Even steakhouses have mid-life crises. After years of rumors, the venerable Cattlemens Steakhouse—an institution in Northern California—announced last October that it was not renewing the lease on its cavernous space in Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village, and instead was putting down stakes (pun intended) in an abandoned Outback Steakhouse building it purchased in Rohnert Park.
Less than two weeks later, word got out that the possible new owner of the Cattlemens Complex in Petaluma—Dynamic Real Estate Partners—had plans to raze the Cattlemens Steakhouse (listed at 10,065 square feet) and replace it with—gasp!—a Chick-fil-A!
With Cattlemens a mainstay in the fabric of the North Bay restaurant scene for well over 50 years, the locals started to worry. Would Cattlemens go the way of the dude ranch? Would the pandemic aftermath claim another victim? And just what’s happening in the world of meat and potatoes dining?
Well, hold your horses. Cattlemens is far from riding off into the sunset. And the North Bay steakhouse scene overall is in a roundup to continue to deliver hearty beef, pork and chicken dishes with flair.
A look back
The original American steakhouses first appeared in the 1920s—descended from cowboy camps of the mid-1800s, when men ate steak with their bare hands. The first steakhouses tried to capture the cowboy spirit, offering plenty of meat and potatoes, but also salads, oysters, cocktails and the like. By the middle of the 20th century, steakhouses were everywhere. The décor was usually dark, with heavy draperies and wildly patterned carpeting which thoughtfully disguised stains from the heavy dining traffic. Franchise madness ensued, with Ruth’s Chris and Morton’s becoming household names.
This was the era that gave birth to Cattlemens. The late Pete Gillham Sr., born to the cattle business on his father’s ranch near Tucson, Arizona, bought his first ranch, the U Circle, in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains near Oracle, Arizona. His son, Pete Jr., was born there and, according to the company history, the Gillhams once had more than 15,000 head of cattle. The story is that Pete Sr. knew there was great beef out there, but was a bit befuddled as to why it couldn’t be found in restaurants. In the late 1960s, the two Petes set out to learn how to run restaurants as well as cattle and in 1968 they opened their first Cattlemens on a pier in Redondo Beach, California (now closed). While Southern California provided a good start, Pete Sr. had an affinity for Northern California, so he opened North Bay locations in 1970, first in Petaluma and later that year in Santa Rosa.
Cattlemens then expanded over the next two decades, opening restaurants in Dixon (1974), Roseville (1976), Selma (1981), Rancho Cordova (1987), Livermore (1992) and Redding (1995).
Operations continued at a steady pace until the Santa Rosa location closed in late 2022, replaced by the Rohnert Park Cattlemens in January 2023.
Sonoma County love story
“Senior loved Northern California,” says Miranda Smith, Cattlemens marketing manager, about the elder Pete Gillham. “He found a home in Sonoma County and started opening the steakhouses all over Northern California. He always said, ‘All roads lead to Cattlemens,’ so we try to hit as many communities as we can and still be family-owned and operated.”
With its arrival in the North Bay, Cattlemens quickly became a part of the community. Occupying large expanses of square footage, Cattlemens became the go-to spot for special events and large family gatherings, as well as smaller parties and individual dining. Many a birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and prom night is celebrated at Cattlemens and generations of North Bay residents have fond memories of such gatherings.
The Petaluma location can accommodate private parties of up to 100 people, Smith says. “We’re known for hosting families, large parties and special occasions,” Smith explains, “but we see everyone. We like to think everybody is our guest.”
The Cattlemens menu is classic Western steakhouse. The star is Harris Ranch beef, aged and cut on site. Cattlemens has a carefully controlled environment for aging the beef and expert butchers to hand-cut the steaks on the day they are served. Each entree comes with a crisp “all you can eat” iceberg lettuce salad, sourdough bread, ranch beans and your choice of potato – baked, mashed or French-fried. Cattlemens also offers pork, chicken, seafood and pasta dishes. Prices are moderate, especially in a time beleaguered by inflation and in a location that’s seeing a shift to more high-end dining. The décor is decidedly Cowboy kitsch, harkening back to a bygone era, though some might find it a comforting retreat from high tech invasions. You get a real menu—you don’t have to scan anything with your smartphone.
