any of the dives that line this town Sixth Avenue. No. They're dodging platters of ribeyes and Western clad waitstaff while performing by my table at The Big Texan Steak Ranch,

John Weatherly: (03:00)
The world's greatest steak ranch. Absolutely the world's greatest steak ranch.

Josh Weatherly: (03:05)
An incredible place to be. It's uh, looking at it on TV does not do the place justice. You gotta be here to see it.

Evan Stern: (03:12)
They've been filling in over the last nine months for family patriarch Doc Clark, who after 46 years on payroll has earned the right to scale back a few nights. Considering this, they're relative newbies by Big Texan standards, but despite confessing to a few opening night jitters, they've clearly been having fun on the job.

John Weatherly: (03:32)
Man. Very scary. Very scary. I, I really thought I needed me a diaper. I was scared that scared, but yeah, it wasn't bad. After, after you get through the first song or two, it's not so bad.

Josh Weatherly: (03:44)
I can't compare to anything else because this is my first gig. This is my first job ever.

John Weatherly: (03:50)
It's the best, best thing I've ever done in my life. I mean, there's absolutely nothing more fun than meeting people and playing music for 'em.

Josh Weatherly: (03:56)
One day we were, we were just playing like normal and we're shooting the breeze with this one, man. And we, we end up playing a Hank Williams song for him and he really enjoys it. Anyways, we go away from the table and his, uh, lady, whoever he was hanging out with comes to see us. And she's like, "Do you know who you just played for?" And we were like, no idea. She said, well, you played for Bernie Leadon of The Eagles and blew our minds. We played for a rock and roll hall of Famer. And we were like, didn't even know

Evan Stern: (04:26)
Having grown up licking salt off the rim of my parents' happy hour margaritas, I'm pretty used to enjoying a tableside mariachi serenade. That said, roving cowboy troubadours are something of a new experience for me. But Bobby Lee, the Big Texan's Burt Reynolds, lookalike owner tells me that very little about this place fits any kind of traditional mold.

Bobby Lee: (04:49)
It's it's more than a restaurant. Uh, Danny and I, my brother, Danny and I always are very careful about calling a restaurant or acting like it's a restaurant because it's, it's so much more. It gives people, such a, a unique experience because this part of the country is, is so flat. And so barren. And people come through here. They're excited about Texas and they, and they wanna see something of Texas. They get to stop here and here's this huge yellow building. And it's it's everything that they would expect this place to be. But when for somebody to come in here, it's, it's more than, than, than a meal. It's uh, it goes back to the three ring circus. This is, this is what we do at The Big Texan.. And we call it, eatertainment.

Evan Stern: (05:31)
Eatertainment. Never heard that before, but it's a good descriptor because this place is like Disney's Fort Wilderness on steroids. Garish, massive and unmissable from the interstate, it feeds roughly 1,500 customers a day and over half a million each year. When I ask Bobby, if he knows how much beef they go through, he can't say, but informs me his co-owner brother just bought an impressive order of calf fries. But I guess for listeners who, uh, might be ignorant, what is a calf fry?

Bobby Lee: (06:04)
Calf fry is a bull ball, fried bull ball. And we sell tons of them. Like I said, my brother bought 60,000 pounds of them two weeks ago and we'll sell 'em all before this time. Next year,

Evan Stern: (06:18)
Pulling into the parking lot in the shadow of its 84 foot sign. You'll be greeted by the sculpture of an enormous painted cow. Before walking down its boardwalk inspired wraparound porch. Entering you'll find a gift shop, that's home to a 20 year old pet rattlesnake named Brenda and animatronic shooting gallery that's like a twisted saloon riff on Chuck E Cheese. If this seems like a lot to take in though, brace yourself for the dining room, which in addition to its long tables is something of a multi-level cathedral to taxidermy.

Bobby Lee: (06:51)
You know, it's so funny, these animal heads in here that people look at that and they always say that, are you a hunter? Where where'd you get these things from? And you know, this place we get, this is a regular deal that we'll get at least one to two people that'll come in. And they'll ask to see the owner, the manager. And they'll say I've got something in my car I think you'd be interested in. And we've seen over the years, we've seen everything from weapons of mass destruction, to body parts, to shrunken heads, to animal heads of every kind, uh, because people have them in their car, they're trying to unload 'em somewhere. And they're always trying to sell something outta the back of their car. That's where we get so many of these animal heads. And so many weird oddities is, is from people. They find us. And my wife always jokes about that. She says, you know, you draw the strangest weirdest things. I said, no, it's the restaurant. It just, it is what it is. PETA has come out before. Uh, but once again, I mean, I consider that promotion. Publicity

