Special delivery: New owners of Durant's donate food to St. Vincent de Paul
PHOENIX - St. Vincent de Paul serves 6,000 people a day and on February 28, they received some of the best ingredients from Durant's.
This week has been bittersweet for former Durant's owner Jack McElroy.
The backstory:
"As much as we'd like to keep running Durant's, it just got to the point in our life where we need to step back from it and our goal was to hopefully find someone that appreciated the history of Durant's," he said.
McElroy says parting with the place his dad opened alongside Jack Durant in 1950 is easier when he sees good deeds like the one that happened on Friday, as a truckload of food was transported from Durant's kitchen to help feed those in need at St. Vincent de Paul.
What they're saying:
"There's a lot of steaks, there's a lot of fish, there's a lot of everything. It's a shame when you look at it and think I can't do anything with this. What do I do? And it's awesome to have someone like Chris and St. Vincent de Paul to give them to," said Marc Lupino, Chief Executive Chef of Prime Steak Concepts.
It's a gesture that goes a long way with Head Chef Christopher Hoffman, who feeds thousands at St. Vincent de Paul every day.
Durant's on Central Avenue closes and sells to the Mastro family
After 75 years, Durant's on Central Avenue in midtown Phoenix is being sold. The legendary establishment will shut down for several months for a renovation before it reopens with new management: the Mastro family.
"It means the world just to know different chefs.. we all come together, and we all help each other out, especially for the community, which is what this is all about."
Students from Brophy College Prep, where the Mastro brothers attended school, came out to help – another show of support for the transition to Durant's new chapter.
"Brophy, they're the best," said Hoffman. "They help us at St. Vincent's also a couple times a week and they donate their time quite often."
Lupino added, "We do a lot of events in our restaurant and this will be nothing different. We'll do events here also.
Chef Marc said that for anyone who is employed by Durant's, they are trying to find space at other restaurants owned by the company until Durant's opens back up. They will hold hiring events for Durant's once they open back up as well.