“If you want something, you have to work for it,” says Tom Perini, the self-taught cowboy cook who turned an old hay barn into a world-renowned restaurant. Tom and his wife, Lisa, run Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap (population 617), located about a half-hour south of Abilene, Texas.
It is a timeless Texas scene: weathered fence posts, a creaky windmill and oak trees set against a star-filled sky. Longhorns wander in a nearby pasture, and the sweet smell of mesquite smoke drifts through it all. Laughter tumbles out of the steakhouse’s screen door as diners inside dig into juicy bone-in ribeyes, peppered beef tenderloin and slow-smoked pork ribs.
This down-to-earth steakhouse is a bona fide Lone Star legend, attracting people from all over the globe to experience Perini’s simple Texas fare. He has traveled the world himself, training chefs in remote locations and cooking for world leaders at the table of George W. Bush. However, the journey to success wasn’t easy, straightforward or fast, and it all began on the back of a horse.
From Cowboy To Cook
Before Perini Ranch became a renowned steakhouse, it was Tom’s family cattle ranch. After his father’s death in 1965, he took over the operation.
“I spent the next 18 years running cattle, which is a very difficult way to make a living,” he says.
Tom loved being a cowboy, but he found himself drawn to the chuckwagon, grilling steaks and boiling beans for the ranch’s cowboys. He began spending more time with the food than with the cattle. Soon, he was hauling his chuckwagon to nearby ranches to feed their cowboys and cater large events like horse sales, which he did for several years.
When cattle prices dropped in the early 1980s, ranching became, as Tom describes, “as profitable as the beer concession at a Baptist picnic.” It was time for a change. In 1983, Tom converted a wooden barn on his ranch into a roadhouse steakhouse. He served classic cowboy cooking like mesquite-grilled beef and Dutch oven-baked beans, along with family recipes like jalapeño jelly-glazed cheesecake. For over a decade, the restaurant struggled. It was far off the beaten path and, for a while, didn’t even have a sign. Tom had to borrow money to make payroll.
“We did everything wrong,” he laughs. But little by little, word got out about Tom’s authentic ranch food and mouthwatering steaks. The trickle of guests began to grow. Then in 1995, everything changed.
Success Comes Calling
Tom was invited to cook for the James Beard Foundation in New York City, the food industry equivalent of being nominated for an Academy Award. It would be a tremendous honor, and a significant expense. To justify the cost, he decided to try to drum up some press while he was in town and mailed out peppered beef tenderloins to 20 New York publications. One steak landed at The New York Times, where it was mistakenly entered into a contest for the newspaper’s best mail-order gift of the year, and it won.
There was only one small problem: Perini Ranch didn’t have a mail-order company. They didn’t even have a toll-free number, much less the USDA-approved processing facility required to sell and ship steaks out of state. Tom had to figure it all out, and fast. And he did. Friends say he has never been seen, before or since, moving quite that quickly.
“At that moment in my life, I could have said, ‘This is too tough. I can’t do it.’ But I didn’t,” he says. “I said: ‘We’re gonna go for it.’”
Today, Perini Ranch has a thriving mail-order business, and those peppered tenderloins are its backbone. “When you see something that you like, you’ve got to go for it,” says Tom. “A lot of people don’t do that, so I’m very proud that we did.”
Around the same time, Texas Gov. George W. Bush asked Tom to cater a tailgate party at the Governor’s Mansion for a University of Texas football game. “I was in high cotton,” he says.
However, the future president of the United States wouldn’t be the most important person Tom met during those high-cotton days; that honor goes to his wife, Lisa. Their partnership and her business acumen elevated Perini Ranch to new heights.
Now 42 years old, the steakhouse has a cult-like following and a near-mythical reputation in the culinary world, earning accolades of every stripe from top-tier food critics and ardent locals alike. The restaurant is slightly larger than it was in 1983, but aside from that, not much has changed. Many of the recipes are the same ones they started with.
