El Palacio

Why it's on the list

The only non-California entry, and the reason I stop in Kingman instead of white-knuckling it through to Vegas. A four-hour stretch of I-40 becomes a much better day when there's a destination in the middle of it.

It's on East Andy Devine Avenue — historic Route 66 running straight through downtown — in a building that has obviously been standing a while. Kingman's own visitor guide calls it a downtown fixture, and I'm happy to let the city make that claim instead of making it myself.

Before you drive

This is the practical note that matters more than anything I could write about the food: check the days. This is not a seven-day-a-week operation, and discovering that at the door after four hours on I-40 is a genuinely bad afternoon. Call first. I'm telling you this for a reason.

Region

Downtown Kingman, on historic Route 66.

Format

Sit-down restaurant. Closed some days — verify before you commit.

Trip fit

The I-40 break between California and Las Vegas.

Before you go

• Check hours on the restaurant's own listing before you drive. Ours would go stale; theirs won't.
• Ask whoever takes your order what they'd get. It has never once steered me wrong.
• Bring cash. Plenty of counters prefer it and a few still require it.
• If you're eating in the car, ask for it double-wrapped and don't let it steam in the foil.

ask the counter. order that. full send.

Elsewhere on the trail