Food History of Scottsdale

Key eras

1. Hohokam canal farmers, 800 to 1400 CE

   Hohokam farmers dug canals from the Salt and Gila rivers to irrigate cotton, tobacco, maize, beans and squash across the valley Scottsdale now fills. Late in their era they dry-farmed agave on rocky ground. Parts of their canal system were later renovated and still carry water for the Salt River Project.

2. Akimel O'odham villages, before 1888

   Scottsdale began as an Akimel O'odham village, Vaṣai S-vaṣonĭ, meaning rotting hay. The O'odham and Piipaash gathered prickly pear fruit and saguaro fruit, and Pima farmers grew White Sonora wheat and shipped it east in the 1800s. A federal order created the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community on June 14, 1879.

3. Winfield Scott and the farm town, 1888 to 1920

   Army chaplain Winfield Scott bought 640 acres where Old Town stands in 1888, paying $3.50 an acre, and the town took his name in 1894. Another landowner had planned a town called Orangedale until a newspaper's slip made Scottsdale the name. Long-staple Egyptian cotton boomed during the First World War, then ended with the loss of government contracts.

4. Artists, inns and the Western town, 1909 to 1956

   The Ingleside Inn became the region's first resort in 1909, and the Jokake Inn followed in 1920. Frank Lloyd Wright built Taliesin West in 1937. Scottsdale incorporated on June 25, 1951 with about 2,000 residents and the motto The West's Most Western Town, and the Hotel Valley Ho and Safari Hotel opened in 1956.

5. Dates, resorts and growth, 1950s to 1990s

   The 1950s took the town from 2,000 to 10,000 residents. Sphinx Date Ranch opened a date shop and luncheon patio in nearby Arcadia in the early 1950s, and the Heetland family, who bought the shop in 1979, moved the main operation to Scottsdale. Resorts multiplied, and by 2015 four Scottsdale properties held AAA Five Diamond ratings.

6. The Arizona wine revival, 1982 to today

   Arizona banned winemaking from 1914 until a 1982 law made it legal again. Vina Sonoita became the first modern commercial vineyard, and Arizona now counts over 130 wineries, vineyards and cellars. Old Town's tasting rooms, such as Aridus and Carlson Creek, pour wines made in Willcox and Cochise County, and FnB built an Arizona-only wine list.

   Taste it todayFnB

7. The chef era, 2009 to 2026

   FnB opened in Craftsman Court in 2009, and chef Charleen Badman won the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2019. In 2024 Andreoli Italian Grocer was a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality. The first MICHELIN Guide Southwest, in August 2026, gave FnB a Bib Gourmand and listed four more Scottsdale-area rooms.

   Taste it todayFnBAndreoli Italian Grocer

Immigrant influences

Mexican and Sonoran

Sonoran families brought flour tortillas, carne asada, machaca and the Sonoran hot dog north; Los Olivos, run by the Corral family since 1947, has cooked Sonoran food in Old Town ever since.

Akimel O'odham, Piipaash and other Native nations

The O'odham and Piipaash gathered prickly pear and saguaro fruit and ground mesquite pods into flour, and Pima farmers grew White Sonora wheat; the Salt River Community borders Scottsdale.

Italian

DeFalco's family came from Abruzzo to Michigan before settling in Arizona, and Calabrian chef Giovanni Scorzo cooks at Andreoli Italian Grocer, a James Beard Outstanding Hospitality semifinalist in 2024.

Taste it todayDeFalco's Italian Eatery, Grocery & DeliAndreoli Italian Grocer

Indian

INDIBAR serves pan-Indian shareable plates on Scottsdale Road and is listed in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Southwest, while Bombay House runs a daily buffet and tandoor menu on Hayden Road.

Taste it todayBombay House

Middle Eastern

Halal kitchens such as De Babel on Pima Road make gyro and chicken tawook sandwiches, shawarma and lamb kafta for the north and central city.

Taste it todayDe Babel

Signature innovations

• The cheese crisp, a flour tortilla broiled with cheese, served at most Valley Mexican restaurants
  Taste it todayCheese crisp
• The chimichanga, a fried burro whose invention both Tucson and Phoenix kitchens claim
  Taste it todayChimichanga
• The Sonoran hot dog, bacon-wrapped and tucked into a bolillo, sold from Valley carts and counters
  Taste it todaySonoran hot dog
• FnB's Arizona-only wine list, which its team calls the first of its kind
  Taste it todayFnB
• Old Town's tasting-room cluster pouring wines made in Willcox and Cochise County