\u201cI don\u2019t want some crazy, concocted beef dish,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to take a big, nice slab of beef and put it in the broiler, and I want you to put it on a plate and serve it, because that\u2019s what steakhouses are.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he looks around Old Town now, Rinzler counts about 10 steakhouses that will soon vie for customers\u2019 attention \u2014 \u201ca lot,\u201d he muses. More keep popping up across every corner of the Valley. In the past year, at least eight steakhouses have opened around the Valley, and another eight have announced plans to open in 2026.<\/p>\n
Even new restaurants that don\u2019t classify themselves as steakhouses increasingly feature large, a la carte cuts of beef on their menus. Nationally, diners are noticing that \u201ceverything is steakhouse<\/a>,\u201d as one Eater article declared.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is Phoenix just part of the protein-maxxing craze carving its way through America? Or is this simply our wild west cowtown roots reasserting themselves one chargrilled filet at a time?\u00a0<\/p>\n Tallying up the new places only starts to answer that question. Chefs, restaurateurs and steakhouse diners point to nostalgia, economics and the broader culture for why the plush, familiar comforts of steakhouses are defining how people are dining out right now.<\/p>\n S. Barrett Rinzler opened the first location of Bourbon & Bones in Scottsdale in 2016.<\/p>\n A \u2018meat-and-potatoes restaurant fortress\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Arizona\u2019s hunger for beef may be resurgent \u2014 but it ain\u2019t new. Along with copper, cotton, citrus and climate, cattle were among the proverbial five C\u2019s that defined the state\u2019s early rise. During Arizona\u2019s ranching peak a century ago, the 1.75 million cows outnumbered people five to one.<\/p>\n Steakhouses followed, and they captured the fine-dining scene<\/a> for much of the rest of the 20th century. When this fledgling Southwestern capital got its first dining guide in 1978, courtesy of John and Joan Bogert\u2019s \u201c100 Best Restaurants in the Valley of the Sun,\u201d the authors noted a clear dining trend. \u201cJust about every menu, including take-no-chances Chinese restaurant\u2019s, offered steaks, prime rib and baked potato,\u201d the venerable Valley food writer and critic Howard Seftel explained in The Arizona Republic in 2015<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Boozy power lunches in the curved red booths at Durant\u2019s<\/a> became the stuff of legend on Central Avenue. Monti\u2019s La Casa Vieja<\/a> was a celebratory staple in Tempe. The spring training set swung by Pink Pony and Don & Charlie\u2019s. History buffs and ghosthunters flocked to The Stockyards<\/a>, while would-be cowboys rode on horseback to dinner at T-Bone Steakhouse in South Phoenix.<\/p>\n It all amounted to a \u201cmeat-and-potatoes restaurant fortress,\u201d Seftel surmised. In the Valley, the cow was king.<\/p>\n Over time, however, chefs and diners sought newer, more exciting flavors. The traditional Arizona steakhouse, while still a staple, wasn\u2019t immune from history. The Stockyards changed ownership and underwent a significant renovation in 2004. Some long-time classics \u2014 Monti\u2019s, Don & Charlie\u2019s, Pink Pony \u2014 shuttered altogether. Post-pandemic, the veneer wore off on Durant\u2019s. In 2023, our former food critic Dominic Armato ruefully called it<\/a> a \u201cliving historical document\u201d and a \u201cmediocre, aging steakhouse charging top dollar for dull, poorly prepared food.\u201d<\/p>\n That would not be the last word on Durant\u2019s or Valley steakhouses. Across the Valley, steakhouses both old and new have clearly set out to reclaim the 20th century.<\/p>\n Durant\u2019s storied dining room was turned over to the Mastro<\/a> family in 2025. When they reopened the restaurant in December, the revival became one of the biggest restaurant stories of the past year. Meanwhile, new restaurants nodding to a bygone era sprang up: Cleaverman<\/a>, Shiv Supper Club<\/a> and Warren\u2019s Supper Club<\/a>. National chains also rebounded. J. Alexander\u2019s returned to Arizona in Chandler, while STK reopened in Scottsdale.<\/p>\n Cleaverman\u2019s downtown steakhouse opened in November, dripping with vintage opulence. Fluted chandeliers cast a warm glow over diners tucked into curved booths surrounding richly veined stone tables.\u00a0The velvet-draped walls are adorned with bespoke art. Oysters, crab claws and lobster sit on ice at the raw bar, while red cuts of raw meat are on display in a large fridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year one of the founders, Teddy Myers, laid out the group\u2019s vision for these spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cDowntown Phoenix deserves an institution,\u201d Myers said in a news release. \u201cCleaverman was built with soul, swagger and staying power. If we get it right, it will be timeless and outlast us all.