Devotees of Cattle Company Steakhouse on Kaahumanu Street may have been a bit shaken up to hear that its mainland parent company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, especially having lost the 28-year-old Stuart Anderson's Cattle Company Restaurant at Ward Warehouse in 2007.

The restaurant is open for business as usual, according to General Manager Lynn Tomokiyo, who said further press inquiries were to be handled by corporate offices.

Cattle Company Steakhouse is part of the Black Angus Steakhouse chain that has 69 restaurants operating in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada and Washington.

The Associated Press reported this week that the chain's owner, privately held ARG Enterprises Inc., owes between $100 million and $500 million and that its assets total between $100 million and $500 million, citing the filing.

ARG first filed for Chapter 11 in 2004, and upon exiting, refurbished the chain, refreshed its menu and took other measures. Revenue, though, still dropped to $181 million in 2008 from about $244 million in 2006, according to Lisa Poulin, chief restructuring officer, in an affidavit.

Revenue declines are mostly “;due to the recessionary economic environment,”; she said. “;Making matters worse, the debtors' restaurants primarily are located in some of the areas hardest hit by the mortgage crisis, causing consumers in those markets to cut back on discretionary spending, such as dining out.”;

Locally, many residents may be unaware of the chain's rebranding to Cattle Company Steakhouse as you still hear references to Stuart Anderson's, a nod to the chain's founder.

Closure of the Ward Warehouse restaurant left customers saddened. Donna Farrell, general manager of Ward Warehouse, would only say at the time that the company's lease on the 6,800 square foot space had ended.

The Pearl City location has about the same seating capacity of about 280, and was able to absorb some of the Ward store's employees, but not all.

The Pearl City Cattle Company Steakhouse opened in 1980 and nurtured many late-night memories for local young adults.

  Patrons wanted to go out at night, but didn't want to venture all the way in to Waikiki - or their parents would check the odometer to make sure the car had not been driven all that way.

Once dinner service was pau, it was a nightclub, as was the old Pirate Bully Hayes, though the latter had a rough reputation and Stuart Anderson's did not.

At the time the Ward store closed, Tomokiyo told the Star-Bulletin that the company had just completed an extensive renovation of the Pearl City location and “;we are not going anywhere.”;