Those worried about missing The Mad Greek need not fear as billboards for the Baker location start popping up about 100 miles from the restaurant’s front door. Blue and white are uncommon colors in the Mojave Desert palette, letting the marketing pop. But the structure itself trumps any level of marketing thanks to its statue-laden, two-story, billboard-topped blue & white hub of a location along the only main road through Baker. It is cliché to name a business operating in the Mojave Desert as an oasis, but it’s difficult to escape that description given the serene colors of The Mad Greek’s building.
A massive blue sign sits just next to The Mad Greek’s structure, just above a roof covered in faux-Greek statues. Just off the parking lot, a small sign points in the directions of common Las Vegas to Los Angeles drive destinations such as Death Valley, the Greek Islands and Athens, Greece (10,215 kilometers away). Inside, it shouldn’t be surprising to find a modern, order-at-the-counter operation but this is the desert and miles of barren horizon lines have a way conditioning someone for a more rustic experience. Instead, digital kiosks support the staff manning registers along The Mad Greek’s front line just ahead of an open kitchen.
Video boards above the registers and attached to each self-serve kiosk run down a fairly traditional Greek menu full of old favorites like gyros as well as a few Mad Greek specialties. Most popular of course is any variation on the gyro, either in a pita or as a platter, served with traditional Greek sides like hummus (or better yet, spicy hummus). But there are surprise here too, like the Onassis Burger, a cheeseburger topped with pastrami and a signature sauce. Signage proclaims the Strawberry Shake as world famous, which is no doubt the case, but it is hard to avoid the lure of the pastry cabinet next to the main ordering counter that houses row after row of baklava.
