The Big Texan

On our recent trip across the great land of America, my wife, Miranda Kopfschmertzen and I stopped to eat at The Big Texan in Amarillo. If you’ve ever passed through Texas on Interstate 40, you know exactly what I am talking about. The Big Texas is home of the famous 72oz. steak. A steak that is absolutely free…if you can eat it within one hour. Otherwise it will set you back $72. We’d passed by The Big Texan a hundred times before, but for some reason, on this particular passing, I was totally pumped to eat there.

On the evening that we were there, there were two individuals attempting the great 72 Ouncer. One skinny blond lady (she had no chance) and a healthy looking 30 something dude. To make matters more difficult for the eater, the staff puts you center stage in the restaurant with a large countdown clock behind you. Throughout your battle with The 72 Ouncer, random gawkers, strangers and staff will come by to taunt you and take pictures of you/with you. By the end of the hour, the dude had maybe a quarter of the steak eaten. He looked like he’d just ran a marathon.

I had a hard time even imagining what 72 ounces of steak would even look like. Luckily there is a sample on display for the curious. The picture shown left will give you an idea of just how huge this steak is. Now I know what you are thinking. Yes, everything really is big in Texas. But holy smokes! Imagine if Uncle Rico had thrown this steak at Napoleon’s head when Napoleon was riding up to his house on The Sledgehammer with Pedro on the pegs.

I asked one of the waiters how often someone successfully finishes the 72 Ouncer. He said 1 in 9 can do it. Color me impressed. I looked on the winners board near the entrance and sure enough, some 70-year-old dude had succeeded in defeating The 72 Ouncer just the day before.