The Corner of Hayden and Via de Ventura Just Landed Two Restaurants Chasing the Same View

For most of the past two years, the northwest corner of Hayden Road and Via de Ventura in McCormick Ranch has been a place where restaurants didn't stay long enough to hang a permanent sign. Z'Tejas closed there. So did Agave del Scottsdale, and after that, a short-lived concept called Okay Maguey came and went too. If you live nearby, you've probably watched the parking lot cycle through more banners than tenants.

That streak ended this year, and not with one new restaurant but two, both choosing the exact same intersection within four months of each other. Starfish Scottsdale opened on May 5 in the old Okay Maguey space. Vecina, the Arcadia favorite that earned a James Beard nomination in 2020, opens its second location a few doors down on Friday, September 18, in the former Z'Tejas building. Two ambitious operators, two different cuisines, one corner. That's not a coincidence worth shrugging off. It's a signal about what McCormick Ranch actually has to offer that other stretches of Scottsdale don't, and the operators themselves keep pointing to the same thing: the lake.

What Starfish Brought First

Starfish Hospitality Group had never opened a restaurant outside Orange County before it picked McCormick Ranch. The company built its name on Starfish Laguna Beach and Starfish Newport Beach, and when co-founder Gretchen McConnell explained the move, she framed it as a natural extension for guests who already split time between Orange County and the Valley. The Scottsdale location occupies 5,200 square feet at 8390 E. Via de Ventura, with a 90-seat patio that gives the space its indoor-outdoor feel. The menu leans into coastal dishes from Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, China, and Japan, with more than 70 shareable plates including a lobster macadamia roll and Thai curry chicken, plus a daily happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. with menu items starting at $13.

Starfish had a four-month head start to establish itself on that corner before its new neighbor arrived. Now it won't be the only reason to make a reservation there.

Vecina Brings Arcadia's Cult Following North

Vecina's original Arcadia location opened in 2019 and quickly became one of the more talked-about restaurants in the Valley, earning a James Beard semifinalist nod for Best New Restaurant and repeat appearances on Phoenix New Times' Top 50 list. Chef James Fox and his wife Raenee had considered a second location for years before they walked into the vacant Z'Tejas space at 8300 N. Hayden Road, Suite D-101, and decided it was the one.

Reports on exactly how much bigger the new space is vary a little. Some outlets describe it as two and a half times the size of the Arcadia original, while others put it closer to triple, but every account agrees the difference is dramatic. The new dining room adds a mezzanine, private dining rooms, a much larger kitchen built for catering, and a patio that looks directly out over the lake.

"It kind of feels like Arcadia. I think we'll fit in with our neighborhood vibe."

That's Fox describing McCormick Ranch to Phoenix New Times, and it's worth sitting with, because Arcadia is known for exactly the kind of walkable, tree-shaded, neighborhood-first energy that doesn't usually get compared to a master-planned Scottsdale subdivision built around golf courses. The menu carries over Vecina's signature dishes, including the carne asada-marinated karaage and the Faroe Island salmon tacos with yuzu kosho aioli, and beverage director Sloane Van Zanen's cocktail program moves with it too.

Why the Lake Is Doing the Recruiting

McCormick Ranch wasn't built with lakes in mind. It started as the working horse ranch of Anne and Fowler McCormick, who bought the property in 1944 and used it to raise prize Arabian horses, at one point drawing more than a thousand entries a year to their annual show before the show relocated to what's now WestWorld. After Anne McCormick's death in 1969, the family sold roughly 4,236 acres to developer Kaiser-Aetna for $12.1 million, and the ponds that once surrounded her horse stables were reshaped into the man-made lakes that give the community its identity today. According to Wikipedia's account of the development, those lakes now cover close to 130 acres across the property, threaded together with more than 25 miles of paved paths.

That water is the detail both new restaurants keep returning to. Starfish's design leans on an indoor-outdoor layout that plays up its patio setting, and Vecina built its entire expansion pitch around a lakeside view it didn't have in Arcadia. When a Southern California restaurant group with zero prior Arizona footprint and an Arcadia institution with a five-year track record both point to the same physical feature as the reason they picked this corner, that's a stronger endorsement of the lake than any marketing copy the McCormick Ranch Property Owners' Association could write itself. The lakes were an amenity for homeowners for fifty years. Now they're pulling in restaurant investment on their own.

The Same Week, a Few Miles North

McCormick Ranch isn't the only part of Scottsdale seeing new openings this month. Two days before Vecina's grand opening, Kuza, a Japanese robata grill and raw bar from Clive Collective, opens on September 16 at 17767 N. Scottsdale Road, the group's third concept on that stretch of road alongside The Americano and Tell Your Friends. It's a different intersection and a different crowd, but it's a reminder that this particular week is unusually busy for anyone trying to get a table anywhere in the city.

That timing lines up with Fall Arizona Restaurant Week, which runs September 18 through 27 and gives diners across the Valley a run of prix-fixe menus at participating restaurants. Vecina's opening night falls on the first day of the promotion, which means the two events are effectively sharing a calendar square whether either restaurant planned it that way or not.

If you're deciding where to spend an evening over the next two weeks, here's what's actually confirmed and open for reservations:

• Starfish Scottsdale – 8390 E. Via de Ventura, open since May 5, dinner and lunch daily, happy hour 3 to 6 p.m.
• Vecina McCormick Ranch – 8300 N. Hayden Road, Suite D-101, opening Friday, September 18, reservations through vecinaphx.com
• Kuza – 17767 N. Scottsdale Road, opening Wednesday, September 16, reservations through OpenTable
• Fall Arizona Restaurant Week – September 18 through 27, participating restaurants across the Valley

What This Means If You Live on the Ranch

None of this changes anything about your mortgage or your HOA dues, but it does change what a Friday night near home looks like, and it says something about how the rest of Scottsdale is starting to see this part of the city. For years, McCormick Ranch's commercial corners played it safe with dependable, unglamorous tenants. Two operators just bet real money that the lake view was worth more than that, and they made that bet within sight of each other.

If you're weighing a move to McCormick Ranch, or you already live here and want to know what else is changing on your side of Scottsdale, Birk Realtors keeps closer tabs on this neighborhood than most. Reach out to Dan and Ben directly, or get your free home valuation if you're curious what a lakefront address in this market is actually worth these days.