Leaving Santa Rosa
The decision to leave Montgomery Village and move to Rohnert Park did not come easily, Smith says. After David and Melissa Codding sold the 70-year-old Montgomery Village shopping center to WS Development in June 2021, many changes came into the mix, including rent increases that have seen several smaller businesses vacate Montgomery Village for hopefully greener pastures (Urban Garden) or just cease operations (The Classic Duck, a Hallmark store, Clutch).
Smith says Cattlemens simply could not renegotiate its lease with the new owners. “We could not come to an agreement,” she explains. So, at the age of 52, Cattlemens Santa Rosa looked at alternative spaces and decided its best option was to purchase a building once occupied by Outback Steakhouse in Rohnert Park. That took the restaurant out of the continuous loop of lease renegotiations and allowed it to remodel the facility to its liking.
“It was an expensive remodel,” Smith says. “We wanted it to feel like a Cattlemens even though it’s a smaller footprint.” They put in a new kitchen, new appliances and a meat-cutting area. The dining room has a custom bar with special lighting. Recently a patio was added, making the Rohnert Park Cattlemens the very first in the small chain to have a permanent outdoor dining space safe from the elements—one of the few good things COVID made popular as well as profitable. The only old things are the artifacts they moved from the old Santa Rosa location “to give it that Cattlemens feel.”
Customer acceptance
This reporter paid a visit to the new Rohnert Park Cattlemens on a Friday afternoon at 4:15 p.m., shortly after it had opened for dinner. It’s brighter than the older Cattlemens in Petaluma, but the booths are comfortable, the wait staff is classic Cattlemens (friendly and efficient), and the bar scene was hopping at the first happy hour (Cattlemens has two—4 to 6 p.m. and again from 9 to 10 p.m.). I was seated immediately, but when I left an hour later after enjoying the petit filet, a fully stuffed baked potato and a glass of local wine, the line was out the door and the patio dining space was full.
“We’re happy that they are doing well,” says Don Schwartz, Rohnert Park’s assistant city manager and lead for economic development. “We hear often from residents that they want quality, local, non-chain restaurant options. The response to Cattlemens coming to Rohnert Park demonstrates that our community will support such restaurants very well. If there’s a line out the door, that’s a good sign.”
Smith says its Santa Rosa employees were asked to staff the Rohnert Park location and most did make the move. And while Rohnert Park residents have welcomed them with open arms, Smith notes that there’s no shortage of regulars from the old Cattlemens Santa Rosa who are willing to make the trek a few miles south to order up their favorite steak. “We see a lot of our loyal customers,” she says.
The Rohnert Park experience has been so good for Cattlemens that the corporate office, formerly in Santa Rosa, also picked up and moved there. In all, Cattlemens employs 300 people in the North Bay and another 300 in its six other locations.
Petaluma predicament
With the successful Rohnert Park relocation under its belt, Cattlemens now faces uncertainty with its Petaluma location. Located right off Highway 101 at 5012 North Petaluma Blvd., the Cattlemens Complex is being purchased by Dynamic Real Estate Partners (according to records, it is still “in contract”). In addition to Cattlemens, there are five other buildings that are part of the sale—North Bay Hay & Grain, Jay Palm’s Saddle Shop, Petaluma 88, Ed Hayman and a 1,400-plus-square-foot spot that is currently vacant.
According to Smith and Brian Oh, director of community development for the City of Petaluma, Dynamic Real Estate Partners applied to the city’s planning department last October to redevelop the building that currently houses Cattlemens.
Oh says the application is “still being reviewed, and the plans look to include redeveloping the restaurant site for a Chick-fil-A.” Once the application is complete it will move to the Planning Commission for consideration, likely sometime this fall.
News stories announcing the proposed change were met with pushback by local Petaluma residents who want to keep the iconic Cattlemens, but at the end of the day, “the planning application does not regulate which restaurant can or cannot do business at a particular location” says Oh. “We look at land use. That’s the level of regulation we have. The property owner has its rights to redevelop the property as permitted.”
Meanwhile, Oh says the city is also helping Cattlemens search for a new location in Petaluma, even though Smith declined to confirm the search.
