Cattleman’s Restaurant offers small town charm40 OCTOBER 2013 W ednesdays are busy days in Green Forest because it is sale day at the North Arkansas Livestock Auction. The parking

OCTOBER 2013 40

Wednesdays are busy days in Green Forest because it is sale day at the North Arkansas Livestock Auction. The parking lot is always full as hardworking cattlemen are looking to get top dollar for their livestock. Located just in front of the sale barn is Cattleman’s Restaurant, a favorite dining place for these cattlemen and other Carroll County residents.

The restaurant was originally opened in 1958 and was acquired by Ronnie and Loree Pound Blackburn about eight years ago. The food is prepared from a collection of recipes that have been catalogued by everyone who has cooked at the restaurant since it opened. Some of the recipes are handwritten, some are clipped from magazines and many of them show the character marks of being in a working kitchen. A cookbook featuring the recipes is in the works, said Loree.

The restaurant is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven-days-a-week for breakfast and lunch (they stay open “until the last cow leaves the barn” on Wednesdays). On Friday and Saturday

nights the restaurant offers dinner until 9 p.m.

The Wednesday of our visit, the restaurant was bustling with locals enjoying each other’s company and the Cattleman’s Wednesday buffet. This smorgasbord offered golden hand-breaded fried chicken, vegetable soup, fried fi sh, macaroni and cheese, hush-puppies, corn, mashed potatoes, Brussell sprouts, fried okra, stewed cabbage, homemade pies, freshly baked cake and much more. There was also a salad bar.

The food looked delicious and based on the diner’s plates, all of the items are favorites as plates were fi lled with buffet offerings.

Loree is no stranger to the restaurant business as her parents operated an eatery in Texas when she was growing up. Her daddy, Tom Pound, was a voice and music teacher who spent many years as a radio personality. He passed along his talent to her. On Friday and Saturday nights, she displays her charming

personality and entertainment skills when she and her band hit the

Cattlemans’ stage at 6 p.m. She has been a television and radio personality and toured with “The Six Pounds of Music.” The family act traveled the country performing shows and doing evangelistic work. At one time, the

family had a recording contract with Ernest Tubb. Guest musicians, including instrumentalists for Ricky Skaggs and other country acts, often stop by to perform at the restaurant.

The hand-breaded pork fi llet is a crowd favorite on the menu. Loree and Ronnie’s daughter, Kaitlin, prepared the order for me. The fi llet was cooked to perfection and topped with creamy white gravy, mashed potatoes, whole kernel corn, a fresh baked roll and sliced tomato. Loree said Kaitlin was in the kitchen at the restaurant when she was

the eating essentials

Cattleman’s Restaurant offers small town charm

THE CATTLEMAN’S RESTAURANT304 West Main St.Green Forest, AR 72638(870) 438-6021www.loreescattlemans.com

Hours of Operation6 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Kaitlin Blackburn serves a hand-breaded pork fi llet dinner.

BY ROB ROEDEL

let’s eat dining in arkansas

41

Dining recommendations? Contact Rob Roedel at [email protected]

3 days old. From what I tasted, she has the cooking down pat. The family also includes younger brother, Keenan.

Joy Pound makes the desserts. Her specialties include chocolate and coconut cream pies, Italian crème cake, cobblers and carrot cake. The coconut cream pie was light and creamy. The sample I had was still warm from the oven and yummy.

I polled a few diners about their favorite foods on the menu and discovered, to no surprise, that they liked everything. They mentioned the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, bacon cheeseburger and chicken fried steak.

During breakfast, the restaurant offers classic breakfast foods, including pancakes, biscuits and gravy, omelets, bacon, ham, country fried pork or steak, hash browns and eggs.

On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights the menu is expanded to include charbroiled steaks, catfi sh and pork chop dinners.

“This is the gathering place for most of Carroll and Boone counties,” said Ronnie. The couple met when Loree was performing in Harrison in 1985 and were married a year later.

Based on my dining experience, you might enter the Cattleman’s Restaurant as a stranger, but you will leave as a friend!

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Ronnie and Loree Blackburn have put much love into the Cattleman’s Restaurant.