Stars Shine Bright

The Big Texan Steak Ranch is nothing if not enthusiastic about itself. Beginning around Santa Rosa, NM, the Big Texan promises that free steak lies a mere three hours due east, in Amarillo, TX. It makes this promise over and over again on countless billboards as the miles wind down. Free steak is only two hours away! Free steak in 90 miles! Free steak in 45 miles! The billboards all feature a fire-seared steak, a cartoonish cowboy, and the old-timey western motif of yellow and brown with a saloon-door font. As an emissary from the great state of Everything Is Bigger, the Big Texan proudly perpetuates all of the stereotypes. Few businesses would be as proudly and unwaveringly hokey.First opened in 1960, the Big Texan is a north Texas institution, a big, gaudy fish happily swimming in a small pond along I-40. The restaurant, also a motel and opry, is most famous for its Texas King challenge: if you can eat a shrimp cocktail, salad, set of dinner rolls, and seventy-two-ounce steak in a...