Evan Stern: (07:52)
Promotion is a gift Bobby inherited from his Chicagoan father who settled in Amarillo following a stint with Marriott and recognized the potential this High Plains outpost promised

Bobby Lee: (08:03)
You don't go to Amarillo because it's a destination or you want to go there. It's, it's strictly a pass through market. It's geographically. It's an ideal situation because it's a halfway point between Dallas and Denver, uh, Oklahoma city and Albuquerque El Paso and Kansas city. I mean, it's, it's like all the roads meet in this part. The 197 mile strip east to west, going from Oklahoma City to Albuquerque. This is the only time so many people get a chance to see Texas. This is where the Big Texan got the magic from because back then Route 66 was the carrier. And, uh, that's what really brought the customers to there because when you're in Texas, so many people that have never been to Texas, and this is the only time they go through it is this little strip going through the Panhandle. You know, it's like, um, if you go to Hawaii, you wanna see girls and grass skirts.

Bobby Lee: (08:56)
And when they come through the Texas Panhandle, they wanna see big cowboys. They wanna see horseback riders on the street. You know, this is, this is what they wanna see. And that's, that's, that's a, that was a real nice fertile ground for starting the Big Texan. And it really was my dad being a Yankee, had no idea about, you know, what it was to be a Texan or a cowboy or anything else, but he saw that there was a tremendous opportunity opportunity for that. The original, Big Texan when opened it, it really lacked a lot of the, you know, big show stuff like it did nowadays. But the original Big Texan was about four blocks away from the Amarillo Stockyards. And at the time that was one of the largest stockyards in, in, in the country. And the cowboys that worked there would, they started stopping by his place because he would cash their checks and then he was smart enough.

Bobby Lee: (09:46)
He would sell them nickel beer. And he put 'em at the very center table of the restaurant to where all these tourists could come in in that and look in to see these cowboys and there they were. And then the reaction that they were getting from the tourists was amazing. He was smart enough to sit back and let them do what they were gonna do and watch the reaction to the people. And it was big buzz on Route 66 back then that you could stop in this place and see these big cowboys. And that's when he started making the additional changes and added things to the deal. Um, you know, we were famous for having a cowboy on the back on a horseback, out in front of the place. And that came from one of those cowboys horses getting outta the trailer. And it was wandering around the parking lot.

Bobby Lee: (10:28)
And they came into, there was a horse out in the parking lot. So this cowboy went out there and jumped up on his horse. And when he jumped up on his horse, cars were actually running into each other on, on Route 66 in front of the place, because there was a cowboy and horseback, like they always thought that, well, this was Texas. My dad went up to the guy. He says, whatever you're making at the stock yards, I'll pay you double to sit on your horseback in the parking lot here. So it was little things like that, that, that added to the flavor and the development of the Big Texan.

Evan Stern: (10:55)
Noticing this success to add to the flare, Bobby's dad decided to hire a greeter who could embody the role of the big Texan himself and struck gold with a tall, handsome, charismatic college freshman by the name of Dale Burroughs. Nearing 80 and now living in Temple, he quickly corrected me when I called him Dale over the phone, because six decades after his first shift, he still answers to Tex.

Dale "Tex" Burroughs: (11:20)
RJ. Uh, Lee, Bobby, and Danny's dad, uh, told me to introduce myself as Tex, after he had hired me to, uh, be the greeter and, and greet people. And so I, I thought it was kind of corny, but, uh, I did it. I was embarrassed the first couple of weeks. Uh, I finally figured out that these people are somebody I'm never gonna see again in my life. We're on Highway 66. So I started having fun with it. And so by the time I went in the army, Tex was pretty Well ensconced and, and now it's everybody, except my immediate family calls me Tex. Uh, RJ knew the cafeteria manager down at West Texas State. And he called in and asked him if there was, he was looking for somebody tall that could, uh, portray a Texas cowboy to, uh, work summers for him. And so there were two of us that went up. My roommate and I, we were both basketball players, uh, Scotty Pierce. So six, eight, and I was six, seven. So we went up and, uh, talked to Mr. Lee and he hired us both on the spot.

