"Strategically designed to stay open later into the evening." That's how the Scottsdale restaurant newsletter Forking Scottsdale described Little Scoops in its October 1 issue. Little Scoops is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor going into The Citadel at 8700 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, and the newsletter called it "a perfect late-night dessert option for guests visiting surrounding dining spots along the Pinnacle Peak corridor."
That line explains this fall at the intersection better than any single opening. Little Scoops isn't pitched as a destination of its own. It's pitched as the last stop after dinner somewhere else nearby. That fits a larger shift at the crossroads. On the northeast corner, La Mirada now packs several serious dinner rooms into one parking lot. On the northwest corner, The Citadel is being rebuilt around a rooftop, a tequila bar, a boutique and dessert, all under one roof with one menu.
How the two corners got here
Both corners have turned over plenty of times, which makes this year's changes easier to read.
The Citadel opened in 1985. It was designed by Vern Swaback, a Scottsdale architect who had apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Inn at the Citadel began renting rooms in 1991. The Scottsdale Progress "Sweet Spot" column lists its past restaurants as 8700, Market Café, Marque Bar, Michael's, BICE, Preston's Steakhouse, Café Ted and Little Snitch.
La Mirada opened around 1995 on empty desert across Pima Road. Its list of past restaurants is just as long: Mastro's, Pane e Vino, Bodega, LAMP Pizzeria, Raven Gastropub, Bistro Provence, Jade Palace, Royale India, Arrivederci Pinnacle Peak and Al Hamra Indian Cuisine, among others.
The southwest corner is the steady one. Pinnacle Peak Village opened there in 1974, and its General Store followed in 1975. The column says the store "continues to serve the area today." Before it opened, the column notes, people up here drove to Scottsdale and Shea for groceries.
Change at this intersection isn't new. What's new is that both dining corners are changing within months of each other, and in ways that fit together.
The sequence, dated
Here's the order things happened, using the most recent dates in the reporting:
- 2025. Preston's Steakhouse closed at The Citadel after about a decade, citing the condition of the building and the repairs it needed. The same year, The Belmont Kitchen & Cocktails opened at La Mirada.
- July 27, 2026. Patch reported that Alma Scottsdale was moving north into the former Preston's space and aiming for October 1. Founder Sheila Bryson cautioned that construction could push the opening into early November.
- August 12, 2026. Il Segreto opened at 8900 E. Pinnacle Peak Road in the former Arrivederci space.
- September 2026. Baan Thai Bistro opened a short drive west at 7605 E. Pinnacle Peak Road.
- November 2, 2026. ALMA's scheduled opening day, according to Forking Scottsdale's October 1 update. Reservations are already open on OpenTable.
As of October 4, ALMA is about four weeks away. Bryson's early-November warning from July turned out to be close to right.
La Mirada is now one parking lot of dinner
Il Segreto's location says a lot about the northeast corner. Forking Scottsdale places it "just behind Lamp Pizza and Raven Gastropub," in the same lot as Mastro's and the Belmont. Within a short walk, you can choose from:
- Il Segreto. White-tablecloth Italian with a focused menu of seasonal standards, plus an aperitivo menu and a patio, according to PHOENIX magazine. Forking Scottsdale connects the project to Segreto Restaurant Group and Jameson Neuhoff.
- Mastro's Steakhouse at 8852 E. Pinnacle Peak Road. The restaurant's own page lists steak, seafood, cocktails and live entertainment every night.
- The Belmont Kitchen & Cocktails. A 2025 arrival led by Chef Alex Stratta, who holds a Michelin star.
- LAMP Pizzeria and Raven Gastropub. Both appear in the column's long list of La Mirada tenants, and both are still the landmarks people use to find Il Segreto.
Il Segreto is a full remodel, not a change of sign. Forking Scottsdale visited in its first week and wrote that it "wasn't simply a matter of putting a new sign on the old Arrivederci space." The writer described the new room as "darker, moodier, more sophisticated."
