Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The History of Oklahoma's Oldest Continually Operated Restaurant.

Every state has its historic places and stories, but few can equal the story of Cattlemen's Steakhouse, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Oklahoma City!

Cattlemen's Cafe opened its doors to hungry cowboys, ranchers, cattle haulers and the like in 1910.  In 1945, Cattlemen's was owned by Hank Frey, a gambler of sorts. In a smoke-filled room at the old Biltmore Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City, Frey was running out of luck and money in a dice game attended by a local rancher, Mr. Gene Wade. Frey put up Cattlemen's as the pot if Wade could roll a 'hard six,' otherwise known as two 3s. Wade put up his life savings, which was a sizable amount of money. With one roll of the dice, Gene Wade was in the restaurant business. The '33' brand on the wall of Cattlemen's Hereford Room became a well-known symbol of Wade's good fortune.