Evan Stern: (12:33)
His roommate didn't last long, but Tex ended up sticking with the job for five years because he found he liked the free food. And especially the people, because you just never knew who might show up

Dale "Tex" Burroughs: (12:44)
That first year. Uh, Dick Clark's Bandstand Productions, uh, their touring bus stopped there for lunch one day. And, uh, the first group to get off was Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs. Their one hit was Wooly Bully. Now this is 1962 and the law of the land is integration. But, uh, uh, this not necessarily true, especially back in those days. So, I saw three black girls get off the bus and, uh, I went, immediately, went out to, uh, ask them to come in. I just said, "Ladies, if you can have lunch, come on in and I'll get you a table." Just to let 'em know that it's okay. In case they wanted to do that. And, uh, one of 'em said, "Well, no- we're in show business. And, uh, we, we have to watch our weight. So we eat breakfast and then we eat supper, but, uh, we don't eat lunch."

Dale "Tex" Burroughs: (13:46)
So I spent the rest of the noon hour out there talking to them until they left. And, uh, as everybody asked me, they always wanna know how tall I am. Well, I was six, seven, and I had about, uh, two inches on a heel on my boot. And I had a hat that stuck up a little more above my head. And I knew they couldn't tell how tall I was. So I said "Sugar, I'm seven feet tall." And she goes, "Mm mm. Well, if you're so tall, how tall is your wife?" And I said, "Sugar. I don't have a wife. In fact, I don't even have a good prospect." Well, she grabbed hold of my arm and said, "Honey, well you do now. Do you know who that girl was? Diana Ross. Diana Ross and the original Supremes.

Evan Stern: (14:38)
It's pretty easy to infer that today's circus-like atmosphere is nothing new and can be traced to Bobby Lee's father.

Dale "Tex" Burroughs: (15:38)
RJ was a most interesting guy to work for. I realized quickly that, uh, he was more like PT Barnum than he was a restaurant owner. He was always looking for some idea to promote the place. And so he, one of the things that he did that really put it on the map, uh, he had, uh, billboards, uh, talking about the Big Texan restaurant all the way, 300 miles from the west and 250 miles from the east. And we had a lot of people that stopped just to find out what this place was like, because they had seen so many signs.

Evan Stern: (16:25)
Those billboards are still there. You'll pass 75 of them on I-40 approaching Amarillo from either direction. And they still advertise one of RJs, wildest ideas, the free 72 ounce steak.

Bobby Lee: (16:40)
So it was 12 seats at this big table. He put in the middle of the dining room for those cowboys. He said, you know, who can eat the most? And they all said, I can do this. I can do that. Of course I want to out do it. And he said, look, next Friday, there's 12 seats here. It's $5 a seat. I'm gonna bring out one pound steaks over an hour period of time. And whoever eats the most, one pound steaks will get the $5, which was $60. And, uh, the buzz was all over town and he called the newspaper about it. So there was a lot of publicity and he was learning as he went because he realized what, what this generated, you know, appetite was, uh, you know, gluttony, you know, somebody could do this, all these big cowboys in there. So, uh, he started bringing up the one pound steaks and uh, one cowboy ate two of them.

Bobby Lee: (17:24)
And then he realized he was ahead of everybody else. So he said, well, he wanted to show off a little bit more. So he said, well, bring me a baked potato over there, bring me a salad. And I want one of them shrimp cocktails and, and bring me some more bread. And he started eating all this other stuff. And then he ate two and a half more. So that was four and a half, one pound steaks, which is 72 ounces. And the entire dinner he ate was the shrimp cocktail, tossed salad, roll butter. And, and he, he was able to eat all that in one hour. And my dad saw the reaction from the dining room that he had eaten four and a half, one pound steaks. And he said from this day forward, anybody that can eat this meal will get it for free.

Evan Stern: (18:00)
That was within the first months of opening back in 1960, since then, tens of thousands have taken this challenge head on, and its hype shows no signs of slowing. In fact, the dining room centerpiece is a stage built to showcase competitors so patrons can cheer and count along as the minutes tick by on an oversized clock. But having had a ringside seat for his entire lifetime, Bobby has learned never to place bets on winners or losers.

Bobby Lee: (18:28)
Uh, we had a little lady, 128 pounds, eat, three of them in 20 minutes, which I still, I sat there and watched it. It was on national television and it really, really happened. It was like a, a human lawnmower when she was going through it. But sure, it's, there's a lot of other eating contest across the country, which is fine. But once again, this is like, uh, the Stanley cup. I mean, there's only one Stanley cup and the big Texan that this is a, this is a standard mark. This is a benchmark for all the competitive leaders to come in here and say that they've done this one. What's so funny about it. It's the same rules. Uh, it's still one of every six men that'll do it. It's still one of every two women that'll do it. Uh, and it's, there's no profile for, oh, somebody says something to do it.

