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Every restaurant has slow day-parts. The challenge is to get at least some business in the door before the customary dinner rush. To that end, Donovan's Steak & Chop House has found some very tasty bait: prime filet steak sandwiches during happy hour and they're free! Well, you should probably buy a drink so as to avoid being a moocher. If you're like me, however, no matter how many of those free bites you have between 4 and 6 p.m., you're gonna be hungry around 10. Or really ill.
The larger point is that you might still be on Eastern time when you visit Phoenix and want to have an early dinner, but you'd be missing out on what Donovan's is really about. This is testosterone central, baby. There is steak, of course. There is a lot of dark, dark wood decor. There are a lot of large parties celebrating their business dealings or continuing them over dinner. And there is a cigar lounge, complete with leather couches and chairs, TVs and portraits of celebrities smoking. But first, let's eat.
I'm just finishing my visit to Phoenix. Great ballpark. Nice weather.
Where's the beef? I just want the classic steak dinner. I start with a Caesar salad ($9). The waiter delivers a loaf of warm bread. I order the prime 16-ounce rib eye ($36), though the 24-ounce rib eye chop is always going to deliver just a little more of that beefy flavor and most of the weight is in the bone. The steak comes with a choice of potato. I choose the Garlic Smashed and am delighted that the potato skin is in there. The garlic is not bitter and the balance is just right. Carrots and snow peas round out the plate. I had in mind a glass of Zinfandel, but the Cabernet Sauvignon choices are better. I go with a favorite, the Penfolds Bin 407 ($13). All is right with the world as the Mets beat up on the Nationals on the TV in the bar.
I'm not hurrying through my dinner, but I do want to finish a long day with a cigar in the lounge just off the main bar. I've been waiting to have the last of my Cuban Upmann Torpedos and this seems like the right time. I plop into a leather chair and light up. The waiter informs me that the espresso machine is broken, but preserves my festive mood by offering a drink on the house. I ask about dark rums. He mentions Montecristo. I am happy.
Donovan's has six private rooms and one of which is next to the cigar lounge. A retirement dinner is going on and everyone is ordering cigars.
Donovan's just started carrying the Fuente Short Story and they're in danger of running out after this crowd gets done. The captain is preparing each one, clipping the end and offering to light the cigar with a torch. This is service.
The restaurant is full of staff who are into cigars. They want to share their thoughts about great cigars and are eager to hear about others they might not know about. West of the Mississippi, with perhaps the exception of Los Angeles, the availability of certain well-known Fuente brands is fairly limited. You can get a Fuente Fuente OpusX out of the humidor here, but it'll cost you $55. A lot of patrons bring their own cigars.
The menu at Donovan's is not going to surprise any red-blooded devotee of steak houses, but the execution is worth noting. Donovan's has one of those 1,800-degree broilers that sear the steak right on the plate. The steak and plate are then presented to you, on top of a bamboo place mat, which prevents the table from being burned. The waiter says the plate can reach temperatures of up to 400-degrees. The wine list is a Wine Spectator Best Of and will please you. Many Duckhorn and Justin and Heitz wines are represented here. Half-bottles, something not offered by many restaurants due to space limitations, are prevalent on the list (For details, visit www.donovanssteakhouse.com).
Donovan's is eager to please. At 9 p.m. on a Thursday night, the entire dining room is full and all the private rooms are busy. No one is rushed.
Everyone is having a good time. Wait till they find out about the free filet sandwiches.
Donovan's Steak & Chop House
3101 East Camelback Road
Phoenix, AZ
602-955-3666
Open Monday to Saturday, bar at 4 p.m., dining room at 5 p.m.
Complimentary valet parking
www.donovanssteakhouse.com
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