We’re sad to report that at least 11 Valley restaurants and bars closed their doors in September, but there’s some good news, too: 17 new restaurants opened in Greater Phoenix last month. It’s a tough time for local restaurants and they need our support more than ever.
Wren House was the big winner of the night at the 5th annual Arizona Craft Beer Awards, presented by PHOENIX magazine and the Arizona Craft Brewer’s Guild.
Conceived by star chef Rochelle Daniel, the speakeasy is located downstairs from Daniel’s celebrated fine-dining restaurant Atria, which recently added a Michelin-recommended accolade to its already stuffed trophy case. To lead the cocktail program, Daniel tapped her business and life partner, Michael Hopper, who serves as general manager, bar director and cocktail whisperer.
If drinking cocktails in a speakeasy where the doorman is an AI-powered priest in a confessional booth is wrong… well, brothers and sisters, we don’t want to be right.
Heading toward the end of summer, we’ve seen a fresh round of restaurants open in the Valley, including a Phoenix café where you can drink coffee and schmooze with adoptable dogs. But we’re sad to report that more than 10 restaurants and bars closed in August – including one that managed to stay in business 62 years.
In addition to his hilltop trattoria and Queen B Vinyl Café on Pima Street, the Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards winemaker is opening a sushi restaurant, aptly named Queen B Sushi and inspired by his travels in Japan.
Kahley runs the show at Wayward in Old Town Scottsdale, guiding the gastropub’s lively global cuisine as it rebranded this summer from Liquor Pig due to an ownership shakeup.
An elite Spanish beverage program is not merely the sum of its sangrias.
In addition to its history and generations of regulars, this warmly atmospheric, cozily updated old place is full of charming details.
2026 Summer Cocktail Camp Interview with a Mixologist: Katelyn Stoichkov from One Sixth
2026 Summer Cocktail Camp Interview with a Mixologist: Reannah Suh of INDIBAR
More than 20 new restaurants opened in July amid sizzling 115-degree-plus temperatures. But the month also delivered a big round of closures, including an Old Town Scottsdale institution that has been around for 30 years.
2026 Summer Cocktail Camp Interview with a Mixologist: Aaron DeFeo from Little Rituals
2026 Summer Cocktail Camp Interview with a Mixologist: Aubrey Mansene from Society Swan.
2026 Summer Cocktail Camp Interview with a Mixologist(s): Zack Chatterton and Stevie Raeann from The Mission Kierland
