Steak 48 now open at 9680 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills
By Dolores Quintana
Mastro’s Steakhouse co-owners Jeff and Michael Mastro have gone and done it again. They have opened a new steakhouse in Beverly Hills, a place not known for its dearth of steakhouses. As reported by Eater Los Angeles, Steak 48 is a luxurious and high-end steakhouse from the brothers Mastro who didn’t see a reason to tamper with success. The restaurant is open Sunday through Thursday from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Mastros no longer own the flagship three-story Mastro’s Steakhouse location in Beverly Hills having sold it to a private equity firm in 2007 which then sold it to Landry’s. The Mastros didn’t stop creating new restaurants though and brought Dominick’s and Steak 44 into being. Steak 44 was named after a street in Phoenix, Arizona and Steak 48’s name is a nod to the entire state of Arizona, the union’s 48th state. There are already locations in Chicago, Houston, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Philadelphia.
The restaurant has an open kitchen with what is known as suites for seating. The suites are glass-lined booths that aim for privacy for customers who may have the paparazzi after them. There is a relaxing bar area and a stylish whiskey-tasting room upstairs for those who enjoy fine beverages and hanging out in the elegant atmosphere and standard banquettes and tables closer to the entrance and the host station.
Steak 48 follows the Mastro tradition of wet aging their prime-grade steaks and include Australian Tajima wagyu, dry-aged bone-in rib-eye and Japanese A5 wagyu, and they even serve a kosher rib eye steak provided by Rabbi’s Daughter. These steaks are seared in 1500 degrees of broiler heat for a dark crust and served on extremely hot platters covered in herb butter.
Not everything on the menu is meat, there is also a large selection of desserts like Loulou’s homemade cookies and cream gelato cake, a triple chocolate bombe, a triple layer key lime pie, and a dessert confidently known as the ultimate warm vanilla caramel cake.
This time the brothers are the hands-on owners of the restaurant and more involved in the management and employee development than with other restaurants in their portfolio. They have also made an effort to give employees health benefits, for anyone who works over 30 hours a week, competitive pay and seven weeks of rigorous training for front-of-house staff that also emphasizes self-care. Back-of-the-house pay is higher than average for those crucial workers. Co-owner Jeffrey Mastro said, as quoted by Eater Los Angeles, “If employees aren’t happy, then you’re never going to have a successful restaurant,” says. “Another by-product of being family-owned is that I’m very accessible if a worker ever has any issues. That’s one of the benefits of being a small company.”