W hen he was young, S. Barrett Rinzler’s family made their living running a grocery store and raising cattle in Dayton, Ohio. He fondly remembers stock shows at the farm and his dad bringing home steaks for dinner. “It gave me an affinity for beef,” Rinzler says. The restaurants he’s built testify to that love. Rinzler’s restaurant group, Square One Concepts, runs Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers, a popular local chain known for its thick burgers. As that beefy sports grill bloomed into a juggernaut, Rinzler dreamed of launching a small, sophisticated steakhouse. In 2016, he opened Bourbon & Bones in Old Town Scottsdale with an aim to keep the restau- rant and its menu classic. “I don’t want some crazy, concocted beef dish,” he says. “I 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’s what steakhouses are.” As he looks around Old Town now, Rinzler counts about 10 steakhouses that will soon vie for customers’ attention — “a lot,” 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. Even new restaurants that don’t clas- sify themselves as steakhouses increas- ingly feature large, a la carte cuts of beef on their menus. Nationally, diners are noticing that “everything is steakhouse,” as one Eater article declared. 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? 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. A ‘meat-and-potatoes restaurant fortress’ Arizona’s hunger for beef may be resurgent — but it ain’t new. Along with copper, cotton, citrus and climate, cattle were among the proverbial five C’s that defined the state’s early rise. During Arizona’s ranching peak a century ago, the 1.75 million cows outnumbered people five to one. Steakhouses followed, and they captured the fine-dining scene 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’s “100 Best Restaurants in the Valley of the Sun,” the authors noted a clear dining trend. “Just about every menu, including take-no-chances Chinese restaurant’s, offered steaks, prime rib and baked potato,” the vener- able Valley food writer and critic Howard Seftel explained in The Arizona Republic in 2015. Boozy power lunches in the curved red booths at Durant’s became the stuff of legend on Central Avenue. Monti’s La Casa Vieja was a celebratory staple in Tempe. The spring training set swung by Pink Pony and Don & Charlie’s. History buffs and ghosthunters flocked to The Stockyards, while would-be cowboys rode on horseback to dinner at T-Bone Steakhouse in South Phoenix. It all amounted to a “meat-and-pota- toes restaurant fortress,” Seftel surmised. In the Valley, the cow was king. Over time, however, chefs and diners sought newer, more exciting flavors. The traditional Arizona steakhouse, while still a staple, wasn’t immune from history. The Stockyards changed ownership and under- went a significant renovation in 2004. Some long-time classics — Monti’s, Don & Charlie’s, Pink Pony — shuttered alto- gether. Post-pandemic, the veneer wore off on Durant’s. In 2023, our former food critic Dominic Armato ruefully called it a “living historical document” and a “mediocre, aging steakhouse charging top dollar for dull, poorly prepared food.” That would not be the last word on Durant’s or Valley steakhouses. Across the Valley, steakhouses both old and new have clearly set out to reclaim the 20th century. Durant’s storied dining room was turned over to the Mastro 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, Shiv Supper Club and Warren’s Supper Club. National chains also rebounded. J. Alexander’s returned to Arizona in Chandler, while STK reopened in Scottsdale. Cleaverman’s 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. The 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. Last year one of the founders, Teddy Myers, laid out the group’s vision for these spaces. “Downtown Phoenix deserves an insti- tution,” Myers said in a news release. “Cleaverman was built with soul, swagger and staying power. If we get it right, it will be timeless and outlast us all.” In the midst of the steakhouse epicenter of Old Town sits chef Charleen Badman’s seasonally driven, vegetable-forward eatery, FnB. 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. She’s seen restaurant trends come and go. S. Barrett Rinzler opened the first location of Bourbon & Bones in Scottsdale in 2016. (Square One Concepts) Restaurants like BOA Steakhouse are raising the stakes with steaks at new restaurants around the Valley. (Innovative Dining Group)
