The Ponder Steakhouse...and its devotees...
Written: Jun 28 '01 (Updated Mar 19 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The quintessential anti-chain steakhouse...
Cons: Way off the beaten path...
The Bottom Line: The most entertaining plate in Texas....
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| Bonies7's Full Review: Entertainment |
Entertainment is an interesting concept, don't you think?
By the nature of the word, you'd expect it to be something given to you by some outside party. I've found however, that - like happiness - it is more often than not internally derived. What is one person's entertainment is oft another's boredom...and vice versa.
With that in mind, I'd like to offer you up Texas entertainment by way of the "dive". Surely, you've heard of a dive. A place that has been forgotten by time, and has avoided the modern world almost entirely. A place where you take friends, neighbors, and almost anyone you know because it is so different from what most people encounter in their lives nowadays.
A dive could be a bar. Or it could be a greasy spoon. It could even be a truckstop.
Or it could be Ranchman's Cafe, in Ponder, Texas. And once you've visited this dive, your definition of dives will be forever changed.
Ponder, Texas is a vanishing part of what is fondly called Americana. A few ramshackle houses, a couple of convenience stores on the main drag, and an overabundance of pickup trucks that dot the landscape.
And from 11:00 a.m. until closing - usually around 10:00 p.m. - a steady stream of foreigners from places like Dallas and Ft. Worth also inhabit this town that appears to be permanently frozen in the early 1950's.
Their destination is always the same - the two room restaurant called "Ranchman's" that most everyone knows simply as the Ponder steakhouse. Two blocks off the railroad tracks, and a million miles from places like the Outback Steakhouse.
You see, the "decorations" on the walls of Ranchman's Cafe are not replicas of old signs, or reproductions of antiques, but the honest to goodness originals. A barbed wire collection. A used branding iron. A photo of a current waitress named Kim - decked out in her best cowgirl attire - atop a live longhorn with horns that seem to stretch forever.
All of this comes rushing at you as you wander in from the gravelled stone parking area through a screen door that leads the way to a paradise on earth - at least if your idea of true entertainment is a handcut sirloin steak that has just been grilled to perfection on a old fashioned griddle with years of flavor permanently fired into its surface.
Yes - I can sense that your heartbeat has picked up a slightly quicker beat. The thought of a steak that bears full bone flavor, and that hangs off the platter while surrounded by hand cut fries drenched in cream gravy does that to most people I know.
And almost everyone I know is currently being lead along the 22 miles of back roads from our home north of Dallas to visit a true Texas original. We pass by several well known steakhouses loaded with clientele, and we smile as we consider how ill-informed they must be. After all, people have been known to fly in to DFW and rent a car just to be entertained at Ranchman's, and yet the poor locals who aren't "in the know" are staying away from their birthright in droves.
Intrigued?
Well, so were we on our first visit. The man behind the counter at the local car dealership had simply smiled broadly when we told him we were new to the area, and were looking for an authentic Texas steak. He ask if we were looking for atmosphere, or for good food.
Silly man. Good food creates atmosphere, at least from our perspective.
"Ponder Steakhouse just west of Denton off of Hwy 380 and south of Krum," were the momentous words he spoke to us, and off we went in pursuit of an Angus properly aged and grilled.
The pickups gathered outside were a good sign. The cattlemen and laborers in the first two booths were an even better indication that this dive might be THE dive.
Their platters were overloaded with squash sized baked potatoes, and steaks that generated that familiar aroma of fresh meat that sizzles with that just off the griddle scent.
And yes - at the back of the cafe were about 20 tables of varying sizes with chairs that did not match. As we sat down, the aforementioned Kim ran us through the menu and told us the tale.
The tale of a 1948 beginning that lives on today. The tale of homemade pies and cobbler that a local lady has been bringing in from her home every day for the last 31 years. The tale of the time Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway filmed a bank robbery outside for Bonnie and Clyde, and then came in and robbed Ranchman's of two of their famous steaks.
The tale of Don Henley of the Eagles, who stops by on a regular basis and always sits at the back.
The tale of rave reviews by Southern Living and Gourmet magazine and by New York City critics who labeled Ranchman's a one of a kind landmark.
And then the steaks came. And all talk stopped as we bit in to a veritable cosmic experience. The flavor and the moistness and the perfect seasoning literally stopped us in mid-sentence as we both eyed each other with "that look". You know the one.
The one that says....Oh....MY....GOODNESS.
And then Kim brought the yeast rolls. The ones that you haven't seen in a restaurant in twenty years. The ones that melt in your mouth and beg you to bathe them in butter.
The ones that combine just out of the oven with softness that make you want to cry because they are such a touch of heaven here on earth.
Had enough, yet?
Well, we had not. And even though we were bursting at the seams, we were strongly encouraged to try the pies. And the fresh fruit cobbler.
And yes - the pies were as fresh a the morning dew when you go out to pick up your paper. A mile high pie under a mountain of sweetened egg whites with flavor that melted your taste buds as it crossed into the promised land.
If you live in Texas, plan your trip now. Call ahead and make a reservation (940-479-2221) if you're coming up on Friday or Saturday nights - because on those nights the fiddle player or the bluegrass band makes for a huge wait if you don't have a reservation.
And if you are simply too far away to partake, you can at least look at a photo or two of those steaks, those potatoes and those pies at www.ranchman.com. And you can see that the best entertainment in the Dallas area is a dive that does it like no other dive.
And if you see a couple in the back smiling happily at each other, and offering each other the last yeast roll as they laugh, be sure and stop and say hi.
And don't be surprised when we ask you to join us.
But, please....PLEASE....don't make us talk too much until our plates are clean.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
Bonies7
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Member: Jeff Clow
Location: The Lone Star State
Reviews written: 132
Trusted by: 1018 members
About Me:
Father, Husband, Consultant, Photographer, Writer, Conservative, Inquisitive, Texan
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