Route 66
Restaurant Directory

The legendary first-meal stop on Route 66 — a Chicago institution since 1923.

After the day we'd just had, it felt well deserved. The steaks were exceptional and washed down with a couple of excellent glasses of Malbec — probably the best meal of the trip so far.

A proper American diner with a real 50s feel. Steve had called ahead and they had an EagleRider menu waiting for us. We were joined by Sebastian, EagleRider's CEO, who picked up the bill and asked us to pay it forward.

We started in an Irish bar for food, drinks and a proper birthday celebration for Stevie. The Welsh were in fine form and the banter was flowing — after four days together, the group was beginning to feel like a travelling family.

Finding an Irish bar in Oklahoma wasn't what we expected when planning a Route 66 adventure, but it was a cracking choice — good food, cold drinks and the relaxed atmosphere that rounded off the lay day perfectly.

Lunch at the Five Star Barbecue and Steakhouse in Stroud. Oklahoma had decided to remind us who was in charge — the ice-cold lemonade disappeared almost as soon as it arrived.

It was my birthday, so we celebrated properly with dinner at LongHorn Steakhouse — great steaks, cold beers, plenty of laughs. Celebrating a birthday on Route 66, surrounded by good friends, is one I'll remember for a very long time.

Dinner at Zeng, a stylish Chinese restaurant tucked away just off the Plaza. The food was excellent, the service was brilliant and we left with full stomachs, sore faces from laughing and yet another great memory.

Coffee and cinnamon buns at the MidPoint Café at the exact midpoint of Route 66 — 1,139 miles to Chicago, 1,139 miles to Los Angeles. Entirely appropriate.

Amarillo's most famous restaurant — a wild west-themed steakhouse.

Lunch at the casino diner after watching a 6.9km freight train take almost five minutes to pass the railway crossing. Six locomotives, around 370 freight cars — the sheer scale of American freight rail is hard to comprehend until you're waiting for one to pass.

Lunch on the corner in Winslow on Independence Day — a forty-five-minute wait, but nobody minded. The atmosphere was fantastic, with locals and visitors celebrating together.

Exactly what you hope an American diner will be — busy, full of Route 66 memorabilia.

A quirky desert stop made famous by the 1987 film. Born to Be Wild blasts through the speakers. One of the surprise highlights of the trip.

At 44°C in the Mojave, a burger, chips and blessed air conditioning at the Ludlow Dairy Queen felt like perfection.

The McDonald's in Needles had one overwhelming attraction: air conditioning. My iced coffee tasted like one of life's great luxuries.

A genuine old-west saloon in a genuine old-west town. Dollar bills cover every surface.

When the queue at Bubba Gump was too long, we ended up at Japadog. Only on Route 66 could a Japanese-inspired hot dog at the end of the journey feel entirely appropriate.

A small coffee shop in the alpine mountain town of Wrightwood — felt more like a Swiss village than Southern California.