The Big Texan Steak Ranch is a steakhouse restaurant and motel located in Amarillo, Texas, United States which opened on the previous U.S. Route 66 in the 4500 block of East Amarillo Boulevard in 1960. It relocated to its present location on Interstate 40 in 1970. Fire gutted the west wing of the restaurant in 1976 and destroyed $100,000 in antiques. The restaurant reopened as a larger facility in 1977. The building is painted a bright yellow, with blue trim. A large bull statue advertises their "free" 72 oz. steak (see below). The now-closed Texas Tornado Museum resided off in a far corner of the parking lot on the property.The Texas KingThe Big Texan is best known for its 72 ounce (4.5 pounds or 2.04 kg) steak, nicknamed "The Texas King." The steak is free to anyone who, in one hour or less, can eat the entire meal, consisting of the steak itself, a bread roll with butter, a baked potato, shrimp cocktail, and a salad; otherwise, the meal costs $72. Those who have successfully consumed the Texas King meal have their names recorded and posted at the restaurant. As of October 2016, over 9,500 people out of about 59,000 have accomplished this feat.According to the restaurant, when featured on the TV show Man v. Food, the challenge started in 1960, when founder Bob Lee decided to hold a contest over which of the cowboys working in the stockyards could eat the most steaks in one hour, with a prize of $5 (over $41 when adjusted for inflation in 2017) at stake. One cowboy ate four and a half 1-pound steaks, a shrimp cocktail, dinner roll, and a salad in the hour's time to win the $5. Lee was so impressed with the achievement that he declared, "Whoever eats that much again in my restaurant, he gets it for free."
