🍴The Thursday Bite

Good morning, Scottsdale.

This week gives us a little bit of everything.

We reported last week that a major chapter in Arizona dining has ended.

Sam Fox, founder of Fox Restaurant Concepts, officially left the company on October 30 after nearly three decades of building brands including Culinary Dropout, Flower Child, The Henry, Blanco and Olive & Ivy.

Fox Restaurant Concepts was sold to The Cheesecake Factory in 2019, and Fox is now shifting his attention to Author & Edit Hospitality, the company behind The Global Ambassador and his growing luxury hotel business.

Fox Restaurant Concepts will continue operating.

But for Scottsdale diners who have watched his restaurants help shape the Valley’s dining scene, this definitely feels like the end of an era.

One of Buck & Rider’s biggest annual traditions is coming back.

Stone Crab Day turns 10, and priority seating is now open.

At Buck & Rider North Scottsdale, expect:

🦀 Half-off large stone crab claws while supplies last
🍸 Happy hour drinks throughout the restaurant
🎶 Live music all day

And for the first time, Pinyon Coastal Mediterranean is joining the celebration and bringing part of the party to the park.

Stone crab season is already underway, and Buck & Rider continues to serve fresh Florida stone crab during the season.

This is one of those Scottsdale food days where waiting until the last minute probably is not the move.

This one is technically outside Scottsdale, but it connects directly to this week’s First Look.

Chef Gio Osso is planning a new Pizzeria Virtù location inside Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The proposed restaurant is approximately 1,290 square feet with 60 dining seats and seven bar seats.

Osso says the airport menu should be similar to his Old Town Scottsdale pizzeria, although no opening date has been announced yet.

And if Gio’s name sounds familiar...

Keep reading.

Jimmy John’s has opened another Scottsdale location at:

📍 20701 N. Scottsdale Road

The new sandwich shop is locally operated by Brandt Bacus and Jared Bacus and is part of the chain’s continued expansion across the Valley.

It may not be the flashiest restaurant opening of the year, but for anyone working, living, or shopping around North Scottsdale, it is another quick lunch option now officially open.

Scottsdale is getting another Italian restaurant.

La Riv Wood Fired Italian, a Texas-based concept from chef and restaurateur Vira Chudasma, has announced Scottsdale as its first location outside Texas.

La Riv currently operates restaurants in Temple and Georgetown, Texas.

The concept focuses on wood-fired Italian cooking.

📍 An exact Scottsdale address
📅 An opening date

So this one goes firmly in the:

column.

We already know what is coming next to the corner of 116th Street and Shea Boulevard.

Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers has closed after more than 10 years at the location, and parent company Square One Concepts says the space will become:

The concept comes from the same restaurant group, so this is less of a landlord shuffle and more of an internal concept change.

Square One also operates The Original Arcadia Tavern, along with Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers, Bourbon & Bones and other Valley concepts.

📍 10767 N. 116th Street

No Scottsdale opening date has been announced yet.

For Cold Beers fans, the company is directing guests to its nearby Pima Crossing location at:

📍 8624 E. Shea Boulevard

We finally have a date.

Turquoise Wine Bar is preparing to open its new North Scottsdale location on:

📍 10405 E. McDowell Mountain Ranch Road, Suite 100

The new location will combine:

🍷 Boutique wines
🥂 Wine flights
🧀 Small plates
🥪 Sandwiches
🌄 A patio with mountain views

The Arizona wine bar concept is designed to work as part wine bar, part tasting room, and part bottle shop.

We have been tracking this one for a while, so it is nice to finally move it from “sometime soon” to an actual date.

Another Scottsdale Fashion Square opening is almost here.

Bacio di Latte plans to open its Arizona flagship location:

📍 7014 E. Camelback Road, Space 0565

The Italian gelato brand makes its gelato in-house each day using traditional Italian techniques.

The Scottsdale shop will be the company’s first Arizona location.

North Scottsdale gets another coffee shop this weekend.

The Brewbox Coffee Company has announced the grand opening of its Scottsdale location for:

📍 14850 N. 87th Street, Suite 110

The shop is taking over the former Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea space.

Expect espresso drinks, flavored coffees, matcha, and the casual neighborhood coffeehouse atmosphere Brewbox has built around its other Valley locations.

Another Scottsdale restaurant is taking shape at:

📍 14601 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 110

The former LaCo Smashburgers & Tacos space is being transformed into:

SoCal Flavor, the same company that operated LaCo at the address, owns the restaurant.

Current plans call for a late-November soft opening, followed by a grand-opening event around December 1.

The final menu hasn't been announced, although the former LaCo menu included Wagyu smashburgers, cheesesteaks, chicken sandwiches, and loaded fries.

We’ll wait for the actual Smashed menu before assuming all of those dishes carry over.

We reviewed the current Scottsdale permit and liquor-license trail again this week.

Filings are always moving through the system, but we didn't find a brand-new Scottsdale restaurant filing strong enough to become a confirmed opening beyond the concepts already being tracked.

And as always:

A liquor license alone can mean a new restaurant, ownership change, remodel or license transfer.

We’re not turning paperwork into headlines until we know what it actually represents.

After more than 10 years at the corner of 116th Street and Shea Boulevard, Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers has closed this Scottsdale location.

The restaurant thanked longtime customers for everything from game days to neighborhood burger nights.

📍 10767 N. 116th Street

The good news?

