Iconic Phoenix steakhouse Durant’s reopens on Dec. 17.
Tirion Boan
“We just wanted to keep Durant’s, Durant’s,” says Jeff Mastro, sitting tucked into a classic, tufted red leather booth with his arms folded on a white tablecloth topped with sparkling wine glasses.
For many longtime fans of the iconic Central Avenue steakhouse, that will be music to their ears.
After a 10-month closure and a change of ownership, Durant’s is getting ready to reopen on Dec. 17. The restaurant will begin with dinner service, before adding a Friday lunch menu in mid-January. Reservations are open online.
When customers visit, they can expect to find the historic restaurant familiar yet refreshed.
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Durant’s long bar is ready to shake and stir as it has for decades.
The red booths still fill the multiple dining rooms. Members of the Porterhouse Club – who once successfully ate a 44-ounce steak and got their name engraved on gold plaques on the walls – can still find their name. Customers will still enter through the bustling kitchen and the long bar is ready to shake and stir as it has for decades. Some of the longtime staff have returned to their posts.
These core elements are essential to the magic of the iconic steakhouse, and things the new owners were keen to preserve.
Jack Durant opened his namesake restaurant in 1950, before passing the torch to Jack and Carol McElroy. Early this year, 75 years after making its Phoenix debut, the restaurant was bought by brothers Mike and Jeffrey Mastro, their dad Dennis Mastro and business partner Scott Troilo.
The group runs Prime Steak Concepts, the company behind other high-end steak and seafood spots Steak 44 and 48, Ocean 44 and 48 and Dominick’s Steakhouse.
Before they became the owners of Durant’s, the Mastro’s were longtime customers.
“We’ve been coming here for years,” Jeff says. “I’ve come here with my dad, I’ve come here with my son. He’s 23 now and actually works for our company, and I found the picture when we came here before a Suns game and he was like nine years old. There’s so much history here.”
Durant’s co-owner Jeff Mastro, (from left) Chief Executive Chef Marc Lupino and Chief Brand Officer Oliver Badgio pose at the Durant’s bar.
What’s new at Durant’s?
While working to preserve the restaurant’s history, the new owners have also made a few updates. Some of the most notable changes are on the menu.
Courtesy of Chief Executive Chef Marc Lupino and his team, the kitchen will serve a selection of new items, along with classic Durant’s favorites and era-appropriate additions that feel right at home.
“We want the same Durant’s with more offerings,” Lupino says, “and we’re just trying to get it through another 75 years.”
New additions include more steaks, a lot more appetizers, vegetables and sides, plus a decadent caviar service.
“It helped us elevate a little bit and give another level of what people are looking for nowadays in a high-end restaurant,” the chef says.
Staples that longtime fans can still count on are the creamed spinach, scalloped potatoes, prime rib and the famous relish tray.
Strawberry Shortcake has long been a staple at Durant’s.
Lupino hopes that some of the new items will convince diners they’ve always been on the menu.
“They had a strawberry shortcake that people loved here, so we just changed it a little bit, made the cake fresher and some fresh strawberries,” he says. “But people are going to probably think it’s the same exact one because it’s so good.”
That logic also applied to the breadcrumb-coated and fried deviled eggs, a new appetizer designed to feel nostalgic.
“Deviled eggs are kind of an old-school, kind of fancy thing, but I haven’t met many people that don’t like deviled eggs,” Lupino says. “It was (about) trying to keep the era, trying to keep with that time period and thinking about, as we were making food, does this actually fit?”
Some dishes from Durant’s new sibling steakhouses will also be on offer, such as crispy shrimp and chicken-fried lobster.
Steak and seafood are the stars of the show at Durant’s.
Along with the kitchen upgrades, the lighting and sound system have been brought up to speed. The signature red booths have been plumped and polished. Thick-stemmed martini glasses have been swapped out for more delicate glassware. A new tree has been planted outside in the valet area and the exterior of the building has a fresh coat of pink.
While all of these small tweaks added up to months of work, they are things the new owners hope will go almost unnoticed. Instead, they hope customers will feel like they are at the classic Durant’s, just at a version that’s a little bit better.
“It’ll sound great, it’ll look great and people can say, ‘Oh my gosh this feels the same as when we came here and I proposed to my wife in 1972!’” Jeff says.
Peek inside the updated Durant’s:
Durant’s
Reopening on Dec. 17
2611 N. Central Ave.