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Anyone who has made the drive from Southern California to Las Vegas is familiar with The Mad Greek.  Since there are billboards for this restaurant every dozen miles or so, it would be hard not to at least be superficially aware of its existence.

Located in Baker, California, The Mad Greek is arguably the most popular diner between Vegas and LA.  Baker is also, inexplicably, home to the World’s Largest Thermometer.  I am not kidding and I have no idea why such an attraction exists.

Anyway, since I’m fairly impatient and have no desire to hang out in the middle of Tweedledick, Nowhere … I typically zoom by this small town at the appointed interstate speed limit, and not a single mile-per-hour faster.

One day about 8 years ago, however, it appeared that I was overly-optimistic with regards to the fuel efficiency of my vehicle.  I stopped in Baker to fill up my gas tank, drain the monster … and while I was there … figured I would eat at the pissed off Greek dude’s restaurant.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the details of the food vividly.  This either means that it was not memorable, I had other things on my mind, or both.

Last year, I began noticing billboards going up around Las Vegas indicating that a location for this restaurant had opened on the Las Vegas Strip.  Since this joint was already somewhat associated with traveling to Las Vegas, this seemed like a natural progression.

Normally when I hang out in this particular area, I eat at the Peppermill, but after passing by the Greek numerous times over the past several months, I decided to give it a go yesterday.

I waited outside for a friend of mine to show up, and when she arrived, we walked up to the counter and proceeded to contemplate our orders.

Standing behind the Mad Greek counter was a somewhat surly gentleman, and when I told him that I wanted to try their signature dish, he looked at me as if he wanted to plunge a dagger through my sternum.  I’m not 100% sure if the guy was Greek, but he did seem to be a little bit mad.  At least there was partial truth in advertising.

He eventually mumbled something about the “Mad Gyro” being a popular item, so I plunked down the eleven bones and ordered it up.

About 10 minutes later, a large gyro was delivered to my table along with a substantial helping of rice.  The price of the sandwich seemed a bit steep at the cash register (not far off from Peppermill or Hash House fare), but the quantity was reasonable.  A falafel or two in addition to the rice would have been a welcome addition to a sandwich in the $10 price range, however.

The cucumber sauce for the meat was good, the rice was decent, and the meat was good too, but while I was eating I could not get over the impression that I was consuming standard food-court fare.

Unlike similar food from Zankou Chicken in Hollywood (an old favorite), the gyros at the Mad Greek were somewhat on-par with what you might find at a gyro restaurant in a local mall … only larger.

That being said, I suppose there is only so much you can do with this particular combination of ingredients.

The person I was dining with is from Buffalo, New York and a semi-frequent consumer of Greek food.  She thought the size of the dish was admirable, but she opined that the Greek joints back home were considerably superior.

This is a frequent refrain when I take anyone from the East Coast to eat at most any casual dining outlet in Vegas.  Our expensive restaurants such as Craftsteak tend to excel, but our carry-out eateries tend to be lacking intangible “somethings”, which I chalk up to a de-emphasis on authenticity, and the general low expectations of those who inhabit the Las Vegas Valley.

I’ve tried to explain the In-N-Out Burger phenomenon to people who just don’t get it.  I tell them that it’s not so much that IO Burger is great, it’s just that the alternatives are so much worse.  Everything is relative.  In Bangladesh, the Imperial Palace Buffet would be a 5,000-Star restaurant.  On some levels, Las Vegas is the American Bangladesh.  We’re just thrilled to have something that isn’t terrible.

The Mad Greek would probably fall into this paradigm.  Good for Las Vegas and on some lonesome stretch of highway, but probably average for anywhere else.

I certainly will not rule out eating here in the future, but I’m not sure if I will crave it.

It’s certainly no Zankou Chicken, but neither is it Carl’s Jr.

If anyone from The Mad Greek is reading this, I would like to offer only the following.

Don’t get carried away with the “mad” thing.  I’m arguably the crankiest guy in this town, but if someone were trying to patronize my business in this economy, I might try and pretend like I didn’t hate them.

Aside from this minor point, The Mad Greek is a worthy addition to the North Strip, if for no other reason than it actually opened.

Now that I think about it, it kind of makes sense why the employees are a little surly.

If I opened a restaurant directly across the street from this, I’m not sure how happy I would be either.

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