Restaurant Scouting

Barstool Sports website to open large sports bar in Old Town Scottsdale

By Jess Harter • Monday, September 19, 2022

Barstool Sports, the popular sports and pop culture website, is opening a large sports bar, Barstool Scottsdale, in the former Two Brothers Brewing & Taphouse building in Old Town Scottsdale.

The space: The 8,700-square-foot building near the southeast corner of Scottsdale and Drinkwater has a 1,700-square-foot patio along Scottsdale Road. Once home to Saddle Ranch Chophouse, it housed Two Brothers from 2015 to 2019 but has been vacant since.

The company: Dave Portnoy founded Barstool as a print publication in Milton, Mass., in 2003 and launched its website in 2007. Besides numerous blogs, podcasts, and web shows, it expanded into sports betting in 2020 with its Barstool Sportsbook app and now has an estimated value of $450 million.

Sports bar business: Barstool debuted its first sports bar in Chicago (pictured) in January and opened another in Philadelphia in March.

Did you know? Barstool Sports is the sponsor of the Arizona Bowl, which is played Dec. 31 in Tucson.

Opening date: Not yet announced.

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Restaurant Scouting

Belly Kitchen & Bar to open 2nd location in Gilbert next Thursday

By Jess Harter • Wednesday, August 31, 2022

The space: Epicenter is a new mixed-use development at Agritopia on the northwest corner of Higley and Ray in Gilbert.

The menu: Southeast Asian cuisine. Specialties include jackfruit and mustard green fried rice, pork belly and egg claypot, and shaking beef.

The team: Belly, which debuted in Phoenix in 2020, was the first concept from the Instrumental Hospitality Group led by former Welcome Diner chef Michael Babcock.

Connect: Website or Facebook.

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Restaurant Scouting

Tucson-based Eegee’s breaks ground on 2nd Mesa location

By Jess Harter • Wednesday, August 31, 2022

The space: The former Sizzler building on the northwest corner of Country Club and Southern. Sizzler closed in 2020.

The menu: Sub sandwiches, fries, salads, and its signature frozen fruit drinks.

Opening: Spring 2023.

The chain: It will be sixth Valley location for Eegee’s, which debuted in Tucson in 1971. All have opened since July 2021.

Connect: Website or Facebook.

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Restaurant Scouting

Modern Margarita to open 2nd location in south Chandler on Sept. 2

By Jess Harter • Friday, August 26, 2022

Modern Margarita, a stylish northeast Phoenix lounge focused on Mexican small plates and margaritas, will open a second location in front of EOS Fitness near the southeast corner of Gilbert and Ocotillo in south Chandler on Friday, Sept. 2

The space: It’s moving into the former home of Grubstak, which closed in June 2021.

Return to Chandler: Modern Margarita previously opened a location on the southeast corner of Arizona and Boston in downtown Chandler in 2016, but it closed after a fire the following year.

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Restaurant Scouting

Local coffee shop chain Bikini Beans to open 5th location in Goodyear

By Jess Harter • Friday, August 19, 2022

Bikini Beans, a local chain of coffee shops featuring bikini-wearing baristas, has begun building its fifth Valley location on the northwest corner of McDowell and Pebble Creek in Goodyear. The concept, which debuted in 2014, currently has locations in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and Peoria. No opening date has been announced yet.

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Restaurant Scouting

Tucson-based Eegee’s submits plans for 2nd West Valley restaurant in Peoria

By Jess Harter • Thursday, August 18, 2022

Tucson-based fast-food chain Eegee’s has submitted plans to build a 2,300-square-foot drive-through restaurant on the northwest corner of 83rd Avenue and Cactus Road in Peoria. If the plans are approved, the restaurant likely would open in 2023. Eegee’s opened its fourth Valley location – and first in the West Valley – in west Phoenix in July.

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Restaurant Scouting

Lou Malnati’s Pizza , Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers coming to Surprise center

By Jess Harter • Thursday, August 18, 2022

Lou Malnati’s Pizza (pictured) and Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers are the latest restaurants announced coming to the Village at Prasada, a huge indoor-outdoor shopping center opening this fall off the Loop 303 near Waddell Road in Surprise. They join previously announced OHSO Brewery & Distillery, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant, Barrio Queen, and Firebirds Wood Fired Grill.

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Restaurant Scouting

SodaRush spinoff CookieRush by SodaRush to debut in south Chandler

By Jess Harter • Thursday, August 18, 2022

SodaRush soda shop has won numerous awards for its giant, made-from-scratch gourmet cookies, so it’s not surprising a pair of franchisees from Chandler are launching a cookie store, CookieRush by SodaRush, on the northwest corner of Gilbert and Chandler Heights. They hope to open by January.

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Restaurant Scouting

Coming to downtown Phoenix this fall: Coabana & Teddy’s Preserve

By Jess Harter • Tuesday, August 16, 2022

The owners of popular nightspots Pigtails and Rough Rider are planning two new concepts in downtown Phoenix. Coabana, a 50-seat bar offering Cuban-inspired cocktails and tapas, is scheduled to join Pigtails at Cityscape in October. Teddy’s Preserve, a 350-seat indoor-outdoor craft beer and wine bar with a permanent food truck, should open by December in the same building as Teddy Roosevelt-themed basement bar Rough Rider on the northeast corner of Central and Roosevelt.