\u201d<\/p>\n In the midst of the steakhouse epicenter of Old Town sits chef Charleen Badman\u2019s seasonally driven, vegetable-forward eatery, FnB<\/a>. The restaurant, which she opened in 2009 with Pavle Milic, has drawn acclaim for its produce-focused menu where meat is an element, not the feature, of a plate.\u00a0She\u2019s seen restaurant trends come and go.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even know if steakhouses are a trend in Arizona; we\u2019re known for steaks in Arizona,\u201d she says. \u201cThere might just be more joining the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, that crowd also includes BOA Steakhouse<\/a>, Drake\u2019s Hollywood<\/a>, The Guest House<\/a>, Harry & Izzy\u2019s<\/a>, Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse<\/a> and Uppercut, along with new locations of Fogo de Chao<\/a>, Origen<\/a> and STK.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n At some of these new-era steakhouses, natural wood, neutral fabrics and plants have replaced the white tablecloths, leather and the haze of cigarette smoke. They\u2019re less stuffy. The design\u2019s fresher, for one. And you might have to talk over a live DJ, for another.<\/p>\n Lee Maen, co-founder of the Los Angeles-based dining group behind BOA Steakhouse, says the evolution was needed to attract a younger crowd. \u201cWhat we originally wanted to do was a steakhouse that we wanted to go to,\u201d Maen says, \u201cnot our parents.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet, behind the trappings, an old blueprint is in play \u2014 on repeat. Just scan the menu of any of these steakhouses, new or worn-in. You\u2019ll see a curated selection of steaks, seafood and pasta. A wedge or Caesar salad invariably inaugurates the meal. Then potatoes arrive fried to a crisp or dutifully baked and pummeled with butter, sour cream and bacon. Steaks are cooked to your liking and plussed up with butters, bone marrows, seafood or sauces. Something you order will be finished tableside (quick, pull out your phone!). The martinis will be ice cold, stiff and abundant. When you feel stuffed, you\u2019ll dig deep and order the cheesecake.<\/p>\n The decadence is only limited by your imagination, and maybe your belt. In Arizona, at least, it has always been thus.<\/p>\n Steak, in this economy?<\/strong><\/p>\n A walk through the hallways of The Stockyards is a ticket back in time. The probably haunted Phoenix institution has served diners since 1947. Menus from the 1960s and 1970s, adorned with rotund steers wearing crowns, hang in the restaurant\u2019s hallway, encircled by the sentence \u201cWhere prime Western beef is king.\u201d<\/p>\n Gary Lasko, co-owner and operator of the restaurant, loves uncovering those details and sharing them with customers. Every historic steakhouse needs lore.<\/p>\n Many of The Stockyards\u2019 original menu items remain. There\u2019s giggle-inducing calf fries \u2014 or as one server referred to them, \u201cthe last thing over the fence\u201d \u2014 and Chateaubriand, the classic French preparation of tenderloin. One of the vintage menus advertises the latter for $8.50 per person.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to see those prices,\u201d Lasko says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, the 16-ounce Chateaubriand goes for $130 for two. Lasko keeps a spreadsheet of competitor steakhouses, tracking what they charge for different cuts of beef and other dishes to constantly assess where his steakhouse stands.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prices are on the rise, driven in no small part by all-time high beef costs. Drought and feed costs<\/a> are squeezing the number of cattle, industry experts say. Tariffs and disease also drive up prices. Restaurant owners say beef costs have leapt as much as 60% in the last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe herd is the smallest it\u2019s been since the \u201950s in the United States,\u201d Lasko says.<\/p>\n Yet diners are undeterred. On average, Americans eat more meat now than they did before the pandemic. Nearly one in five beef consumers anticipated eating more red meat in the coming year, per a Cargill study<\/a>. Chris DuBois, a senior vice president at the market research company Circana, told The New York Times<\/a> in April that \u201cThe demonization of meat is over.\u201d<\/p>\n Podcasters and influencers promote the virtues of a carnivore diet. Aging Americans and those on weight loss drugs seek out more protein to combat the loss of muscle mass. And no less than the federal government continues to celebrate steak and tallow like no other time in recent history. The new food pyramid, released by the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.-led U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month, displays a thick, marbled steak at the pinnacle of Americans\u2019 ideal diet.