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Due to a mix of geographic isolation and Hispanic heritage, the food is a redolent, sumptuous mix of north Mexican cooking and Southern home cooking, giving area dishes a very rich, heavy and spicy character. Sometimes the menus are in Spanish.
Tex-Mex, Mexican, and Southern cooking are what this region does best. In general, steer away from East Asian; stick with items like country-fried steaks, barbecue, and Mexican dishes like burritos, asado (a tangy dish, often pork, cooked in oil and ground-up chiles), chiles rellenos (raw green chiles that are stuffed with meat, cheeses, and spices and then baked; can be hot or mild), and barbacoa (slow-cooked beef seasoned with tangy marinade). (Note that some barbacoa is actually from the head of the cow [called barbacoa de cabeza].)
They don't call this place "Big Texan" for nothing: if you can eat four-and-a-half pounds of steak plus a shrimp cocktail, baked beans, a salad, and a roll with butter, before the clock ticks off an hour—while everyone, including a web cam, is watching—your dinner is on the house. Since 1960, when Bob Lee opened the restaurant and motel along Route 66 near the Amarillo stockyards, diners and drinkers of all varieties have poured in. Now positioned on the busier Interstate 40, Big Texan is still pulling in busloads of business with an on-site brewery (try the nutty, maple-sweet Pecan Porter) with all-day service and a menu that includes a full-monty selection of beef plus a smattering of chicken, seafood, and pork options—and for "real" Texans, mountain oysters.
Eat like a pioneer at this landmark restaurant, once housed inside the livestock-auction building at the Amarillo stockyards. Now, you can belly up next to the local cowhands who still stand in line in the diner-style downtown location to eat lightly breaded chicken-fried steak with white cream gravy made famous by the late Mom Roberts. While the menu selections may be heavy on the calories, the bill will be light on your wallet. If you can, save room for homemade cobbler for dessert. Kids under 12 can choose from the "Lil' Buckaroo's Menu." Call ahead to see whether fajitas are on the menu.