Live oaks still shade the barnwood building, and the chairs remain mismatched. Diners sit at outdoor picnic tables when the weather is pleasant, and beside brick fireplaces indoors when evenings turn chilly. Those longhorns are pets now, not dinner, and Tom’s jalapeño cheesecake is still the best way to end your meal.
Doing “everything wrong” turned out to be just right. The remote location that posed such a challenge in the early days is now beloved by guests, and the ranch’s two overnight cottages are in high demand. From cowboy to cook to celebrated restaurant legend, Tom is a true Texas treasure, and Perini Ranch Steakhouse is as authentic as it gets. For more, visit periniranch.com.
Tom’s Cowboy Ribeyes
Ingredients:
Serves: 6 or more
(Steak Rub)
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 3/4 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated onion
- 1/4 teaspoon beef bouillon powder
- Pinch of ground white pepper
- Six 1- to 1 1/4-pound bone-in ribeye steaks, 1 1/2 inches thick
Directions:
- Combine all the rub ingredients in a small bowl. Using your hands, coat the steaks all over with the rub. Pack it on well. Let the steaks sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Fire up the grill for a two-level fire capable of cooking first on high heat (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test) and then on medium (4 to 5 seconds with the hand test). The hand test is how long you can hold your hand a couple of inches above the cooking grate before the heat forces you to pull it away.
- If grilling over gas or charcoal, add a half-dozen mesquite chunks to the fire shortly before placing the steaks on the grill. Grill the steaks over high heat for 2 1/2 minutes per side. Move the steaks to medium heat, turning them again, and continue grilling for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. If meat juices begin to pool on the surface, turn more frequently. Serve immediately.
5 More Live-Fire Must-Try Restaurants
Blazing flames. Char-kissed cuisine. That delectable smoky smell. Live-fire restaurants are popping up across the country as chefs celebrate the complex flavors that only the open flame can impart. Discover five exciting eateries that are forging new ground with humanity’s most ancient cooking method.
Toro Toro
Fort Worth, Texas
Fire leaps from the giant grill in the middle of this downtown steakhouse, where Latin American flavors mingle with primal caveman panache. Hungry carnivores can order Brazilian wagyu steaks or Flintstone-style tomahawk ribeyes, but the lighter fare is just as delicious—think wood-grilled jumbo shrimp and smoked guacamole.
Ember & Iron
Saint Johns, Florida
Just south of Jacksonville, this rustic, upscale restaurant has a custom 8-foot-long grill stacked with oak wood every night. Standout dishes include the short rib with grits, the buttermilk marinated chicken and the decadent steak burger with bacon jam and beef fat aioli on a grilled potato bun. Start with some ember-roasted oysters for a flavorful introduction to your meal.
Southbound
Charleston, South Carolina
A black iron fence sets a fitting tone for the live-fire meals at Southbound, a converted two-story house with a kitchen full of flames. Grab a stool at the chef’s counter for a front-row seat to the grilling action while you feast on New Zealand elk and cider-braised pork chops. Don’t miss Southbound’s signature dish—dry-aged steak tartare with smoked egg and house-made potato chips.
Fancypants
Nashville, Tennessee
Fancypants has fun with fire and everything else, serving “choose your own adventure” cuisine from an 8-foot Argentinian-style grill located to the left of the bar. The menu is always changing, and you might encounter anything from wood-fired steak with beer-pickled onions to smoked banana and avocado with ash-dusted scallion crackers.
Nomad
Columbus, Ohio
Nomad’s unique, charcoal-fueled Spanish oven allows the chefs to smoke, grill and roast meats at seriously high heat for supreme searing and flavor. Their crowd-pleasing burgers feature Ohio-raised bison with white cheddar and hickory-smoked bacon. If you’re in the mood for beef, try the lomo saltado: a Peruvian-glazed New York Strip steak with grilled tomato and peppers.
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