On a Saturday morning in May, the line for a bulgogi ribeye sandwich wrapped around Uptown Plaza and lasted an hour or two. Inside, Sumin Kim worked the line as co-owner and head chef, topping sandwiches with fried eggs and jalapeño. Her husband, Sean Atkinson, took orders under a grinning cartoon loaf of shokupan the couple calls Mr. Toastie. Let's Toast had opened its first permanent shop on May 16 in the former Scoopwell's Dough Bar space at 100 E. Camelback Road. Before that, it spent close to three years as a pop-up, and it became a regular at the Uptown Farmers Market.
That last detail explains most of what has happened on Windsor Square's corner this year. Several spaces at Central and Camelback have changed hands since spring, and every replacement arrived with a following it had already built somewhere else. Two came from the Saturday market a few steps north of Uptown Plaza. The rest came from Chandler, from Mesa, and from the team behind Tacos Chiwas.
Two Booths, Two Storefronts
Let's Toast is the first market vendor to make the move. Its menu is Kim and Atkinson's take on Korean street food: fluffy milk bread and savory bulgogi, now available six days a week instead of one. Kim's mother worked in the Seoul restaurant scene, and the couple tested their recipes on weekends while holding day jobs.
DiMaggio's is the second, and its path to the corner took longer. According to Phoenix New Times, Brandon and Michele Gioffre started A Taste of Italy at the Uptown Farmers Market in 2021, selling hand-pulled mozzarella, cannoli, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A year later they took over the former home of The Blind Pig in Scottsdale and built out a full menu of New York-style Italian cooking. In 2024, Frank DiMaggio became a partner. He is a developer, a former baseball player and a relative of Joe DiMaggio, and the restaurant took his name.
The Uptown Plaza location will be the restaurant's second in the Valley, after its home at The Grove in McCormick Ranch. It takes the space Lou Malnati's held for nearly nine years. PhoenixBites reported on September 25 that the restaurant is targeting late October 2026 and that the timing could still shift. The menu will feature Italian-American classics and hand-pulled mozzarella, plus private dining in a larger, flagship-style space. The Gioffres' first booth sat just north of the plaza, so the move covers a few hundred feet and five years.
The Same Path, Taken From Farther Away
Most of the other new tenants also built a following before they arrived, just in other parts of the Valley.
The Sleepy Whale, Suite 160
Dynamite Beer Co.'s Uptown Plaza taproom closed in June after a little over a year. The space at #160 stood empty for only a few weeks before The Sleepy Whale opened there on Friday, July 31. The original Sleepy Whale is in downtown Chandler at 290 South Arizona Avenue. The same team runs The Theodore in downtown Phoenix, Beer Barn in Gilbert and the Silver King smokehouses in Pinetop and Superior.
"Just being in Uptown is going to be exciting. It fits us." Tony Fatica, Sleepy Whale co-owner, to Phoenix New Times
The Uptown taproom pours the same "local, super unique, rare craft beer" as Chandler, along with wine and nonalcoholic options. It also has its own kitchen. The food menu includes bar food and Silver King smoked-meat sandwiches, along with wings, nachos, salads and mac and cheese.
Cindy's Dove and Sparrow, 525 E. Camelback
Down Camelback to the east, a resale shop opened June 1, according to the Windsor Square association's September 2026 newsletter. Cindy's Dove and Sparrow sells curated home goods, furnishings and accessories, plus vintage women's apparel, jewelry, bags and shoes. Supporters of Sunshine Acres Children's Home in Mesa donate the merchandise, and all proceeds after overhead go to operations at the Mesa campus. Sunshine Acres has been operating for 50 years.
Road Runner Sports, Suite 176
AZ Big Media reported on June 15 that Road Runner Sports was open at Uptown Plaza. The company's store locator lists the address as 100 E. Camelback Road, Suite 176.
Across Central, The Block Follows the Same Pattern
The west side of the intersection shows the corner has worked this way for years. Joyride Taco House began in Gilbert, and Upward Projects brought it to Uptown in 2013, where it served tacos and margaritas from a Midcentury building with a tree-shaded patio. Its last day at 5202 N. Central Ave. was August 2. The Gilbert original remains open.
