Hayden Road Is Redrawing McCormick Ranch's Dinner Map, One Plaza at a Time

"It kind of feels like Arcadia," chef James Fox told Phoenix New Times about McCormick Ranch, where his restaurant Vecina opened its second location in September. "I think we'll fit in with our neighborhood vibe."

In September, The Scottsdale Post described McCormick Ranch as a neighborhood "better known for lakes and greenbelts than for chef-driven restaurants." This fall, three Hayden Road plazas changed in a way that makes that line harder to defend. A chain restaurant's empty dining room became a chef-run space nearly three times the size of its Arcadia original. An ice cream counter was folded into the tap room next door so the tap room can grow. And at Hayden and Mountain View, 9619 N. Hayden Road is the address for an all-day cafe and market from the team behind three established Valley restaurants. Each change swaps a smaller or single-purpose space for one built to keep people at the table longer.

Three plazas, one direction

The changes are spread along Hayden Road between Via de Ventura and Mountain View Road, in centers most people in the neighborhood know by the errands they run there.

The southern two sit side by side near Via de Ventura, so the biggest change is happening at that intersection. Vecina has the room with the most to prove, so it comes first.

The Z'Tejas room, three times the size

Z'Tejas closed all of its Arizona locations in June 2025, according to Phoenix New Times, and that included the big dining room at Mercado on Hayden. James and Raenee Fox, who opened the original Vecina on 56th Street in Arcadia in 2019, had been thinking about a second location for several years. They decided on this one after walking through the space.

The Arcadia restaurant earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nod for Best New Restaurant in 2020, and New Times named it that year's Best New Restaurant. The McCormick Ranch room is nearly triple that size. The extra space is the point of the move. Forking Scottsdale's first look lists what the Foxes now have that Arcadia couldn't fit:

• a much larger kitchen
• private dining areas and a mezzanine
• catering capabilities
• more room for chef dinners and special events
• a lakeside patio

The Scottsdale Post adds two oversized community tables, a glass-walled wine room and a mural by artist Tato Caraveo.

The menu follows the Arcadia one. It includes a Peruvian-style hamachi crudo, carnitas empanadas, elote and a 16-ounce carne asada ribeye cooked over the mesquite grill. Beverage director Sloane Van Zanen runs the cocktails. The bigger kitchen also gives Fox room for more raw dishes, including oysters, crudos and ceviches.

In mid-October, Forking Scottsdale reported that Vecina was open daily from 4 to 9 p.m. The happy hour on Vecina's own site runs daily from 4 to 6 p.m., with guacamole and chips at $13, a salsa trio at $10, papas verde at $14, white bean purée at $15 and karaage at $15. In September, Fox told New Times he planned to add lunch "in the coming months," with brunch also on the list.

"It's a really good extension of what we do in Arcadia," Raenee Fox told the paper. Those plans would take the room from a dinner-only restaurant to an all-day one, which is the same direction the other two plazas are heading.

Next door, the tap room takes the ice cream counter

Across Via de Ventura at The Village on Hayden, the change was a quieter one. In October, Common Ground Culinary closed its ice cream shop Sweet Provisions to expand Grassroots Kitchen & Tap next door, PHOENIX magazine reported in its roundup of October openings and closings. According to the McCormick Ranch Property Owners' Association's retail center listing, both shops were in the 8120 N. Hayden Road building.

One owner made the call on both spaces. Common Ground Culinary had a quick-visit dessert counter and a sit-down kitchen and tap room side by side, and it chose to give the space to the tap room. Vecina's move points the same way. In both cases, a Hayden Road operator with a choice is betting on bigger rooms for longer meals.

Mountain View Plaza's version runs all day

The third change is farther north, at the southeast corner of Hayden and Mountain View roads. This is the site chef Matt Carter and his business partner Brian Raab chose for Dash, a cafe and market at 9619 N. Hayden Road, Suite 101. The two run The Mission, Fat Ox and Zinc Bistro.

Vecina is growing into all-day service. Dash was designed for it. The menu Carter and Raab have described, as reported by Phoenix Bites and The Scottsdale Post, changes through the day:

Morning. Coffee, croissants and other pastries, plus breakfast bowls and sandwiches.

Lunch. Chopped sandwiches, salads and Roman-style pizza. Phoenix Bites describes a BLT made with Nueske's bacon, salt-cured tomatoes and bacon-infused Duke's mayo.

Dinner. Portuguese-style chargrilled chicken with charcoal-roasted potatoes.

Anytime. Soft serve and house-made sodas, plus a market case of prepared food from the group's other kitchens. Phoenix Bites names Zinc Bistro mac and cheese, Fat Ox polenta and The Mission's chips and guacamole.

Chef Lisa Graf worked with Carter on the menu. Guests can dine in, order online or use curbside pickup. When Carter talked to Phoenix New Times in September, he summed up the project this way: "There's a lot going on, but we're going to have some fun."

Raab's description in a press release, quoted by The Scottsdale Post, is the clearest statement of what all three plazas seem to be after: "Dash is the ultimate neighborhood hang to grab a morning coffee, catch up over lunch or share a bottle of wine at sunset and then take one home with you." The Post reported that he called it the group's most approachable concept yet.

Hayden Road from first coffee to last pour

Put together, the three changes set up one stretch of Hayden Road to cover a whole day, starting near Mountain View Road and ending near the lake. A Saturday route built around all three might look like this:

1. Morning at Mountain View Plaza. Coffee and a croissant at Dash, 9619 N. Hayden Road, Suite 101. On the way out, pick up something from the market case, such as Fat Ox polenta or Zinc Bistro mac and cheese, for later.
2. Midday at Dash. Come back for Roman-style pizza or the BLT, and finish with soft serve.
3. Late afternoon at Mercado on Hayden. Happy hour starts at 4 p.m. on Vecina's lakeside patio at 8300 N. Hayden Road, Suite D-101. Karaage and the salsa trio together come to $25.
4. Dinner, same table. Order the mesquite-grilled ribeye or the hamachi crudo inside, or book the private dining room if the group has grown.
5. One more stop. Grassroots Kitchen & Tap is just across Via de Ventura at 8120 N. Hayden Road, next to the former Sweet Provisions space.

Hours change as new rooms settle in, so check each restaurant's own site before heading out. Vecina posts its happy hour at vecinaphx.com, and Dash's updates are at letsgetdash.com.

Our family has spent three generations in real estate and knows that a good dinner within walking distance is part of why a neighborhood feels like home. If you'd like to talk about which corners of McCormick Ranch keep Hayden Road close, Kristi Newman would be glad to meet you on that patio. Schedule a Free Consultation and let's find the place that fits your everyday.