If you've seen two different opening dates for Il Segreto, here's why. PHOENIX magazine included it in its September roundup, published October 2. Forking Scottsdale's first look gives the exact first night as August 12. The monthly roundup most likely caught up with it a few weeks after the doors opened.
That puts five dinner choices in one lot, from pizza to steak. It's a lot of dinner capacity, and none of it is built to be the place you go after dinner.
The Citadel is being rebuilt as one building with many rooms
ALMA's plan takes a different approach. Patch reported that the new Alma "will be more than a single restaurant." The plans include a Southwest-inspired steakhouse built around wood-fired cooking, with flavors from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Northern Mexico. The same building will hold:
- Copper Club, a rooftop lounge with live music and desert views
- A tequila and mezcal bar that pairs tastings with chef-made tacos and small bites
- Barbwire Western Couture, a western clothing boutique Bryson ran before, coming back with clothing, jewelry, boots and hats
The key detail is the ordering setup. Bryson told Patch that guests can move between spaces and order from Alma's full menu anywhere, whether they're in the steakhouse, on the rooftop or at the tequila bar. In practice, one check can follow you from your dinner seat to the roof.
Next door, Little Snitch already runs as a coffee shop, bakery counter and full bar at the same address. Little Scoops will connect to ALMA through Little Snitch. Bryson's Soul Hospitality Group, which also runs Soul Café, Vic & Ola's and Pescada, will then have a small cluster of connected spaces on the northwest corner.
"Modeled as a classic, old-fashioned ice cream parlor, it is strategically designed to stay open later into the evening."
Put the two corners side by side and they fit together. La Mirada has the dinner tables. The Citadel adds a rooftop with live music, a tequila bar and an ice cream counter planned for late hours. Each corner covers a different part of the night.
Little Scoops doesn't have a firm date yet. Forking Scottsdale says only that it should open around the same time as ALMA.
West on Pinnacle Peak Road, a different kind of meal
Baan Thai Bistro, at 7605 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, is the newest arrival on the stretch. It also adds a cuisine the intersection's history has lacked. PHOENIX magazine lists panang curry, Thai BBQ chicken, tom yum fried rice, pad Thai and a crispy whole pompano with tamarind and ginger sauce. Thai doesn't appear anywhere in the column's lists of past tenants at La Mirada or The Citadel.
The timing matters too. PHOENIX magazine counted 18 restaurant openings across Greater Phoenix in September and at least 11 closings, and called it "a tough time for local restaurants." Against that backdrop, one stretch of Pinnacle Peak Road gaining a Thai bistro, a fine-dining Italian room and a multi-room steakhouse project within three months stands out.
Planning an evening around the intersection this fall
Until November 2, a night out here means La Mirada, plus a drink at Little Snitch across Pima Road. After ALMA opens, you can split the evening between the two corners. For example:
- An aperitivo on Il Segreto's patio, or dinner at any of the five rooms in the La Mirada lot
- A short drive across Pima Road to The Citadel
- Live music on the Copper Club rooftop or a mezcal tasting downstairs
- Ice cream at Little Scoops, once it opens
If you're coming in from the west side of the corridor, Baan Thai sits along the same road for nights when you want something casual.
The column also points to some daytime anchors just east of La Mirada. Florence Ely Nelson Desert Park and the city's community center sit behind the shopping center. Highlands Church, a little farther east on Pinnacle Peak Road, has hosted concerts and Arizona MusicFest events.
ALMA's reservation line is 480-284-6736, and November 2 is the opening date on record as of the October 1 update. The July target slipped once already, so it's worth calling ahead before you book a celebration that week.
At The Mitchell Group AZ, we follow what's changing at corners like Pinnacle Peak and Pima because these changes shape what living nearby is like. If you own a home within a few minutes of La Mirada or The Citadel and wonder how this fall's activity factors into your home's value, our team will put together a human-prepared valuation with this corridor in mind. Get Your Home's Value.
