The historic Crossroads Diner, on a newer alignment of Route 66 in Mount Olive, Ill., is offering the Crossroads Burger challenge to prospective competitive eaters, starting today.
The Crossroads Burger challenge consists of a 60-ounce burger and fries. If you eat everything in an hour, you get it all for free and win a T-shirt. If you fail, it’ll cost you $25. There’s no word on whether free Alka-Seltzer is available.
This obviously is inspired by another longtime Route 66 institution, the Big Texan Steak Ranch of Amarillo. There, you can have a free 72-ounce steak, potato, shrimp cocktail and salad if you eat all the meal in an hour.
Starting May 3, the Crossroads also announced it will be open 24 hours a day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Otherwise, hours are from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The Crossroads was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2009. More about the history of the restaurant from the Illinois Route Association:
The Crossroads Diner was placed on the west side of Route 66 and south side of Route 138 in Mt. Olive in late 1953. It officially opened for business in early 1954. They opened as the Crossroads Diner and have kept the name ever since. It was and still is on the 1940 to 1977 alignment of Route 66. The Crossroads belongs to the original owners, the Oltman Family although most of the time it has been leased out. The diner has been on Old Route 66 for about 55 years. It is different than most diners because it has two horseshoe counters, which was the original diner. Then in the mid 60’s an additional dinning area and larger kitchen were added on. Back in the 50’s the Crossroads also had a gas station on the lot that eventually was closed.
(Hat tip: Rich Henry at Henry’s Rabbit Ranch)