Tom Perini's love for ranch life began as a young boy, growing up and working on his family's ranch in Buffalo Gap, TX (pop. 463). He loved the cowboy life but found that he preferred cooking lunch and dinner to wrangling cattle, and became a cowboy cook instead. In 1973 he turned that passion into a career and has since become America's most famous cowboy gourmet.
In 1983, after perfecting the traditional cowboy cuisine and creating a few recipes of his own, Tom opened Perini Ranch Steakhouse on the family's ranch. Ever since, Perini Ranch Steakhouse has served as home to the best chuck wagon-style food in America. While the restaurant started as a roadhouse, word traveled of the excellent food - especially the steak. And now, it is a world-renowned destination restaurant, honored as one of "America's Classics" by the James Beard Foundation.