<\/p>\n The relentless pull of the familiar<\/strong><\/p>\n In \u201cSteak House,\u201d Eric Wareheim set out to define the genre and create a record of iconic examples around the country. What he found on his travels was the DNA of what Valley diners are discovering anew.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been around the world 100 times and eaten everywhere and what I come back to is the comfort and consistency and joy that the steakhouse provides,\u201d he told Eater last fall. \u201cIt\u2019s simple and I can enjoy it the same as my dad, as my granddad.\u201d<\/p>\n Each place, each clientele may look a little different. But the dishes, the service and the atmosphere all signal an experience that has carried through over generations.<\/p>\n Christopher Gross, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind the eponymous Wrigley Mansion fine dining haven, has been known to visit Durant\u2019s for a prime rib or Maple & Ash for a ribeye.<\/p>\n \u201cThe luxury or the appeal to the steakhouse is people still \u2014 and me, too \u2014 love familiarity and comfort of not thinking,\u201d Gross says. \u201cNo one\u2019s recreating the wheel. It works. It rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet, with such a rapidly expanding herd, restaurateurs try to stay one step ahead to stand out. Even Gross, whose restaurant is a destination for its culinary fancifulness, is considering an \u201cif you can\u2019t beat them, join them\u201d tactic. He\u2019s weighing whether to add more steaks and a la carte options on the restaurant\u2019s Classics menu offered two nights a week, which currently includes a prime tenderloin filet au poivre.<\/p>\n Rinzler and Maen see steak sourcing as the key to competing in a crowded arena. During its near-decade-long run and expansion to four Valley locations, Bourbon & Bones has upgraded to elite prime cuts and Wagyu. BOA Steakhouse, meanwhile, serves an 18-ounce dry-aged Black Angus ribeye from the 6666 Ranch, which is featured in Taylor Sheridan\u2019s popular \u201cYellowstone\u201d series, as well as a vegan Beyond Steak Filet.<\/p>\n Jared Porter, the executive chef for Cleaverman, has reverence for steakhouses, but had never led one. He has cooked throughout the Valley for more than 25 years. Since starting at the classic Phoenix fine-dining restaurant Vincent on Camelback, he has worked at large local restaurant groups and was helming the kitchen at Tesota when a friend suggested he meet with the Pretty Decent Concepts team \u2014 backers of Cleaverman, its hidden bar Filthy and the forthcoming omakase Uppercut at the Arizona Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n Porter took the perceived guardrails of a steakhouse menu as a challenge. Can you work in some unique dishes and ingredients along the way? Can you cook each steak flawlessly? Because there\u2019s very little to hide behind if a steak isn\u2019t perfect.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s flame, it\u2019s high-quality beef and it\u2019s salt, and that\u2019s it,\u201d he says. \u201cEverything else is accentuating that simplicity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Porter also says customers\u2019 hunger for simplicity may be a reaction to food trends of the last few years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gone through this hyper-esoteric, highly creative melting pot of different types of cuisines,\u201d he explains. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s any coincidence that the heaviest hitters in the food world are coming back to these simple roots.\u201d<\/p>\n Splashy steakhouses keep opening in other major cities, too. Celebrity chefs like Jose Andres<\/a> and Michael Mina<\/a> have expanded their steak-driven restaurants. Cooking competition-famous chefs like Fabio Viviani<\/a> and Kwame Onwuachi<\/a> likewise are jumping into the game, infusing their steakhouses with their heritage.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Gilbert, Origen adds a Mexican twist to the steakhouse. Its owners founded three restaurants in Mexico before fixing their sights above the border. Origen is the kind of place where most tables will share a variety of plates, owner Eduardo Medina says, with a spread that could include a ribeye alongside cochinita pibil and ceviche.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to have a lot of different steakhouses right now,\u201d Medina says. \u201cMany years ago, it had to be with a white cloth and a sommelier. Today, the steakhouse is more than that. It\u2019s more for everybody. It\u2019s more for sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018People want to go out and feel opulent\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Costs be damned, Valley steakhouses have stayed busy. Even as Rinzler worries about the growing number of steakhouses, he noted that those already open aren\u2019t seeing lower volume.