When Chris and I road trip we like to find out of the way places to eat even if it is in the desert. On our recent trip to Las Vegas we spent a couple of days exploring outside of Las Vegas and found ourselves in Baker, California. Now Baker is home to several things including the world’s largest thermometer. The story around the thermometer is that Willis Herron had a dream of constructing a 134 foot tall thermometer to show the record high temperature in the U.S., in nearby Death Valley — 134 degrees Fahrenheit in 1913. So he did.
Herron chose Baker, California for the site as it is considered The Gateway to Death Valley and construction of his 134 foot tall thermometer with a gift shop at the bottom began and after some weather related incidents which caused a delay the structure was finally turned on in 1992. Herron died in 2007, the thermometer stopped working in 2012 and it was put up for sale. In 2014 the thermometer was purchased by Herron’s daughter, and his widow paid to repair the thermometer; it was officially turned back on Oct. 11.
The highest temperature still remains at 134 so the structure is still accurate when it boasts the highest temperature.
You can tell the day we were there it was no where near 134 degrees.
The real reason we took the exit to Baker, California was to visit The Mad Greek for lunch. Let me tell you –you could not miss this place. 
Walking inside was an experience just like seeing the outside. The place was jam packed and it is obvious that people flock to this oasis in the desert. 
Chris ordered the lamb gyro platter and I order the pork gyro. We were amazed at the portion size and could obviously not eat it all.
What was surprising was the amount of onions that we unearthed in our gyros. Now I love onion (Chris does not) and it was even way too much for me. Chris picked all his out and I put about half of mine in the container so you can see it was about a whole onion between the two sandwiches. 
After removing the onion we loved our sandwiches. The Tzaziki Sauce was wonderful and we were each given a generous amount to drizzle all over the meat to give it that special greek boost of flavor. I particularly loved the salad that came with Chris’s meal and helped myself to most of it.
The menu was not limited to Greek food. If you could dream it up it was on it and they had a whole area devoted to making milkshakes and other ice cream treats. We were so full after eating our meal that we could not even think about anything else but I saw plenty of folks who were enjoying lovely looking milkshakes.
If you ever find yourself in Baker, California this is a must visit. I did not take nearly enough pictures of the decor but you get the idea. Fun place that we found out was also featured on Diners, Drive Ins And Dives in their first season.
Never mind the grammatical error…..
27 Comments
Leave a commentI love Greek food so would like it there. I am OK with some onions but Paul can´t eat them at all so they would be picked out for sure.
It was a lot of onion! But otherwise it was a great meal and fun place to visit.
Yummmmm…..was thinking about making a greek salad for dinner this week. Wouldn’t be as good as this one though.
The greek salad was really yummy—I don’t like the cheese but it was in a big chunk so Chris was able to have that and I could eat the rest without it bothering me. 🙂
I remember seeing The Mad Greek on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. That is a hilarious amount of onions and I’m with you-I usually love them. Did you get to see Death Valley?
We did not get to Death Valley but maybe next time. It was a mad amount of onions for sure. I think it was a bit much but hey—what do I know?
Looks amazing! I love gyros, but they are so hard to find here in North Iowa!
This place had great ones, trust me. I ate the meat out of it and still did not finish it all!
I love when you take us to places like this. And that’s quite the eatery. I’m with you and Chris on the onions. I like mine cooked, not raw.
It was quite the eatery for sure. There was a constant stream of customers and the menu was so varied. I could have spent a lot of time taking pictures but we were on a deadline. 🙂 Vegas was calling us.
We’re the same way, when traveling we try to find some local place that has local flavors or at least an eclectic local feel. Beats walking into a product of corporate marketing and focus groups like a Mcdairyking or an Olivebee’s… We both like onions too, but not that much.
Yes! Exactly. Yelp usually does a good job for Chris–not so much for me.
I thought the place sounded familiar. Triple D is one of my favs on Food Network, although they seem to on every time I put the tv on. Not a big fan of Greek food and I positively do not do onions, unless they are cooked into oblivion.. ie. spaghetti sauce, chili and the like.
I love Triple D! I went and found the episode (but the one I found was really poor quality so I did not share) and enjoyed seeing all the things that we saw in person again. Fun place and definitely a place to remember.
I noticed your caption on the sign, that was the first thing that popped out haha “your here” – I love gyros! This looks like a place I’d love to eat at.
Yep—most people would have noticed it and it was glaring!!!!
The thermometer reminds me of our family vacations when I was a kid. My dad would always stop for the “World’s Tallest/Biggest/Longest” whatever, and then all the kids (5 of us!) would beg for some tacky souvenir. We usually wound up getting ice cream instead. Much better!
Those sound like amazing memories of vacations gone by. I love that your dad sought out those special places! Great idea to opt for ice cream instead of a tacky souvenir!
Greek is my absolute favorite cuisine and nothing beats a gyro unless it’s souvlaki. I’d have taken your onions, too. Yummy post!
I would have gladly shared my onions. This place was amazing from start to finish—-the decor was so interesting.
I love Greek food. I have to stay away from the onions and tomatoes due to health related issues.
You would have loved this place if you like Greek food. I am sure you could ask for no onions but I did not know how many there would be on it. 🙂
That looks so amazing good! but yes, hold half the onions – wow. You could have had one of those blooming onion things with all those. I just had a Greek quinoa salad today – but your gyro looks way better!
What, no pictures of the Martians next door? We were in Baker in April. Crazy fun place – the only show around for 60 miles!
It really was a quick stop on our way back to Vegas after going to the preserve but it was fun without a doubt. And definitely the place everyone stops at!
I love greek food but haven’t had it in a while. I like onions, don’t love them… so I always end up taking out about half…
I love onions and even this had too many for me. Greek food is so good except for the cheese part—I am not a fan of feta so I usually have to pick it out if I forget to ask for it without. 🙂