Scottsdale's New Restaurants Are Moving Into Buildings You Already Know

The old Z'Tejas on Hayden now serves wood-fired Latin food. The old Thai Basil on Pinnacle Peak is a Thai bistro again, and the old Preston's Steakhouse will be a steakhouse again on Nov. 2. Almost every notable Scottsdale restaurant opening of 2026 has moved into a space that locals already know by an earlier name. Most of them also kept the old tenant's cuisine. What changed is who's running the kitchen.

That pattern is the most useful way to read Scottsdale's food news right now. Here is how it plays out, address by address, from McCormick Ranch to Pinnacle Peak to Old Town.

McCormick Ranch got the clearest example

Vecina opened its second location on Friday, Sept. 18, in the former Z'Tejas near Hayden Road and Via de Ventura. Owners James and Raenee Fox opened the original in Arcadia in 2019. It was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2020. Z'Tejas closed all of its Arizona locations in June 2025. Phoenix New Times reported that when the Foxes walked into the empty building, they knew they'd found the next home. "It kind of feels like Arcadia," James Fox told the outlet about McCormick Ranch.

The new Vecina is nearly three times the size of the Arcadia location. It has a lakeside patio and more room for large parties and private dining. For now it serves dinner only. Lunch is planned in the coming months, with more from the wood-fired grill and raw bites such as oysters. Former Z'Tejas regulars will find a frozen cocktail on the Scottsdale menu that nods to the old restaurant. A Southwestern chain gave way to a chef-driven modern Latin kitchen in the same building, and the new tenant kept a reminder of the old one on the menu.

A mile or so up Hayden, the same thing is happening with pizza. Chef Matt Carter and business partner Brian Raab are working with pastry chef Lisa Graf on DASH, in the former Fired Pie space at 9619 N. Hayden Road. The plan is an all-day neighborhood restaurant and market. Expect coffee and pastries in the morning, sandwiches and Roman-style pizza during the day, Portuguese-style charcoal chicken, wine, batched cocktails and soft serve. Current plans call for about 12 indoor seats and a roughly 40-seat patio. PhoenixBites reported a November 2026 target. The Oct. 8 issue of Forking Scottsdale described it more loosely as a late-2026 opening. Treat November as a target, not a date.

Two more Hayden Road changes round out the corridor:

• Bombay House, a Tempe Indian restaurant known for its buffet, opened a second location at 8140 N. Hayden Road over the summer.
• Saint Urban, chef Christopher Collins's McCormick Ranch wine bar, closed after service on Sept. 27. Starting Sept. 28 it became the Saint Urban Private Dining Room, available for private events and holiday parties.

North Scottsdale is swapping like for like

Along Pinnacle Peak Road and upper Scottsdale Road, the cuisine stayed with the address in almost every case. Here is the ledger, building by building:

Italian replaced Italian twice. Il Segreto sits just behind Lamp Pizza and Raven Gastropub. Forking Scottsdale's first look described a dining room remade into something darker and moodier than the old Arrivederci. Phoenix Magazine notes white tablecloths, seasonal Italian standards, an aperitivo menu and a patio. Costa Bella, from owner Olivier Coscas, makes its sauces and desserts in-house. It's open daily from 4 to 9 p.m., with happy hour in the bar from 4 to 6 p.m. and half-price bottles of wine on Mondays. Reservations are by phone at 480-203-2034 until OpenTable goes live.

At 7605 E. Pinnacle Peak, next door to That's Amore Gelato, a new Thai kitchen replaced the old one. Baan Thai Bistro's menu runs from panang curry and tom yum fried rice to crispy whole pompano with tamarind and ginger sauce. Up at 17757 N. Scottsdale Road, OEB Breakfast Co. closed after six years, and The Breakfast Table moved in with waffles, skillets, burritos and burgers.

The Citadel keeps its steakhouse. ALMA is relocating from Old Town, where its earlier location closed this year. It reopens on Nov. 2 as ALMA Southwest Steakhouse in the former Preston's Steakhouse. Forking Scottsdale called it ALMA's new North Scottsdale home, "not simply a reopening of the previous restaurant." Little Scoops, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor from the same Soul Hospitality Group, is going in next door and will connect through Little Snitch. It's designed to stay open late as a dessert stop for the Pinnacle Peak corridor. Little Scoops has no opening date yet.

Kuza is the exception that changes the room's identity. Clive Collective, the group behind Cala and The Americano, turned the former Chauncey Social into a robata and raw bar under executive chef Erik Davila. The menu includes Chutoro Tataki, Iberico Pork Dumplings, grill-kissed lion's mane mushrooms, A5 Wagyu and a prawn roll filled with robata shrimp. Kuza also took the longest. In April 2025, What Now Phoenix reported a late August or early September 2025 target. It opened in September 2026, about a year later, which is what a full rebuild of a space can cost.

Old Town's biggest names are the slowest to arrive

The Old Town and Waterfront projects follow the same pattern with bigger names attached, and they're the ones still without dates.

Drake's Hollywood, from Texas-based Vandelay Hospitality, is moving into the former Buca di Beppo at 3828 N. Scottsdale Road. The 8,000-square-foot space is being refitted with red leather booths, Art Deco chandeliers and murals inspired by illustrator Edward Sorel. The menu leans toward American chophouse fare along with pastas and Chicago-style thin-crust pizzas, so pasta and pizza stay at the address in a very different setting.

BOA Steakhouse is taking over part of the former STK at the Scottsdale Waterfront, swapping one steakhouse for another. It comes from Innovative Dining Group, which ran Sushi Roku at the W Scottsdale until 2023. Executive Chef Brendan Collins will run a kitchen that cooks the whole menu without seed oils and serves meat from the Four Sixes Ranch. In January, BOA was talking about opening in the first half of 2026. By Forking Scottsdale's Sept. 10 update, BOA and Drake's were both listed only as fall openings, and Phoenix New Times' Sept. 15 roundup included Drake's without a date.

The smallest Old Town swap has the firmest date. French Crêperie Scottsdale takes over the former Arizona Stronghold tasting room at 4225 N. Marshall Way, Suite 2. Its grand opening is set for Saturday, Oct. 24, at 10 a.m., with sweet and savory crêpes and French café standards.

The dates that are actually set

Sorted by how solid each date is, here's how the next several weeks look:

1. Open now: Vecina on Hayden, Kuza, Il Segreto, Baan Thai Bistro, The Breakfast Table, Bombay House and Costa Bella. Costa Bella opened Oct. 8.
2. Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m.: French Crêperie Scottsdale's grand opening on Marshall Way.
3. Monday, Nov. 2: ALMA Southwest Steakhouse at The Citadel. Reservations are already open.
4. Nov. 6 to 15: Canal Convergence returns to Scottsdale Waterfront at 4420 N. Scottsdale Road with the theme "Western Nature." It runs for 10 free nights with large-scale artworks, fire shows, live music, food trucks and a beer and wine garden.
5. Targeted for November or late 2026: DASH on Hayden.
6. Announced for fall, no date in the latest reporting: Drake's Hollywood, BOA Steakhouse and Little Scoops.

Canal Convergence and BOA share the Waterfront, so the festival's opening night on Nov. 6 will show whether the former STK has a new tenant serving yet.

For anyone who owns in Scottsdale, the tenant at the end of the street is part of what you're selling. The Gillette Group tracks openings like these address by address, and we can show how the new names near you fit into your home's story. Shannon Gillette and our team would be glad to talk it through, so Contact Us.