Bobby Lee: (19:13)
Oh, he is gonna do it. There's no way of knowing until they get into it. There's no. Oh, well he's 200 pounds. He's gonna be able to do it. He's 300 pounds. I've seen, I've seen wrestlers come in after they were at the Amarillo Civic Center. I mean, some of these guys are so big we have to let them in through the back kitchen door. And they come in, they can't even get close to it, but yet once again, we had a little tiny people come in and eat the thing. So there's, there's no secret formula on that. And, and people get up there, but for them to win for them to get a t-shirt and announced as a winner to get a, a certificate of the world's most exclusive club, which is 72 ounce steak eat club. That's, especially the, and the marketing, the advertisement those people are gonna do for you walking around the country, beating their chest, saying they did it. The promotion we get off winners are so much better when they lose. They'll say I lost, and they're not gonna tell all of people if they win, they're gonna tell everybody. And I, had a guy graduate from Harvard law school and he sent me a picture of his law degree up on his own office wall. Underneath it, he had the plaque with the 72 ounce steak eaters deal. So

Evan Stern: (20:12)
Just then I notice a Husky bearded, 40 something take the stage. I can tell from his grin, he's a fun loving sport. So I run over to introduce myself. Well, what's your name? Good,

Ken Frank: (20:23)
Sir. Uh, Ken Frank.

Evan Stern: (20:24)
And where are you in from?

Ken Frank: (20:25)
Uh, Tucson, Arizona,

Evan Stern: (20:26)
Tucson, Arizona. And so, uh, have you, have you heard of the, uh, big Texan challenge before?

Ken Frank: (20:30)
I have, so I saw it on the Food Network. I think it's about 12 years ago and I told myself if ever drove through Texas, I was gonna do it. And so now my family and I are on an RV trip across the country. And so we're here.

Evan Stern: (20:42)
And so what's your strategy?

Ken Frank: (20:44)
Uh, gonna go all the meat first and then, uh, hit up all the, the potatoes and the rolls and the salad afterwards.

Evan Stern: (20:50)
You think you're gonna do it?

Ken Frank: (20:52)
Uh, I hope so. give it a college try.

Evan Stern: (20:55)
All right, man. Well, I'm gonna be rooting for you.

Ken Frank: (20:57)
Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Evan Stern: (20:58)
I don't wanna psych him out too much and leave the stage before two waitresses show up carting his daunting smorgasboard. They give him a second to inspect the meat, then grab the room's attention.

Waitress: (21:12)
Attention, Big Texan. We've got Ken all the way from Arizona trying a 72 ounce challenge. He's got an hour to eat. 72 ounces of meat, steak, potatoes, salad, bread and three fried shrimps. Come up here. Take as many pics as you like, but please stay off the stage. Let's give him a round of applause -

Evan Stern: (21:35)
Without missing a beat, Ken starts sawing the meat into bite size pieces and begins putting it away with speedy focus. I'm impressed outta the gate. And ask my waitress, Zoe for her assessment, but she says it's too early to tell. And I trust her because she's clearly witnessed a lot.

Zoie: (21:51)
And there was once a guy who choked on the first bite, like the first bite happening, like choked on it. It's bad. I say that's memorable, but there was um, a guy who did it in like 15 minutes. Once when I was here, like I didn't even like process that he was even doing it. Like I looked, they announced him look back and he was just done.

Evan Stern: (22:14)
And have you ever seen anyone get sick?

Zoie: (22:16)
Oh yeah. Too many times too many times. I go straight to the kitchen. As soon as that happens, I am not a big fan of seeing that

Evan Stern: (22:25)
Around the telltale 20 minute mark, I identify Ken's cheering section, introduce myself and check in with his wife, Amanda and young son, Kenny II, to get a read on how they feel dad is doing.

Amanda: (22:37)
So, uh, my husband was the CEO of an assisted living facility company, which was clearly a lot the past couple years. So, uh, last spring I handed him a beer and said, I think you need to leave your job. And we need to buy a motor home and travel the country cuz I can work from anywhere. Uh, and so a few months later we did. And so we are on that trip. We're like 4,000 miles and two and a half months in. And we stopped at Amarillo specifically. So he could do this silly steak challenge. And so here we are traveling the country. You can follow us on Instagram. I'm supposed to do that. Right? Like isn't that thing. Follow us on Instagram at Boomer and Dukes. Um, but yeah, it's crazy. So we're, full-time RV family now just traveling the country, living our best life.

