Cattle Baron Steak and Seafood
When you are feeling a little fancy or if you dont feel like washing a sink full of dishes, try Cattle Baron.
Cattle Baron restaurants started right here in Portales, New Mexico! The place is nice, the booze is cheap and the service is impeccable. So far this is one of my favorites in the area.
When I say ‘feeling fancy’ I don’t mean the Ritz. This is a dim lit steak house in a small town. The kind where small town boys take small town ladies on the first date and farmers take the old lady out on Friday nights. No black tie attire required and you need not show in a limousine. Its a comfortable atmosphere where you can swing a great meal and I haven’t been let down yet!
The mood starts when you pull up to the restaurant. Glowing light poles give a romantic ambience to the parking lot and entrance. Its a good sized place and it definitely gets busy on weekends. The town is diverse so expect a diverse crowd full of college students, good ‘ol boys and military families.
The menus are pretty standard steak house fare, nothing too fancy but enough variety to keep everyone happy. 16oz Prime Rib ($23.95) and All American burgers ($9) are what you can expect to see. I’m not much of a red meat eater so I usually opt for the all you can eat salad bar ($10). The salad bar is well equipped, some of the salad fixings can be a bit soggy, but its not bad to where it’ll keep me from coming back. I really like the pastas and soups that are also included, though, I have noticed that the dressings can be a hit or miss (my sweetie says to just steer clear of the Blue Cheese dressing). I keep meaning to try the Green Chile Wontons ($7.25) but I always forget. It just wouldn’t be a New Mexico restaurant if they weren’t experimenting with green chiles somehow.
Booze is also on the menu of course. For the beer drinkers you’ve got Blue Moon and Fat Tire on draft($3.75). They are stocked in all the domestic piss beers as well. The house wine is Delicato and you can buy it by the glass, or if you are there with the in-laws you can go ahead and buy yourself a bottle ($14). Don’t worry about what the servers will think.
The servers are college age guys and gals which makes them two things: a lot faster at what they do & very easy to talk to. The staff goes out of their way to answer all of your questions and make sure your experience is just right. They can be slammed sometimes but they seem to always make it work. During my last visit, Jacob from Virginia was my server. After telling him I was new in town he told me about some places to check out and also some places to avoid (information that is always appreciated).
If all this just sounds like way too much, you can swing by between 11 and 4 for a lunch special (under $10). Grab yourself a window seat and don’t skip on the desert! I grabbed strawberries and whipped cream covered in Oreo crumbles and have never been so happy eating something so simple.
