Cattlemen's Steakhouse

Cattlemen's Steakhouse at 2458 North Main Street in Fort Worth has been the anchor of the Fort Worth Stockyards district's dining scene since 1947, serving massive cuts of aged Texas beef in a setting that channels the genuine Western history of the surrounding neighborhood. The Stockyards area was once the world's largest horse and mule market and a center of the American cattle trade, and Cattlemen's opened at a moment when that trade was still the dominant economic force in Fort Worth. The restaurant has since outlasted the commercial cattle operations while absorbing their spirit: the décor is unapologetically Western, the portions are ranch-sized, and the beef is the genuine article. The porterhouse is the signature cut—a full T-bone with filet and strip sides of substantial thickness, seasoned simply and cooked to the customer's specification on a hot grill. The Western T-bone and bone-in ribeye are equally formidable. Chicken-fried steak—a Texas creation that batter-fries a tenderized beef cutlet and smothers it in cream gravy—is executed with conviction in the Texas tradition. The dining room is loud, energetic, and populated with a mix of Stockyards tourists and local ranching families celebrating meals as they have for generations. The Stockyards location makes dinner at Cattlemen's a natural conclusion to an afternoon watching the twice-daily longhorn cattle drives along Exchange Avenue, visiting the Stockyards Museum, or attending a rodeo at the Cowtown Coliseum.