Will Starbase, Texas, Be the Location of the Next Tesla Diner?

Eater

2 days ago

is an editor for Eater's Texas region. She lives in Dallas, where she's written about James Beard-celebrated and Michelin-recognized restaurants and she loves nachos.
Following the opening of the first Tesla Diner in Los Angeles this week, it looks like Texas may be next. Or, at least, Texas is on the list. If you haven't heard about the Tesla Diner, it is part of Musk's plans to give Tesla drivers a spot to recharge both themselves and their cars. Eater LA described the look of the place as 'retro-futuristic' with 'a curved metal exterior that resembles a spaceship but falls closer to evoking the design sensibilities of an Apple store or Disneyland's Tomorrowland.' It has Superchargers galore, with 45-foot screens that play movies. It is open 24/7.
Word on a Starbase location, which is deep in South Texas near the Gulf and the Mexico border, comes via a Twitter request to put a diner in the little city on the tip of the Texas border.
While simply saying 'ok' to an idea might not feel like a firm affirmation, the blog Not a Tesla App points out that tourism around Starbase has grown thanks to fans who want to watch SpaceX launches. Musk's aeronautical company has purchased much of the land in the town, which measures a flimsy 1.5 square miles and largely houses company employees. A $22 million development for a community center is underway, and that's just part of a list of projects the city has undertaken, which, according to My San Antonio, also includes a $20 million school for kindergarten through 12th grade, a medical clinic, and a $2 million multi-family development.
The spread at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles. Matthew Kang
Hamburgers, hot dogs, and all-day breakfast are on the menu at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, along with a note that the foods are 'responsibly sourced' and 'sustainable local products' are acquired within the range of a Tesla. In South Texas, that's just over 300 miles in a Tesla Model S. If the Starbase diner follows the same model, that means foods within range of San Antonio, down to the Monterrey and Tamaulipas areas of Mexico, would be covered. The LA diner also has technology that tracks Tesla drivers within a certain range and triggers cooks to begin their order when the drivers are 15 or 20 minutes away, reportedly guaranteeing fresh, hot food.
Eater LA editors noted that the diner's biscuits and red gravy were 'fairly excellent' and called the tuna melt 'the best item on the menu.' It also features something called 'epic' bacon, which harkens to a directive from Musk that everything on the menu should be epic, or it shouldn't be on the menu at all.
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