The Revived Vintage Steakhouse That Inspired Lonesome Dove

Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are two characters from "Lonesome Dove" and icons in cowboy fiction. Dreamed up by writer Larry McMurty in the 1980s, they're a pair of retired Texas Rangers with opposite personalities who led a famous fictional cattle drive to Montana in a series of novels (and a 1989 television miniseries). McMurty landed on the book title while driving a whopping 100 miles home from a visit to one of his favorite restaurants, a legendary steakhouse called Ranchman's, in Ponder, Texas.

McMurty's patronage of the North Texas restaurant was just icing on an already famous café. While it's not the oldest steakhouse in the nation and isn't featured in any Blockbuster films, Ranchman's was a popular hangout for the cast and crew of 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde" and was featured in the TV show "Food Nation with Bobby Flay." The nostalgic steakhouse closed in 2023, but it reopened in 2025 under new ownership with a renewed dedication to preserving its role in the American West. You can see that cowboy culture the second you walk in. Everything about the place creates a small town, American West atmosphere, from the salt and pepper floor and stained wooden tables and chairs to the longhorn mounts on wooden walls and the impressive array of pictures, newspapers, and other memorabilia from the restaurant's past.

Ranchman's announced its reopening on Instagram with a post that read: "The butcher, pie maker, waitress, and kitchen manager you know are coming back in next week to bring Ranchman's back to the way it was." That statement sums up the vibe. It's a place to go for lunch and local gossip, where you probably get roped into some kind of conversation — even if you're from out of town. You can pick up a few branded products while you're there, too, including jarred barbecue sauce, dressings, and soap.

You could probably guess the menu if you've ever sat down to a local diner anywhere in the state of Texas (visiting a chain steakhouse gives you a vague idea). It's a meat-and-potatoes kind of place. At Ranchman's, you get dishes such as Tex-Mex tacos, gravy-drenched chopped sirloin, chicken-fried steak, chicken and dumplings, and roast beef with gravy. There's something called a "Hunk of Blue Cheese" on the menu and somebody named Dave has a chili recipe good enough to be one of the daily specials. You can wrap up your dinner at Ranchman's with desserts such as blackberry cobbler and pecan pie (with a scoop or two of ice cream on top).