Wheel Inn Restaurant

To truly dig this I-10 truck stop and family eatery, let's work backwards like the paleontologists do. Here's an actual conversation we had with Wheel Inn restaurant co-owner Marie Kothera:

CL: I heard the apatosaurus ate something like a million pounds of food per day. Where would they eat? Here or Burger King? MK: I think they'd come here, because they know what's a good restaurant. CL: And you guys have big portions? MK: We should call them dino-portions. CL: Big enough for apatosaurus? MK: Yes.

Ok, so here come the footnotes: The Wheel Inn has been in business since 1958. The property's owner was Dinosaurs builder and all-around visionary Claude Bell. Czech emigres Marie and her executive chef husband Karel Kothera have run the Wheel since Jan. 12, 1993. The place has a loyal clientele, largely unwilling to defect to the Burger King and Denny's that arrived next door in 1998. Most amazingly, the eatery hasn't closed once in 35 years -- not for a single minute, they say.

The menu's full of hot and cold sandwiches, hamburgers, steak dinners (includes your choice of soup, salad, rice or potatoes), and lots of omelettes. It's hard to spend 10 bucks for a meal. The Wheel's most proud of their homemade pies, especially the banana pie and the rare peanut butter cream pie.

By the way, Marie Kothera, what's it like working next to a 150-foot-long apatosaurus and a 55-foot-tall tyrannosaurus?

"Whenever someone comes from my family in Europe, I always take their pictures with the dinosaurs. I have sent so many postcards with dinosaurs, that people just think I live in a dinosaur park."

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