Cattlemen's Steakhouse – Jim Stafford's BlogOKC

yearbook ppic — A page of the 1971 Southside High School yearbook, ‘Lifestyles’

I walked into Cattlemen’s Steakhouse a few weeks ago, made my way to a back booth and was greeted by someone I had not seen in 52 years. He was an old high school chum, so it was the ultimate class reunion.

We both graduated in 1971 from Southside High School in Fort Smith, Ark. I was astounded by how much he still resembled his youthful high school self, despite now being 70 years old.

I have not aged as gracefully.

Turns out, my friend, whom I will call “Will,” was driving from New Mexico to Fort Smith to visit our home town for a few days. So, he contacted me to see if I would be up for a reunion as he passed through.

Would I? Of course!

We spent a wonderful hour and a half at a back booth catching up on our lives, families and reminiscing about days long past.

The real story is how Will found me. He told me he stumbled across this blog as he was searching for some high school classmates he had not seen in years. After reading a few BlogOKC posts, he decided to reach out, although he has no social media presence at all.

So his wife looked me up and discovered my Twitter profile. She sent me a direct message asking if I would be interested in meeting Will when he was passing through OKC.

I’ve thought of Will often over the years. He was from a well established Fort Smith family and had gone to public schools there since first grade. I moved into the school district my sophomore year only because my dad was in the Army and his military assignments took us as a family around the world. We came to Fort Smith when Dad went to Vietnam in 1969.

Being a ‘move-in’ with no local history in an old Southern town like Fort Smith was a big challenge for me. Making friends, eating lunch in the cafeteria, having a social life after school.

For some reason, Will sort of took me in. We played basketball on his driveway and connected in classes. As I recall, he was a member of the National Honor Society, wrote a column for the student newspaper and was on the Student Council, among many other school activities.

By contrast, I was sort of the Invisible Man at Southside. I had only heard of the National Honor Society, but had a secret dream to become a newspaper reporter some day. So, we had that in common.

Anyway, Will showed kindness and attention to me. After high school, he went on to college, eventually earning a master’s degree, moving to a distant state and working for social change.

I wandered aimlessly for a few years before gaining some direction by attending Abilene Christian University and earning a journalism degree. My secret dream actually came true.

Since I have never attended a single high school class reunion, I lost touch with Will along with the rest of my senior classmates.

Then he called.

There’s a lot of space to fill and life to live in 52 years. But reconnecting with my old classmate was the feel good event of the summer for me.

So good to see you, Will.

cattlemens sidewalk — A sidewalk selfie outside of Cattlemen’s Steakhouse on the occasion of my birthday.

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

This quote is attributed to baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra after he was once asked about eating at a famous restaurant in New York City.

Yogi could have been speaking about Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City in 2022.

Credited as being the oldest restaurant still operating in OKC and which once allegedly changed ownership at the roll of some dice, Cattlemen’s remains incredibly popular and busy.

Lunch at Cattlemen’s on my birthday with my wife has been a family tradition of ours for more than a decade.

So, today, on the occasion of my 69th trip around the sun, we made our pilgrimage to the mecca of OKC restaurants.

Located in the Stockyards City area adjacent to the Oklahoma National Stockyards, Cattlemen’s was playing to a full house this afternoon.

Of course.

And we didn’t arrive until 1:30.

But since there were only two of us, we were escorted to a table after a wait of only a couple minutes. Larger groups waited outside on the sidewalk.

The meal was awesome, as always, but what I really go for is the giant yeast roll that comes with the steak. It is my downfall. Oh, and the basket of melba toast that comes out with the salad.

Our waitress was so accommodating and took our photo as we sat at the table, then we followed up with a selfie on the crowded sidewalk outside.

cattlemens inside — Paula and Jim inside Cattlemen’s Steakhouse

As we were pulling out of the lot behind the restaurant after enjoying the meal, we looked around at the many western-themed businesses in the Stockyards City area.

“There wouldn’t be all these businesses without Cattlemen’s,” Paula said as she looked acoss the intersection of Agnew and Exchange.

You’ve got that right. Cattlemen’s definitely is the engine that drives the Stockyards City economy.

It IS too crowded. But people (like us) keep coming year after year. And it’s worth the wait.

Tag: Cattlemen's Steakhouse

Class Reunion, Party of Two

Cattlemen’s: A birthday tradition like no other