Almost nothing opening along Central Avenue and Camelback Road this fall is in a new building. Most of the restaurants are moving into addresses another business already used: a pair of red-brick houses, a closed pizzeria, a taco house, a taproom and a coffee drive-thru. The more interesting pattern is the operators themselves. Several of them spent years nearby at a Saturday market stall, in a shipping container on Roosevelt Row or in a short-lived Uptown satellite before signing for the address they're moving into now.
Here is how this season's changes connect, starting with the one that began a few hundred feet from where it is landing.
A Market Stall Turns Into a Plaza Lease
DiMaggio's is targeting a late-October opening at Uptown Plaza, 100 E. Camelback Road, Suite 152, according to Phoenix New Times. Most people know it as a Scottsdale Italian restaurant, but it started as A Taste of Italy, a vendor at Uptown Farmers Market in 2021. A year later, Brandon and Michele Gioffre took over the former Blind Pig site in Scottsdale. Frank DiMaggio joined as a partner in 2024, and the restaurant took his name.
Its new space is the former Lou Malnati's, which served its last customers in February 2025. The unit has been empty for more than a year and a half. The business filling it first found its customers at a weekend market in the same part of town.
As of today, no exact opening day has been announced. Late October is the only target published.
A Chef Who Already Tested Uptown
On Camelback Road near Third Street, chef Vivid "Gabby" Chu opens Homme Thai Supper Club this Thursday, October 8. The name is pronounced "homey." Chu is the executive chef at LeDu Thai, which opened off Roosevelt Row in July 2024 and made Phoenix New Times' list of the best new restaurants of 2024. Late last year she opened a second LeDu in Uptown, at Seventh Street and Bethany Home Road. She closed it in August to focus on Homme.
So Homme isn't her first time cooking for Uptown. It follows a satellite that ran for less than a year.
The address at 322 E. Camelback Road is two small red-brick houses that held Copper & Sage and Blue Stave until that pairing closed in April 2025. Homme takes one house. A cocktail lounge called Blue Zebra will take the other, with a patio in between. Chu says Blue Zebra is coming "in the coming months" and will serve a bigger drinks menu with southern Thai bar bites.
The menu is served family-style and draws on Chu's childhood on a farm in southern Thailand. Dishes include Gaeng Khua, a slow-simmered beef curry fragranced with acacia leaves; Bami Hang noodles with crispy pork belly; Kua Kling, a fiery chicken stir-fry; and Thai fried chicken wings she learned to cook in her uncle's kitchen. "Thai food is more than just serving pad Thai," Chu told New Times.
From a Shipping Container to a Taproom Kitchen
Stoop Kid has followed the same path on a smaller scale. Its griddled burgers have been served from a shipping container at The Churchill on Roosevelt Row since 2020. It is now moving into The Joy Lush Club at 24 W. Camelback Road, Units D and E. That taproom already had a kitchen, which was being upgraded with a hood and fryer for Stoop Kid's burgers, fries and desserts.
The move changes how the bar operates. The Joy Lush Club plans to add lunch hours when it reopens. Guests will order food and drinks in one transaction. The owner is applying for a liquor license that would add cocktails to the beer and wine list, and New Times reports that longer late-night hours will follow once that expansion happens.
New Times reported a late-September reopening target in mid-September. We could not confirm the reopening as of October 8, so check the bar's own channels before going.
A few doors east, a smaller conversion is underway. Gathered Grounds announced its first permanent café at 4 W. Camelback Road, in a former Dutch Bros stand. Owner Jared Olesen hopes for a two-week soft opening in January 2027, according to What Now Phoenix. No grand-opening date has been set.
Who Is Taking Which Address
Here is where each business stands as of October 8, 2026:
| Address | Previous occupant | New occupant | Status as of Oct. 8, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 322 E. Camelback Rd. | Copper & Sage and Blue Stave, closed April 2025 | Homme Thai Supper Club; Blue Zebra next door | Homme opens Oct. 8; Blue Zebra "in the coming months" |
| 100 E. Camelback Rd., #152 | Lou Malnati's, closed February 2025 | DiMaggio's | Targeting late October |
| 24 W. Camelback Rd., Units D & E | The Joy Lush Club taproom | The Joy Lush Club with Stoop Kid's kitchen | Late-September target; reopening not confirmed |
| 4 W. Camelback Rd. | Dutch Bros stand | Gathered Grounds | Soft opening hoped for January 2027 |
| 5202 N. Central Ave. | Joyride, last service Aug. 2, 2026 | Lado A Lado | "This fall," no date announced |
| 3112 N. Central Ave., Park Central | Not reported | Cowboy Seafood | Opens Oct. 9 |
The four Camelback Road addresses are close together, within a short stretch around Central Avenue. On a single block, one of them is open this week, one is a few weeks out, one is unconfirmed and one is a winter project.
Two Arrivals Built on Larger Teams
The two biggest projects on Central Avenue come from established restaurant groups rather than stalls or containers, and each is replacing a longtime neighborhood spot.
Lado A Lado will be a wood-fired Sonoran and Mexican restaurant at 5202 N. Central Ave., in the space Joyride held. It is a collaboration between Upward Projects and Chiwas Hospitality Group, led by chefs Armando Hernandez, Nadia Holguin and Roberto Centeno. Joyride's last service was scheduled for August 2. Lado A Lado was still on New Times' fall preview in mid-September as an upcoming opening with no firm date.
A short drive south, Cowboy Seafood opens Friday, October 9, at 3112 N. Central Ave. in Park Central. It comes from Common Ground Culinary, and the space combines Saltwater Saint Raw Bar and Misfit BBQ Smoke Yard under one roof. AZ Big Media reports that the concept is from fourth-generation restaurateur Christopher Collins. AZ Big Media describes Park Central as surrounded by new residential development, a dual-branded Hilton and a growing medical and university district.
Some longtime names are also leaving. Phoenix New Times' October 1 closings roundup listed Blue Plate Co., the latest version of CC's on Central. That leaves another Central Avenue space open for the next tenant.
Wednesdays Return to Uptown Farmers Market
The market where DiMaggio's started has just switched to its fall schedule. On October 3, Uptown Farmers Market went back to fall Saturday hours, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and moved back to its expanded layout on the pavement. The Saturday market runs year-round. The midweek market returned October 7. It runs every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through April. The market posts separate vendor lists for Saturday and Wednesday on its site. Online orders for home delivery or curbside pickup on Saturday are due by Wednesday at midnight.
Two nearby events round out October. The Melrose Vintage Market is set for Sunday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 700 W. Campbell Ave. On Roosevelt Row, First Friday is running under a city pilot program. Vendors now set up on permitted private property, the streets stay open, and the pilot covers 12 monthly events, starting October 2. Downtown Phoenix Inc. lists the next two for November 6 and December 4, from 6 to 10 p.m.
For a weekend plan this month, Uptown Farmers Market runs Saturday morning, Homme Thai opens Thursday, and Cowboy Seafood starts serving Friday. DiMaggio's late-October opening could land on any of the following weekends.
For more on the area, see our Phoenix neighborhood page. If you're following the Camelback corridor further east, our Biltmore page covers that end.
At Arizona Proper Real Estate, we track Central and Camelback the same way we track any block our clients care about: which spaces are empty, who is moving in and when they open. If you'd like a block-by-block look at how these openings relate to your corner of central Phoenix, schedule a private consultation with our team.