<\/p>\n Lasko says the past few years at The Stockyards have been their busiest. He agrees with other owners that the booming city and a steady flow of tourists keep steakhouses, and most other high-end restaurants, busy. He also chalks it up to \u201cHunger Games\u201d-style economic reality we\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re familiar with the K-shaped economy?\u201d Lasko asks, making the letter with his fingers. \u201cThis group\u2019s going up, this group\u2019s going down. We\u2019re up here \u2014 steakhouses are up here in the K-shaped economy. That\u2019s why we\u2019re continuing to stay busy.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also no secret that restaurants of all stripes are adding luxury-signifying products \u2014 caviar, Wagyu, a fresh shaving of truffle \u2014 to their menus. They cater to the same well-heeled set that airlines and automakers increasingly court, but those items also appeal to the average diner looking to celebrate.<\/p>\n You may not know how you\u2019re going to afford child care or health insurance this year. But even workaday stiffs feel like a boss when they\u2019re dressed up, out on the town, watching a seafood tower and a porterhouse for two land on their white tablecloth.<\/p>\n Porter, the Cleaverman chef, is a self-described tightwad. The price point of a luxe steakhouse experience used to give him pause. He asked Myers, \u201cWhat do you know that I don\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n Once he understood the long-term bet Myers and his team were making, to build a restaurant that could become an institution, he got excited.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just about the food. It\u2019s about the experience,\u201d Porter says. \u201cPeople want to go out and feel opulent, even if the world doesn\u2019t allow it.\u201d<\/p>\n If you are trying to be a baller on a budget, owners are encouraging family-style dining and incorporating more affordable items on their menus. They\u2019re what BOA\u2019s Maen calls \u201couts.\u201d Plates of spicy rigatoni, chicken parmesan or steak frites can lower the cost of admission.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to have the $80 steak,\u201d Maen says.<\/p>\n Savvy diners can find deals if they\u2019re flexible with when they go out. Origen promotes $99 Tomahawk Tuesdays. Medina, its owner, says the restaurant will also add three steaks to its happy hour, for a limited time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to manage that cost,\u201d he says. \u201cThe cost of the meat has been like the Bitcoin.\u201d He starts to trace the air. \u201cIt goes up and down but (more) up than down.\u201d<\/p>\n Enticing deals may get new diners through the door. Mary Yamasato found Origen on the reservation app OpenTable and booked it for her husband Eric\u2019s birthday. They drove about an hour from north Phoenix just to try the steakhouse.<\/p>\n For Yamasato, steakhouses have always been a celebratory place with her family, even when she was a vegetarian.<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought, what a statement for his birthday,\u201d she says. \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s that sentiment that gives steakhouse owners confidence about their future, even as they fight to stand out from the crowd. They know the restaurants that pick a timeless lane and execute to high standards won\u2019t measure their returns in months or even years. Rather, they\u2019ll be the outposts that decades from now continue to order white linen, French knives and beef by the quarter. In a western city where steak has long been king, steakhouses still constitute a fortress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When he was young, S. Barrett Rinzler\u2019s family made their living running a grocery store and raising cattle…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":551924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,529,5643,1587,97044,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-551923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-analysis","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-az","12":"tag-openings-closings","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115979299607820766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/S.-Barrett-Rinzler-2-e1769639395163.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/BoaSteakhouse_Scottsdale2-e1767632365361.jpg\")
Restaurants like BOA Steakhouse are raising the stakes with steaks at new restaurants around the Valley.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cleaverman-dining-room-e1769639567627.jpg\")
Cleaverman opened in downtown Phoenix in November, dripping opulence.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_3372-e1768510561646.jpg\")
Origen owner Educardo Medina.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cleaverman_Jared-Porter-2-e1769639505581.jpg\")
Cleaverman executive chef Jared Porter.<\/p>\n