There are plenty of restaurants in Scottsdale where you can grab a good steak, a pizza, or a plate of pasta.

Then there are restaurants where the goal seems to be putting all three on the table—and making you want to order half the menu.

Heritage Kitchen + Cocktails is one of those places.

Tucked into McDowell Mountain Marketplace near Bell Road and Thompson Peak Parkway, Heritage is the creation of Executive Chef and co-owner Christopher Brugman, along with restaurateurs Eric J. Greenwald and investor Mark Goldberg. Brugman brings an impressive résumé to the project, including time working alongside chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and David LeFevre, as well as experience at Mountain Shadows and Castle Hot Springs. He also appeared as a finalist on Food Network's Chopped.

But what makes Heritage interesting isn't simply the résumé behind it.

It's the food.

Heritage describes itself as a modern American restaurant with coastal Mediterranean influences, pulling inspiration from Morocco, Southern Italy, Spain, and the Iberian Peninsula.

That description sounds broad—and it is—but it makes sense once you start looking at the menu.

You'll find fresh pasta and wood-fired pizzas alongside seafood, steaks, chops, and shareable plates. The restaurant's philosophy centers on food that encourages people to order several things for the table rather than everyone simply choosing one entrée and calling it a night.

And that's where Heritage gets fun.

Start with something like the grilled oysters, served with chili butter and herb breadcrumbs, or the Spanish octopus, which comes with romesco, nduja-spiced potatoes, lemon curd and frisée.

The grilled lamb ribs take another turn, combining whipped yogurt, Calabrian honey, Marcona almonds, apricot and mint.

It's a menu that doesn't seem particularly interested in staying inside one culinary box.

Heritage isn't trying to be a strictly Mediterranean restaurant—and that's probably part of its appeal.

House-made pasta and wood-fired pizzas are a major part of the menu, giving diners a few familiar entry points before the more adventurous dishes start appearing.

And if you're dining with a group, this is exactly the kind of menu that works.

Order a pizza. Add pasta. Get an octopus or lamb dish for the table.

Then maybe go big with one of the restaurant's larger entrées.

The current menu also features larger-format dishes including whole grilled fish, steaks and chops.

One dish that has gotten plenty of attention is the restaurant's lobster fideo paella, which puts a Heritage spin on the traditional Spanish dish by using toasted noodles rather than the more familiar rice.

There's also an Iberico pork chop, a prime ribeye, and other substantial entrées designed to be more than just an afterthought to the small plates.

The restaurant isn't called Heritage Kitchen + Cocktails by accident.

Mitch Lyons and Libby Lingua, the team behind Highball and Two Hands Phoenix, developed the cocktail program, and the drinks have as much personality as the food.

The current cocktail menu includes drinks such as the Juniper Fog, made with gin, blackberry, alpine liqueur, amaro, bergamot, and egg white, and the Citrus Samurai, which combines cognac and rum with yuzu, lemon, French stone fruit, and cinnamon.

There's also The Nightcapper, a decidedly more serious combination of bourbon, cognac, Japanese whisky, coffee liqueur, and coconut palm sugar.

In other words, this isn't a restaurant where the bar program feels like an accessory.

It's part of the experience.

Another reason I find Heritage interesting:

It's not sitting in the middle of Old Town. It's not at Scottsdale Quarter.

It's not trying to compete for attention in the city's busiest restaurant corridors.

It's at 10121 E. Bell Road, in a neighborhood shopping center near Thompson Peak Parkway.

And that was intentional.

Brugman and Greenwald both live nearby and said they felt the neighborhood was underserved when it came to elevated dining. The restaurant occupies the former Wandering Donkey space and was designed to become a neighborhood destination, not just another restaurant chasing the tourist crowd. (dcranchhomes.com)

That may ultimately be Heritage's biggest advantage.

It feels like the kind of restaurant where locals can become regulars.

For Scottsdale, this matters.

Heritage has more than 1,500 square feet of patio dining, with an indoor-outdoor bar that opens toward the patio. The restaurant's design combines warm wood, dark accents, large windows and a dramatic wine display.

As Scottsdale heads toward the cooler months, that outdoor space could become one of the restaurant's biggest draws.

The restaurant also offers a Social Hour from 3–6 p.m. daily, according to its website and social channels, making it a good option for an early drink and bite before dinner.

And Wednesdays have their own attraction: Wine Down Wednesday, another recurring feature the restaurant promotes.

Heritage Kitchen + Cocktails isn't trying to reinvent Scottsdale dining.

And that's okay.

What it is doing is taking familiar things—pizza, pasta, steak, seafood, cocktails—and giving them a more globally influenced personality.

The result is a menu that should work equally well for a date night, a group dinner or a neighborhood dinner where nobody wants to make the drive into Old Town.

And if you're the type of diner who likes ordering several things and putting them in the middle of the table, Heritage may be right up your alley.

The combination of coastal Mediterranean flavors, serious cocktails, a neighborhood location, and an experienced chef makes this one worth putting on your Scottsdale dining radar.

And judging by the restaurant's current menu and the attention it's getting, Heritage looks less like a neighborhood restaurant trying to find its identity and more like one that has already found it.

10121 E. Bell Road, Suite 150
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480-630-3232

Cuisine: Modern American / Mediterranean
Chef: Christopher Brugman
Price: $$$
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday & Sunday, 3–9 p.m.; Friday–Saturday, 3–10 p.m.
Social Hour: Daily, 3–6 p.m.
Reservations: Available

Heritage Kitchen + Cocktails website