A genuine Texas back road steakhouse celebrates 40 years, joined by a new biscuit cafe
No promises. But when you drive west of Fort Worth — it’s dry and doesn’t feel as hot.
That’s what might make this a good time for a two-hour drive west to Perini Ranch Steakhouse south of Abilene.
Lisa and Tom Perini are celebrating 40 years at their classic Texas steakhouse on a rural ranch in the old frontier town of Buffalo Gap.
They’ve added the Gap Café, serving an excellent breakfast and lunchtime staples — worth a stop itself on any trip west — along with ranch houses for anyone who wants to bunk down and stay.
This week, it was just as hot in Abilene as in Fort Worth, but only half as humid.
It’ll still be hot if you make the trip west. But the steakhouse has plenty of indoor dining.
“We like to consider ourselves a suburb of Fort Worth,” LIsa Perini said on a recent Eats Beat podcast.
She was only half kidding. Perini Ranch is 150 miles west of Aledo, but the big city is growing closer every day.
Perini Ranch stands out on the old West Texas circuit of steakhouses. There was a time when steak lovers would make a circle to Albany, Buffalo Gap and Lowake, and come home stuffed.
Now, they just eat three times at Perini Ranch, 3002 Farm Road 89 in Buffalo Gap, or at the Gap Café, 2709 Farm Road 89.
Tom Perini started as a chuckwagon cook on West Texas ranches. He tells the story in a new history, “Celebrating Forty Years with Tom and Lisa” (Comanche Moon Publishing, 128 pages, $35).
He eventually opened the steakhouse but kept the chuckwagon style and flavor.
“You get that flavor that you don’t get when it’s cooked in a fancy oven — we are authentic,” he said. “When you park your car and when you open your door, you can smell the steaks.”
The steakhouse serves dinner nightly except Mondays, and lunch Fridays through Sundays. Book reservations on resy.com.
The dinner menu features filets cut from the Perinis’ signature tenderloin, along with a choice of other steaks and prime rib.
There’s also catfish, grilled or fried, along with pork ribs and burgers.
The steakhouse’s weekend lunch menu features basically the same steaks and catfish, plus sandwiches.
Perini Ranch is also known for its side dishes: green-chile hominy, garlic-butter potatoes and zucchini marinara.
The Gap Café is a recent addition. It’s open for breakfast and lunch daily except Tuesdays.
The biscuits are stellar. The menu also includes simple breakfast burritos, lunch salads, chicken-fried steaks, sandwiches and burgers.
“Buffalo Gap has not had a cafe in several years,” Tom Perini said. “And a little town needs a cafe. We tried to make it good food.”
The restaurants generally draw guests from Fort Worth, Midland, Wichita Falls and San Angelo, he said.
They had offers to open more locations.
“But we decided that we want one restaurant,” he said, “and to make it as good as it can be.”
Perini Ranch is about a half-hour’s drive south of Interstate 20; 325-572-3339 for the steakhouse, or 325-572-3334 for the cafe, periniranch.com.