Evan Stern: (23:25)
Okay. So how so how's he doing?

Amanda: (23:28)
Um, he's doing good.

Evan Stern: (23:29)
You think he's gonna win?

Amanda: (23:31)
I, I mean, I know he can do it. He, he gave me kind of a, uh, not as confident look a moment ago, which I think is just like psyching himself out, but he's got this.

Evan Stern: (23:42)
I turn to the retired hippies, seated to the family's left to get their read on the situations. Alright. If you're, uh, if you were placing a bet, is he gonna win it? Is he gonna pull this off?

Hippy: (23:51)
Oh, he ha a hundred percent is going to win this baby. I would lay a million dollars down on him winning it.

Hippy: (23:58)
Yeah, I would cuz I don't really have a million dollars. So

Evan Stern: (24:01)
Who does nowadays? Where are you in from?

Hippy: (24:03)
We're from Washington state

Evan Stern: (24:05)
Bobby. However, isn't quite as rosy in his assessment.

Bobby Lee: (24:10)
Let's see. He's- I always watch the way they chew the way they breathe, the size of bites they're taking. If he's taking that size bite, he's not gonna make it. If he's 25 minutes into it, that 20 minute mark is usually when your stomach starts telling your brain what in the world are you doing to me? You know, it's, it's really funny. And it looks like he might be slowing down. See how long he's chewing. He shouldn't be chewing that much. Cuz that meat is nice and tender and his mouth is dry.

Evan Stern: (24:39)
Checking in on Ken a few minutes later seems to confirm Bobby knows what he's talking about. How you doing brother?

Ken Frank: (24:46)
I'm feeling it.

Evan Stern: (24:47)
you're looking good. I'm rooting for you.

Ken Frank: (24:49)
Thank you.

Evan Stern: (24:51)
Actually, he does have a case of meat sweats, which is something Amanda can't help, but notice,

Amanda: (24:56)
Uh, I think he's slowing down.

Hippy: (24:59)
He's getting close. Get

Evan Stern: (25:00)
How much time do we have left?

Amanda: (25:02)
I, I think we're under 10 minutes.

Kenny II: (25:05)
He heard me again.

Amanda: (25:06)
He heard you, Bud.

Evan Stern: (25:18)
But despite young Kenny's howls and having made a valient effort, he proves no match for the clock and even the crowd's count down ends in an anti-climatic whim. Okay. Are you, are you good to talk? Oh

Ken Frank: (25:50)
yeah.

Evan Stern: (25:51)
How, how are you feeling right now?

Ken Frank: (25:52)
Full, other than feeling full? I feel good. just very full .

Evan Stern: (25:57)
So knowing what, knowing what you know now, would you do it again?

Ken Frank: (26:02)
I would, I didn't have the, the jaw muscles that to, to chew that much, uh, towards the end. I couldn't break down the meat. I couldn't chew enough to break the meat down. So, uh, maybe a little more training uh, I don't know if I would do this one, but I would definitely do another eating challenge.

Evan Stern: (26:22)
Well, good luck to you and all of your, uh, future endeavors. Good, sir.

Ken Frank: (26:26)
Thank you. You as well.

Evan Stern: (26:28)
And so ends another night of spectacle at The Big Texan. There have been many before and I trust there will be many to come. Bobby tells me they'll have to wheel him out on a stretcher before he calls it quits and that his sons are in line to take over whenever that day arrives. Changes are to be expected and this place has moved and adapted with the times before, but provided Amarillo maintains its position as a crossroads. And those who pass through continue to hunger for a taste of Western mystique. The Big Texan and its namesake sign will endure.

Bobby Lee: (27:05)
My Dad had a company named Horrell sign company, make that back in 1959 before he opened. The second it went up. It, it became the, the most recognizable icon on, on Route 66. Uh, his name is Tex. We're probably gonna be taking him down to repaint him. We do that about every 10 years. Uh, and it's really weird when he comes down. It's kind of a weird feeling to look up there and not see him. And you know, every, every time I, I, I leave the restaurant, I always kind of look up at him and just think about, you know, over the past 61 years, how many millions and millions of people have looked up and seen him and, and used him as a, as a, like a lighthouse for, uh, wherever they're at that they, that there's the lighthouse. There it is. That's, that's where the Big Texan is at. I never would've dreamed that. I know my dad would never have dreamed that it would be such an icon just like the 72 ounce steak, but I guess hopefully he'll be another here another 60 years after I'm gone.