My grandfather,Ed Mclaughlin,Irish New Yorker through and through and President of Ward Baking Company,use to frequent the Cattleman. In his later life,after retiring,he would meet once a month with his cronies for lunch there. The story goes that Gramps and his buds were having their monthly lunch at the Cattleman, and they were all talking and looked over at Ed, and his eyes were closed.They said "Ed, Ed" no response. He died sitting up having lunch in the Cattleman with good old friends. Not a bad way to go!

Mitch thanks for the memories. My favorite cousin took me to the Cattleman for my 21st birthday. It was so much fun and I felt so grown up

Cattleman Rest anhattan
Posted by: Simon (95.150.83.50)
Date: February 24, 2010 08:57AM

Hi guys

Is the Cattleman (around 43-50th off either 5th or 6th Ave's) still there? If it is'nt, what is?

Had many an enjoyable time there in times past and as I am hoping to revisit NY. would like to know what's the latest.

My thanks

I have such wonderful memories of The Cattleman Restaurant and wish it was still there. My parents and I would take the train into the city from Brooklyn and spend the day walking along 5th Avenue, somehow after doing that or seeing a show we would walk over to The Cattleman. It had the decor of the Old West. I know I would always order the Filet Mignon with Bernaise Sauce...a Terrific choice...with a salad ...I know there was always an aperitif or cordial at the end of the meal...I loved the Creme de Menthe...I don't remember the desserts too well...maybe ...Pecan Pie ??? I know that Johnny Carson always gave away dinners from The Cattleman as prizes...It was one of the BEST around at the time...I may still have an old menu...lol...

I have such wonderful memories of The Cattleman Restaurant and wish it was still there. My parents and I would take the train into the city from Brooklyn and spend the day walking along 5th Avenue, somehow after doing that or seeing a show we would walk over to The Cattleman. It had the decor of the Old West. I know I would always order the Filet Mignon with Bernaise Sauce...a Terrific choice...with a salad ...I know there was always an aperitif or cordial at the end of the meal...I loved the Creme de Menthe...I don't remember the desserts too well...maybe ...Pecan Pie ??? I know that Johnny Carson always gave away dinners from The Cattleman as prizes...It was one of the BEST around at the time...I may still have an old menu...lol...

I have such wonderful memories of The Cattleman Restaurant and wish it was still there. My parents and I would take the train into the city from Brooklyn and spend the day walking along 5th Avenue, somehow after doing that or seeing a show we would walk over to The Cattleman. It had the decor of the Old West. I know I would always order the Filet Mignon with Bernaise Sauce...a Terrific choice...with a salad ...I know there was always an aperitif or cordial at the end of the meal...I loved the Creme de Menthe...I don't remember the desserts too well...maybe ...Pecan Pie ??? I know that Johnny Carson always gave away dinners from The Cattleman as prizes...It was one of the BEST around at the time...I may still have an old menu...lol...

I've been wondering for a long time if the Cattleman Restaurant was still in existence, dreaming of going back there some day. In 1968 my father took me out to lunch there and it was glorious, gorgeous and clean. I had never seen such neat decor. On a book of matches my father wrote me a late excuse, and upon anxiously re-entering Claremont Secretarial School on the second floor of THE Chrysler Building (yeah!) and fully expecting to get killed for returning late, the Superintendent opened the book, read the little note and - - - smiled, and I returned to my class with a great sigh of relief. Enjoyed reading all of your memories everyone!

Sitting here enjoying these blogs. My stepmom, Shirley Williams, is here. She worked the coatroom and was hostess at the Cattleman for many years. She was part of the family there, for surely all the staff got along beautifully. She was proud to work there and has many wonderful memories.

A new restaurant opened in Lindenhurst, Suffolk County, called The Cattlemans Steakhouse and Saloon. I was wondering if it was related to "our cattleman" in NYC. That's what brought me to this site. Mitch, funny, but Shirl was about to call you and ask, when I found these posts. (She didn't have your phone # with her.)

Karen Williams

I worked at The Cattleman during my college years in 1965 and 1966, first as a busboy and then as a waiter. The chef, Jerry Thompson, was a tough, burly ex-Marine. He did the early morning shopping in the food markets himself and was a stickler for the finest, freshest ingredients. Since these were usually also the most costly, he sometimes came into conflict with Larry Ellman's sister, Lynne, who handled the restaurant's finances and daily running. She was concerned with the bottom line. It was wonderful to hear Jerry, with his thick, old-time Brooklyn accent, arguing the subtle fine points of haute cuisine with her.

Two Brazilians, Dirk (Dirceo Deusdevit), a waiter, and Alex (memory fails me on his last name) a busboy, were my particular friends. They taught me knife throwing, which they said they had learned in their childhood from Indians they had lived among far up the Amazon. Dirk was sardonic, witty and fun-loving. Alex was a more serious and political leftist.

There was a sadder side to a waitress I worked with. She had a small child and a heroin-addicted jazz musician husband and really needed the job. One night a large party occupied one table for the entire evening and ran up a very large bill on which they left a one percent tip. The desperate waitress succumbed to temptation and handed it back with the classic rejoinder, "you need it more than I do". She was fired 60 seconds later as the diners were regulars and friendly with someone in management. The union at that time was no help in such situations.

It was a pity she had not been working with a particular gay waiter (possibly one of those Frederick Stafford referred to). He was absolutely bullet-proof and impervious to insults, slanders, etc. His verbal active armor turned back any such salvos onto his would-be attacker with devastating effect, yet without harm to himself. A virtuoso.

The maitre d', a courtly German gentleman named Heinz, taught me the real meaning and practice of professionalism, which has been of the greatest use throughout my working career since. He later was at Windows on the World at the WTC (long before 9/11).

As SDB says, the original Cattleman was located in the Fred F. French Building, with the entrance on East 45th St., just off of Fifth. Later, Larry opened The Cattleman West on the other side of 5th Ave.

To my memory, Larry and Lynne owned and lived in the old Gertrude Rheinelander Waldo mansion on the SE corner of Madison & 72nd that Christopher Gray writes about in today's Times, [www.nytimes.com]. Unfortunately he does not mention their ownership.

Thanks for the opportunity to indulge my memories.

My brother, Andrew Alpern, the architectural historian, has corrected my memory about the Ellmans' residence:

"They lived there, but didn’t own the building. They rented a six room apartment on either the second or third floor (I can’t recall which) and paid $450 a month. When the building owner decided to double the rent, Ellman got his dander up and told the landlord what to do with his rent rise. He then bought the apartment on the first floor of the Dakota that had been lived in originally by a pair of eccentric sisters who kept a stuffed horse in the entrance gallery. It was a duplex down to the basement, where there was a swimming pool."

hi Jerry just saw the your missive and I worked at the Cattleman 1965-1989 with my wife Peggy. I was one of the Brit's that were there in those years
Heinz was the captain and John liepe was also Dino Pappas also there somE of the night crew on the main floor
busboys were christo, Felix, martin and tony oliveira
the oldest waiters were Freddie Kaufman and frank kreps Larry Medina john Dugal in the pantry was the black girl Natalie Moore and Rios
i could go on and on you are right about dirk he was hilarious and very smart
he went to Patrick lubumba university Moscow and was a left winger then he bought some property in Brazil got into a crazy religion and became a right winger

hi karen
just spoke to shirley
small world
happy thansgiving
mitch