The new tenant is Lado A Lado, a partnership between Upward Projects and Chiwas Hospitality Group. Upward already runs Postino, Federal Pizza, Windsor and Churn on the same stretch of Central, and Arizona Foothills Magazine calls the stretch The Block. The building keeps its Midcentury bones. The Chiwas founders and chefs are Armando Hernandez, Nadia Holguin and Roberto Centeno, the team behind Tacos Chiwas, Cocina Chiwas, Espiritu and Aruma Cafe. Tacos Chiwas has Phoenix and Mesa locations, and Cocina Chiwas is in Tempe. The team told Arizona Foothills it had "wanted to bring our flavors to North Central Phoenix for a long time."
Lado a lado means "side by side." The partners chose the name for their memories of cooking alongside family before sitting down to eat together. The menu draws on the Sonoran region and the contrasts of fire and sea, smoke and citrus. The kitchen will be built around a central parrillada grill and a raw bar, with an emphasis on open-flame and wood-fired cooking. In September, Upward Projects named Stephen Jones, the chef best known for The Larder & The Delta, its Culinary Innovation Chef. His role covers Lado A Lado and the rest of Upward's restaurants.
July coverage pointed to a fall debut, but the restaurant's own site at ladoalado.com now reads "Coming This Winter" and gives no date. For now, the former Joyride building is a construction site.
Where the Corner Stands in Early October
| Address | Previous tenant | Current or next tenant | Status as of October 5, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 E. Camelback Rd., #164 | Scoopwell's Dough Bar | Let's Toast | Open since May 16 |
| 100 E. Camelback Rd., #160 | Dynamite Beer Co. | The Sleepy Whale | Open since July 31 |
| Uptown Plaza courtyard | Lou Malnati's | DiMaggio's Italian Restaurant | Targeting late October; could shift |
| 5202 N. Central Ave. | Joyride Taco House | Lado A Lado | Official site says "Coming This Winter" |
| 525 E. Camelback Rd. | Not reported | Cindy's Dove and Sparrow | Open since June 1 |
The Neighborhood's Own Fall Calendar
The neighborhood's own events this fall begin on the streets. The Windsor Square newsletter reports that in late July, the City of Phoenix announced it would repave the neighborhood streets over about three weeks, and the work is complete. Neighbors who chose to have their driveway curb transitions removed are now looking at replacement options and swapping ideas in the Windsor Square Neighbor group on Facebook.
What is on the near calendar:
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation cookies, October. Neighbor Lisa Miller has spent six years baking and decorating cookies in exchange for donations to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and has raised more than $25,000. This month she needs volunteers to frost hundreds of cookies, and the newsletter says no special skill is needed. Details will go up on the Windsor Square Facebook page.
- Annual Windsor Square Block Party, Saturday, October 17, 3 to 6 p.m. It takes place at Football Park on Medlock, with a food truck, drinks, live music and kids' activities. The Windsor Square Bake-Off is back: bring a dessert to share and enter it for prizes. Organizers are asking for volunteers for tear-down and for the children's activities.
- Late October, DiMaggio's target opening. Expect a soft date until the restaurant announces one.
- December, Holiday Hayride. The newsletter lists it along with a Tour de Windsor and a movie night in Football Park, without dates.
- 2028, the next Windsor Square Home Tour. This spring's tour on March 29 opened 10 homes and added a street fair, live music, a beer garden and food trucks.
The Uptown Farmers Market still runs every Saturday just north of Uptown Plaza, the same market where Let's Toast and DiMaggio's got their start.
Steve Caniglia and Carly Caniglia have lived in Windsor Square since 2012, and The Caniglia Group keeps its office at 5225 N. Central, across the street from the old Joyride building. If you're curious how this year's changes at Central and Camelback show up in what nearby homes are worth, or you'd like a neighbor's view before you make a move, Schedule a Free Consultation and we'll go through it with you.
