Dining at the shrine of The King

We visited the shrine of The King a couple weeks ago on the drive back from Tel Aviv.  No - not King Solomon, or King David or any of those biblical kings.  I'm talking about THE King... of Rock n' Roll, of course.  Elvis Presley.  Right here in Israel.  I'm all shook up! 

If you're not looking for a 16-foot tall golden status of Elvis, you might well just drive on by this gas station in Neve Ilan - about 10 miles West of Jerusalem on Highway 1.  We happened to be looking for the place after stumbling across the place on a random website... and still drove right by it.  But after getting directions from a couple of kids up the street, we pulled a u-turn, came on back and there it was, tucked in behind the gas station: the Elvis American Diner.

You gotta admit that the highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is probably one of the last places you'd expect to encounter a 50's diner playing Elvis on the jukebox, but there it was.  Graceland transported to the Middle East. 

The place was just about everything you'd expect an Elvis Shrine / Diner to be.  Wall-to-wall Elvis memorabilia, photos, statues; booths with big vinyl "comfy chairs" a soda bar with gleaming chrome bar stools; and, of course, hummus on alongside the cheeseburgers on the menu.

We opted for the cheeseburgers - which come in two sizes.  Large (for the kids) and larger (for the big kids), with a hearty helping of fries on the side.

In the mood for something different than your standard Middle Eastern fare?  Put on your blue suede shoes, head on down the highway and stop in at the Elvis Diner!