Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Skip The Stockyards, Head To The Roadhouse

We were passing through Oklahoma City, Oklahoma when Ed decided he had to have steak.  I looked up some local places and found Cattlemen's Steakhouse in Stockyard City.  The photos aren't the best since it was at night, but I thought there were a few things worth capturing.

We called to make sure they had truck parking, and since it was just off the interstate we didn't have to go far.  The girl assured us there were plenty of cattle haulers who park in the area and we'd have no problem finding a spot.  We didn't.

Agnew Avenue seems to be the main drag in this area.  There were stores selling western wear, a Christmas tree lit on a street corner, and this cowboy roping a bull statue.  I didn't stop to read the inscription.
Cattlemen's Steakhouse is on that main street.  The history of the place goes back to 1910 when it opened its doors to hungry cowboys.  It has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating steakhouse in Oklahoma City.
That being said, I wasn't impressed.  First, the wait was 45 minutes.  On on week night!  That's excessive to me.  This picture shows the original cafe area - with counter seating available on a first come basis - which is adjacent to the main dining area.  There are several rooms to dine in which seem to go on and on.  

The place wasn't fancy at all.  Wish I had known before I got all gussied up with my Elizabeth Arden Poppy Cream lipstick.  Thankfully, I had on a nice dark wash jean, so I did have some of the dress code down.  All I seemed to be missing was the boots.
The prices on the menu below definitely do not reflect current day pricing.  With tip, the meal cost us $100 even.  We both had the Presidential Choice T-Bone Steak.  We waited an extraordinarily long time for our steaks, even though the appetizer and salad was served quickly, and when it did finally get there, I wasn't blown away.

We ordered our steaks medium-well (I have a thing lately about not eating them too rare) and although my first cut looked good, most of the steak was medium-rare.  I was too hungry at this point to send it back and it wasn't inedible, it just wasn't great.  Honestly, I'd never go back and I'd never recommend it to anyone.

For a place that's been around for over 100 years, situated in a location where cattle are no more than 500 feet from their door, and cooking up steaks for the better part of the 103 years they've been in business, you'd think things would have been a little more outrageous.

I think they must get a lot of locals, a lot of tourists and businessmen - we saw tons of people arriving by taxi and large groups of men - and I'd imagine the nearby hotels recommend them left and right.  After all, it's in Stockyards City, and it's a historic location where celebrities have dined among the regular folk.

I'll tell you what - save your regular folk money and go to any one of the Cattle Baron restaurants, or better yet, Texas Roadhouse.  Honestly, I've never had a bad steak at that place.

This is coming from a girl whose family owned a very popular steakhouse in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, which was also frequented by locals and celebrities.

I know a good piece of meat when I taste one.
 


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: One Week To A Delightfully Dazzling Christmas
2011: My, What A Long Truck You Have
2010: A Place For The Snow To Rest
2009: They’re Always Touching Their Hammers
2008: Raindrops On Roses And Whiskers On Kittens
2007: Love Hate Relationship
2006: Full Service
2005: Struffo-What??

7 comments:

Mick said...

Hi Salena

Had no idea your family had a restaurant in Rock Hill. My family had a motel in Roscoe on old Route 17! We would go shop in Liberty, and go to the race track at Monticello and visit my cousin in Middletown. Very happy times.
Have a great Christmas.

The Daily Rant said...

MICK: Teeny tiny world, huh?? Your family had a motel in Roscoe? Very cool. We'd go to Liberty on occasion too, but most often we'd shop in Monticello or Middletown. My family has been involved in food vending all over Sullivan and Orange County. My step-brother even had a setup at the Monticello Raceway years ago. And Middletown when I was growing up was where we did all our shopping because it was closest to our house in Orange County. I didn't realize you had history in that area. Very cool.

Mick said...

Yeah, beautiful part of the world. I'm hoping to take my wife there maybe next year and show her where I used to visit my family. I'm not sure whether the motel is still open as my uncle and aunt have both passed away and my cousins sold it off, but It'll still be nice to even drive past and take photos. I don't know whether you ever listened to 1340-WALL radio from Middletown, but my cousin Gene Pelc was a DJ there.

The Daily Rant said...

MICK: This is way too weird! You know Middletown?? And WALL radio??? No way. I definitely listened to WALL radio. They used to broadcast out of the old Armory on Highland Avenue. I actually staked out that building with my cousin because we had a crush on one of the DJs who used to work there. We were hoping to see him walk out of the building at the end of his shift! LOL I don't think it was your cousin Gene though - I'll have to think about what that guy's name was. I'll get back to you on that. :)

The Daily Rant said...

MICK: Look - it's for sale! :)

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17305617/50-Highland-Avenue-Middletown-NY/

The Daily Rant said...

Oh wait...and look at this...Gene Pelc's name is mentioned as an on-air personality:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL

Mick said...

Ha ha, he is! He went from WALL to work for Marvel Comics in Tokyo, and then started his own business selling merchandise for bands that toured in Japan, which his son, Ted now runs. He picked us at JFK the first time we went to the States-I'll never forget it. We were waiting in the arrivals lounge and I saw this guy walking around and said to my mum "Thats Gene" (I had never even seen a photo of him), we ran towards him and it was. He drove us to Middletown where my uncle picked us up and took us to Roscoe-I was 14. What an amazing time we had.