Are the Folks Behind ‘Yellowstone’ Investing in Fort Worth’s Cattlemen’s Steak House?

The glitz and glamour of the Yellowstone universe may be planting firm roots in Fort Worth. In November, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Dan Schryer, a financier who invested in the launch of 101 Studios, which produces Yellowstone and the related series 1883 and 1923, filed a liquor license for Cattlemen’s Steak House. The chop house has been operating in the Fort Worth Stockyards since 1947, offering affordable steaks and the fried bull testicles known as “calf fries.”

Tim Love, who runs several nearby restaurants, including the new Tannahill’s Tavern, tells Eater Dallas that Cattlemen’s new owners, who he identified as “the guys from Yellowstone,” invited him to consult on the menu. Eater Dallas reached out to Cattlemen’s for information on the current owners of the restaurant, but the person at Cattlemen’s who answered the phone refused to identify themselves and said they were unable to help. Eater Dallas also reached out to 101 Studios, as well as a representative for Yellowstone showrunner Taylor Sheridan and is awaiting comment.

Love said he has a meeting on the books with the new team to discuss what to do with the place. “I hadn’t eaten there in 25 years,” Love says. He expressed hope around changes he’d like to see made to the menu and service at the long-standing restaurant to bring it into the modern hospitality era.

One of Cattlemen’s previous owners, Marti Taylor, told the Fort Worth Business Press in 2017 that she and her husband got feedback from diners that, “People like to see the restaurant the way it was 50 or 60 years ago.” But a lot has changed in the Stockyards even in the last five years — and with the change in Cattlemen’s ownership, a change in philosophy may be on deck. Eater Dallas found that the liquor license permit requests for Cattlemen’s were updated on November 30. In addition to the original mixed beverage permit, a food and beverage certificate (which could allow private club registration) and a late hours certificate (which would permit the sale of alcohol between midnight and 2 a.m.) were also filed.

Cattlemen’s isn’t the only spot in the Stockyards where the Yellowstone universe has been making itself at home. The show celebrated its fifth season premiere at the Hotel Drover on November 13, and the prequel series 1883 has filmed at the space formally occupied by Horseshoe Hill cafe. The Star-Telegram also uncovered that Schryer applied for a liquor license at that location.