“We are aware developers have proposed a new business [on the site], but they are plans and nothing has been timed out. We are continuing to serve the Petaluma community as we have for over 50 years,” Smith says.
“We’re in the same position as the city is—a holding pattern. The managers and staff want to stay here. I have no real information, but our preference would be to stay,” Smith says of the proposal. “Everyone [at Cattlemens] has a personal pull to local businesses and our communities, and we don’t take that lightly. Petaluma was our first North Bay location.”
Steakhouse evolution
Putting rent woes and relocation aside, Cattlemens is also weathering a real change in the culinary aspects of steakhouse cuisine. Over the past several years, the North Bay has seen an increase in high-end steakhouses, serving up exotic beef fare (Waygu and Kobe—Japanese beef) and focusing on specialty cocktails and cult wine lists.
Restaurants like Cole’s Chop House in Napa, 630 Park at Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park and Stark’s Steak and Seafood in Santa Rosa are among those vying for carnivorous customers, and Healdsburg will add Goodnight’s Bourbon & Chop House—a Foley Group restaurant—to its Healdsburg Plaza dining scene this month. Billed as a “Western style dining experience, featuring an adventurous cocktail program, a robust selection of bourbons, an expansive wine list and the finest chops in the region,” Goodnight’s will be located at 113 Plaza Street, next to Duke’s.
According to Gordon Food Service, which tracks restaurant trends, steakhouses are increasingly having to focus on more than just steak—sliced duck, veal cheeks and crispy chicken thighs are showing up on more menus, as are dips, chips and bites. The shared-plates trend has also reached the steakhouse, with some carving 55-day-old aged ribeye into thick slices so everyone can taste. Vegetables are also getting a redo, according to GFS—grilled shishito peppers and corn, creamed spinach hush puppies, and cabbage baked in the embers of a charcoal-fired oven are some of the specialties showing up on menus. Smaller portion sizes of beef are growing in popularity, as are non-traditional cuts, such as bavette, hanger, skirt and flatiron. Other animals are also infiltrating steakhouse menus, with lamb, venison and bison being the most popular.
Environmental impact
Lastly, steakhouses have faced push back for the impact consumption of beef has on the environment. As Joshua David Stein wrote in Esquire magazine (April, 2022) “The plant-based [food] revolution not only threatened its relevance, but also triggered an existential crisis: Should these temples of beef even exist when it’s a known cause of climate change?”
Three years ago, the U.K climate change website, Carbon Brief, laid out exactly how much more harm meat production does to the environment than other foods. According to the data, the meat and dairy industries create 7.1 gigatons of greenhouse gases annually, which is 14.5% of total human-made emissions. Beef is by far the bigger offender, generating 60 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of meat produced—more than twice the emissions of the next most-polluting food, lamb. This is because cows and sheep produce large quantities of methane as a byproduct of their digestive process (cow and sheep farts!).
Another way meat contributes to climate change is destruction of forests and other habitats to make way for pasture for grazing cattle. According to an article in Forbes (“Got Beef? Here’s What Your Hamburger Is Doing to the Climate” at Forbes.com), “With a rise in the eating of beef in large countries that have witnessed increasing prosperity, such as China, cattle farming has become extremely lucrative. In pursuit of profits, ranchers have destroyed hundreds of thousands of square miles of rainforest around the world—vital, biodiverse ecosystems that, when undisturbed, capture millions of tons of CO2.”
And then there’s the issue of water. While the North Bay has finally emerged from the drought that saw Lake Sonoma’s water level at its lowest point ever last November, locals are very aware of the need to conserve. According to PETA, it takes a staggering 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat.
“The environmental implications of raising cattle are real,” says Smith. “That’s why Cattlemens sources its beef from Harris Ranch. They care deeply about environmental and animal sustainability. And we want to be responsible restaurateurs.”
Where’s the beef?
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain once wrote.
And despite the rumor mill, the same can be said about Cattlemens.
When asked what the future holds, even though changes are afoot, Smith immediately replied, “Growth!”
“We plan to continue to open new restaurants, remodel and restructure. We love our communities and want to grow in other areas as well.”
So, the next time someone asks “Where’s the beef?” the answer is: Cattlemens.
