Durant’s Steakhouse Phoenix: A Classic Since 1950

Few restaurants are as closely connected to Phoenix history as Durant’s Steakhouse.

Located on Central Avenue, Durant’s Steakhouse has been a Phoenix institution since 1950. Known for its red leather booths, dimly lit dining room, classic steaks and famous entrance through the kitchen, Durant’s offers something increasingly difficult to find in a rapidly changing city: a restaurant that still feels unmistakably like old Phoenix.

More than seven decades after opening, Durant’s remains one of the most iconic steakhouses in Phoenix and a restaurant every local should experience at least once.

The History of Durant’s Steakhouse in Phoenix

Jack Durant opened Durant’s Steakhouse in 1950 on Central Avenue, creating the kind of old-school steakhouse more commonly associated with cities like Chicago and New York.

Over the decades, the restaurant became a gathering place for Phoenix business leaders, politicians, athletes, celebrities and generations of local families.

Famous names have been associated with Durant’s throughout its history, but celebrity sightings aren’t really what makes the restaurant special.

It’s the generations of Phoenix history contained inside those dark dining rooms.

Business deals have been discussed here. Birthdays and anniversaries celebrated. Political strategies debated. First dates turned into marriages, with some of those couples eventually returning with their children and grandchildren.

For a relatively young city, there aren’t many Phoenix restaurants that can claim that kind of history.

Why Do You Enter Durant’s Through the Kitchen?

First-time visitors to Durant’s Steakhouse should know one important rule: park in the back and enter through the kitchen.

Guests walk through the working kitchen before emerging into the restaurant’s dining room, an unusual tradition that has become one of Durant’s defining features.

What began largely as a practical matter as parking shifted behind the restaurant eventually became part of the Durant’s experience.

Walking through the kitchen and into the dark dining room feels like entering another era, and that’s exactly the point.

Durant’s Steakhouse Begins a New Chapter

Durant’s entered a new era in 2025 when the legendary Phoenix restaurant changed ownership after 75 years.

The new ownership group includes members of the Mastro family and business partner Scott Troilo, whose restaurant portfolio includes some of the Valley’s best-known upscale steakhouses.

Following an extensive restoration, Durant’s reopened in December 2025.

Perhaps the most important part of the renovation was what didn’t change.

The famous kitchen entrance remains. So do the red booths, dark dining rooms, classic bar and much of the atmosphere generations of Phoenicians associate with Durant’s.

In a city where seemingly everything eventually gets torn down, remodeled or replaced, Durant’s doesn’t need to become something new.

Its history is part of the attraction.

What to Order at Durant’s Steakhouse

The menu at Durant’s remains rooted in the classic American steakhouse experience.

Steaks and prime rib are at the center of the menu, accompanied by traditional steakhouse appetizers, seafood and sides.

Durant’s is also known for its Porterhouse Club, a longstanding tradition associated with diners willing to take on one of the restaurant’s biggest steaks.

And save room for dessert.

The strawberry shortcake has developed a following of its own and remains one of the classic ways to finish dinner at Durant’s.

As for drinks, this probably isn’t the restaurant to overthink your cocktail order.

A martini feels right.

Is Durant’s Steakhouse Worth Visiting?

Yes, particularly if you want a restaurant that feels uniquely Phoenix.

There are plenty of excellent steakhouses in Phoenix, including newer restaurants offering spectacular dining rooms, extensive wine lists and modern takes on the traditional steakhouse.

Durant’s offers something different.

History.

Phoenix has changed dramatically since Durant’s opened in 1950. The metropolitan area has grown by millions of people. Central Avenue has transformed. Neighborhoods have been rebuilt, restaurants have come and gone, and entire parts of the Valley have emerged that barely existed when Jack Durant opened the restaurant.

Durant’s survived it all.

That’s what makes eating here different.

You’re not simply having dinner at another upscale Phoenix steakhouse. You’re experiencing a piece of the city’s history that has somehow survived into the present.

And in a city constantly becoming something new, there’s something particularly special about a restaurant that still remembers what Phoenix used to be.