The space is not staying dark.

Its sister concept, The Original Tavern, is already planned to take over the location.

Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers still operates nearby at Pima Crossing, 8624 E. Shea Boulevard.

The only closure we have directly confirmed is Sunset Bistro.

The restaurant announced on its own Facebook page that it will close after roughly four and a half years.

Saturday, November 28

The owners thanked customers for their support and invited regulars to come in one more time before the doors close.

We’ll keep watching the space to see what comes next.

Outside of Sunset Bistro, we did not find another Scottsdale restaurant closure this week that we could verify strongly enough to publish.

Not every First Look has to be about a restaurant that opened last week.

Sometimes it is worth going back to a place that has quietly been doing things right for more than a decade.

Chef Gio Osso opened Virtù Honest Craft in 2013 inside the Bespoke Inn on Marshall Way.

It is small.

Intimate.

Chef-driven.

And still one of those Old Town restaurants that can somehow hide in plain sight.

The menu changes constantly, but one dish has refused to disappear:

And this one is personal.

Virtù was the first place I ever tried octopus.

I had never ordered it before, had no idea what to expect, and ended up falling in love with it that night.

Ever since then, octopus has been one of those dishes I notice whenever I see it on a menu.

And it all started here.

Read our full First Look:
https://www.forkingscottsdale.com/p/virtu-honest-craft-scottsdale-first-look

This week we are getting serious about pizza.

On one side:

🇮🇹 Sorrento Italian Restaurant Pizzeria

Southern Italian cooking, imported ingredients, San Marzano tomatoes and traditional wood-fired pizza.

On the other:

🔥 LAMP Pizzeria

More than a decade of pizza-making, a signature crust, hand-pulled mozzarella and some of Scottsdale’s most creative pies.

We compared:

🍕 The Crust
🍅 The Classics
🤌 Creative Pizzas
🧀 Ingredients
🍝 The Full Menu
🥂 Date Night
🏘️ Neighborhood Feel
💰 Value

And this might be one of the closest Fork in the Road we have done.

👉 Read Sorrento vs. LAMP:
https://www.forkingscottsdale.com/p/sorrento-vs-lamp-pizzeria-scottsdale

This week we changed things up.

With the holidays around the corner, instead of happy-hour specials, we went looking for restaurant gift-card deals that give you something back.

And some are surprisingly good.

Buy $100 → Get $30 FREE

Available Black Friday weekend across:

🇮🇹 The Italiano
🌮 The Mexicano
🥯 The Delicatessen

Buy $100 → Get $20

Running:

Buy $100 → Get a $20 promo card

Including Scottsdale-area favorites like:

🦢 Society Swan
🌮 Blanco
🎸 Culinary Dropout
🌿 The Greene House
🍷 Olive & Ivy
🍔 Zinburger
🥗 Flower Child
🍽️ The Henry

If you’re buying restaurant gift cards anyway, getting another 20% to 30% back makes a lot more sense than waiting until December 23 and paying face value.

👉 See the full Holiday Gift Card Guide:
https://www.forkingscottsdale.com/p/scottsdale-restaurant-holiday-gift-card-deals-2026

Scottsdale Fashion Square has been taken over by flowers.

Fleurs de Villes NOËL runs through:

The free exhibition features 15 couture mannequins created entirely with fresh flowers by Arizona florists, growers and designers.

There's also a food-and-drink angle.

Participating Fashion Square restaurants are offering floral-inspired cocktails and menu items, including:

🍸 Moxies
🍣 Nobu
🥘 Teleferic Barcelona
🍽️ Neiman Marcus

Saturday also features floral workshops and a progressive bouquet experience.

📍 Scottsdale Fashion Square

This is your last weekend to catch Canal Convergence at the Scottsdale Waterfront.

The event wraps up:

Expect:

✨ Large-scale illuminated art
🔥 Nightly fire shows
🎶 Live music and dance
🍺 Beer and wine garden
🍴 Food trucks
🎨 Workshops

Friday and Saturday run 6-10 p.m., while closing night Sunday runs 6-9 p.m.

📍 Scottsdale Waterfront

If dinner with a side of homicide sounds like your kind of Friday night...

ADERO Scottsdale Resort is hosting:

on:

The Old Hollywood-themed evening includes:

🍸 Welcome drinks
🥂 Passed canapés
🍽️ Buffet dinner
🍷 Wine for the table
🍰 Dessert
🕵️ A full interactive murder mystery

Tickets are currently listed at around $165 per person.

📍 13225 N. Eagle Ridge Drive

☕ The Brewbox Coffee Company grand opening

🍨 Bacio di Latte opens at Scottsdale Fashion Square

🍷 Turquoise Wine Bar opens in North Scottsdale

🍔 Smashed Burgers & Cocktails targeting soft opening

😢 Sunset Bistro closes

🎄 Scottsdazzle begins in Old Town

🍔 Smashed Burgers & Cocktails targeting grand opening

🐺 WOLF by Vanderpump one-year anniversary with Lisa Vanderpump

And we’re still watching:

☕ DASH
🥩 BOA Steakhouse
🍝 Stone & Vine
🇮🇹 La Riv Wood Fired Italian
🌊 The Lakefront at Scottsdale

for their next moves.

Thanks for reading The Thursday Bite.

Until then... Eat Well

— Mychael & Connie Parker
Forking Scottsdale

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