Well, my faith in TripAdvisor has been somewhat shaken. As we’ve discussed before, going blind into a
new city for dinner is always a struggle.
One shot, where to go? I have had
pretty good luck using TripAdvisor as a guide, sometimes (depending on time
available) checking things like Yelp and just googling “Restaurants in XXXX”
and seeing what’s there. Usually things
at the top tend to be things at the top elsewhere, and narrowing down to “French”
or “fine dining” also helps. Sunday was
our last full day in Henryetta (and Oklahoma), so we drove back up to OKC to
stay over before a Monday morning flight back to reality and BWI we decided to
eat “out”. So, we went into the above
mentioned process.
Without refining the search(es) much, two places commontly
appeared, Kitchen 324, and Cattlemen’s Steakhouse. Reviews were pretty positive for both. Usually 324 was rated just above the
steakhouse, but they were rated in the top five in OKC out of the 1380
restaurants in the city. I checked with
FOJTY and he actually had been to the “Kitchen” and said they pretty much liked
it.
But, in the end, we decided that when in cow country, eat cow. So going to an out and out steakhouse might
be rewarding. They tout themselves as “Oklahoma’s
Oldest Continually Operating Restaurant”, located in the stockyards, and opening
in 1910. The “home” tab on their website
after giving a thumbnail history boldly proclaims: “Today, Cattlemen's is known not only for its unique history, but mainly
for its terrific food [feeder underline] - perfectly aged steaks, legendary breakfasts, and the best cup of
coffee that Seattle couldn't touch”.
Well then… and also, it was not far from the Hotel..
So, with the trusty intelligent phone helping us, we drove
over to the place which was indeed in what appeared to have been the stockyard
section, which is now kind of run down amongst a few blank storefronts (this is
actually one corner of the restaurant as you approach the front through the
alley – parking is behind the place)
But there is no doubt you were in the right place
While we were headed for the front door, a tour bus pulled
up in front and disgorged many tourists, and I thought “Oh no!”. The arrival of a tour bus at a restaurant
runs red flags up in the feeders skewed vision of dining, but mercifully they
went to an annex next to the main building.
Having seen reviews mentioning “it was worth the 45 minute wait” we
entered with some trepidation (a phone call before leaving the motel got a
rather snippy “we have no idea sir” (when questioned as to a possible wait on a
Sunday evening). But once inside, no worries; we were seated in one of the many
booths that seem to be the standard seating arrangement.
It is left to the sharp eyed readers to see how many hats
they can count (the statue in the foreground doesn’t count)
There was another room off to the left of this picture,
maybe they have tables in there.
Our server, who (proved to be very friendly) arrived almost
as soon as we did, After determining we did want “to get an appetizer started
for you”, he did determine that we wanted a cocktail. With some struggle, MFO finally got across
that she wanted a Gin Gimlet, and once again I figured the writing was on the
wall and ordered one of their Margaritas.
After what seemed too long, my up Margarita arrived, and a cocktail
glass of clear liquid and three skewered cocktail onions arrived. Although not knowing OK drink preferences, a
taste revealed there was no hint of lime.
When pointed out to the server, he apologized and said the bar served up
(as you probably guessed) a Gibson. After
shooing the waiter a bit and sipping, we finally turned to said menu which
again reflected (not only the lights) the historical aspect of the place .It entered on steaks of course, but they
also offered other non beefy things (fried catfish, fried shrimp, Hawaiian chicken).
6249
One of the things they are apparently “famous" for are the “Lamb
Fries” offered both as an appetizer and an entrée. Well, it turns out that the lamb fries use
the…. byproduct of the lamb neutering process.
Nuff said, I didn’t try them. Not
pictured on the menu above (in probably a futile attempt to let your read it)
is a lot of verbiage on how they achieve the “perfect steak” starting with a “closely
guarded house secret” aging process. It goes on..”……the
“PERFECT STEAK” is then hand-cut (never frozen) in our own butcher shop, then
broiled over a sharp, hot flame from real charcoal that finishes the meat to a
sear on the outside—juicy and tender within! Order your steak according to the
How do you Like Your Steak?” chart below:
Rare Red cool
center
Medium
Rare Red warm
center
Medium Pink hot
center
Medium
Well Hot
center, trace of pink
Well done Charred
outside, broiled throughout
It what has become a steakhouse
necessity, there are “sides” you can order besides your baked potato and
Cattlemen’s salad, a choice of grilled shrimp, fresh sautéed mushrooms, steamed
broccoli with cheese sauce and the seemingly ubiquitous mac and cheese. I never have quite understood why I would
like a dish of gooey noodles coated with cheese sauce with my steak. Anyway, this has probably dragged on longer
than you wished, I decided decided to have their Cattlemen’s Strip Sirloin (Thick,
center cut strip sirloin)
medium rare. MFO decided to try their
Broiled Salmon. After some debate we
decided on one order of the Fresh Sautéed Mushrooms. A sort of bright spot (I’m sort of tipping my
hand here) was the wine list which had a pretty good selection, and resulted in
an order of a Honig sauvignon blanc and a Carpe Diem Cab.
The room was pretty
full, with most tables occupied, many family groups, and what I presumed was
local folks out for a Sunday night dinner.
DFD was pretty loose (as I said a few ball caps, some western hats, mostly
flannel shirts), but hey, probably Just Right dress. Once
again the bugaboo of “expectations” raises it’s ugly head. When you hear the term “strip Steak” does
something like this come to mind?(borrowed from the web)
Compare this to the
Cattlemen’s offering served to me:
Where’s the sear? And what
is it swimming in? it’s not fair to call
it dishwater, but it does come to mind.
Whoops! That parsley kind of slipped, and couldn’t be a plainer baked
potato. And then came the crowning
blow! Here is a restaurant that has been
cooking steaks for over 100 years, probably cooking that many every day, they
make their living on (see above) “terrific food” and presumably have many experienced cooks in the kitchen. As he drops the steak, the server says: “would you please cut into
the steak to see if it is done right?”
Swear to God it wasn’t: “to your liking”, it was “done right”. I asked him if he had doubts, or didn’t trust
his kitchen, and said he just wanted to make sure. I suppose there are diners that think this is
great, but it sure puts me off. He didn’t
ask MFO about her salmon, nor maybe the rolls, just their bread and butter item,
Steak! And those “Fresh Sautéed
Mushrooms”?
Do they look “fresh”?,
and how hard is it to remove those woody stems that are so ugly (and all
standing at attention), and what are they sitting in? Needless to say, they mostly were left untouched, after
a taste resulted in a soggy, chewy, piece of food.
I will say that the
steak did have some flavor, but “thick”? nope, maybe a good half inch.
So it wasn’t the best
experience we have had lately. How in
the world can this establishment be rated in the top five in Oklahoma
City? What would number 10 be like? I don’t know anybody from there, but there
has to be better options. Maybe if the
description would say something about: “harking back to the golden years of
stockyards, looking into the past” or something like that, but geez. Terrific food? No way.
I don’t imagine
most/any readers will have the opportunity to eat (yes, eat) in OKC, but don’t
waste your time and money on Cattlemen’s Steakhouse. And never mind
DFD
PS I went to
TripAdvisor and condensed much of the above, and never (nor expected to) got
any feedback. Swallowed hard and gave
them two bullets.
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