Smiling Moose Sandwich Grill makes AZ debut in Scottsdale

🫎 The Valley has a new sandwich spot to line up for. Smiling Moose Sandwich Grill opened its first Arizona location Monday on the southeast corner of Scottsdale and Thomas roads in Scottsdale

And the launch came with a hometown twist: the local ownership group includes former Arizona State University basketball standout and current NBA veteran James Harden.

What is Smiling Moose, anyway?

Smiling Moose Sandwich Grill traces its roots back to Colorado, where the concept launched in 2003 as a Rocky Mountain-inspired deli built around generously portioned, made-to-order sandwiches, wraps, salads, burgers, soups, and fresh-baked cookies.

The brand has since grown into a regional chain with locations across Wyoming, North Dakota, and Colorado, and it has leaned into an outdoorsy, laid-back identity that pairs with its ‘‘Eat Messy’’ ethos, a wink at the fact that its sandwiches aren’t exactly tidy eating.

The Scottsdale location marks the brand’s entry into an eighth state overall, part of a broader expansion push for the chain in recent years.

Beyond the core menu, the Scottsdale shop will offer catering, online ordering and pickup, a secret menu, and quarterly collaborations with guest chefs – extras meant to set it apart in a Valley dining scene that isn’t short on sandwich options.

James Harden’s hometown investment

Harden, who played his lone college basketball season at Arizona State before becoming the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, is part of the ownership group bringing Smiling Moose to Scottsdale, a market he has described as home turf.

He’s joined by a group of partners that includes fellow ASU alums Troy Payne and Nico Fricchione, along with Patrick Fricchione, Brian Padilla, Carlos Muñoz and George Gundrey. (Padilla serves as the Smiling Moose franchisor, while Muñoz and Padilla previously teamed up to bring Randy’s Donuts to Arizona in 2024.)

Harden framed the opening as something personal, saying it marked not just a new chapter for the Scottsdale community but for his own life, and that it made sense to plant roots in the place that gave him his start.

The group leaned into that hometown angle for the grand opening: the first 100 customers received a free six-inch Original Mo sandwich, plus a $50 Adidas gift card courtesy of Harden himself.

It’s the latest example of Harden using his post-ASU profile to back local business ventures, though it’s not his first swing at the restaurant industry, and his last attempt didn’t end well.

The cautionary tale: Thirteen in Houston

Before Smiling Moose, there was Thirteen, Harden’s ill-fated upscale restaurant venture in Houston’s Midtown neighborhood, named for his No. 13 jersey.

Thirteen opened in January 2021 just as Harden was being traded away from the Houston Rockets, an awkward bit of timing that drew plenty of online mockery at the time.

The restaurant launched with a Southern-inspired menu and later underwent a 2024 rebrand with a new chef and refreshed interior, with Harden’s team signaling ambitions to eventually expand Thirteen into other cities.

Those plans never materialized. In September 2025, Thirteen was abruptly locked out of its Bagby Street space after its landlord accused the operating companies – 13 Strikes LLC and Thirteen Hospitality Group – of racking up more than $2.2 million in unpaid rent and other charges.

The landlord sued, seeking at least $1 million in damages, and the fallout continued into 2026, when Thirteen’s former head chef filed his own suit accusing the business of withholding overtime pay and blaming the restaurant for a chronic rash he said came from repeatedly cleaning up sewage backups.

Thirteen had also been named in a since-narrowed 2024 lawsuit tied to a fatal downtown Houston crash after allegations that a staff member had overserved the driver involved. But evidence later indicated the driver had never actually been at the restaurant.

The takeaway

As of this writing, there’s been no public resolution to the Thirteen disputes, and Harden hasn’t spoken publicly about the closure. But for now, the Scottsdale debut gives Harden a fresh, lower-stakes way back into the restaurant business, this time as one investor among several rather than the sole name on the door.