This fall, Scottsdale Fashion Square will welcome Élephante, a dining experience with a mission of transporting guests – with classic flavors and luxury cocktails – to the coast of Italy.
Élephante is part of Wish You Were Here hospitality, a group that focuses on creating dining experiences inspired by travel. Every single aspect of the 12,000 square foot dining destination, with a total capacity of 345, including 60 patio seats, has been bespoke built, from the furniture to the artwork to the imported travertine tile, all with the intention to transport guests to the sun-drenched Mediterranean. The Scottsdale location will be the second installment of the impressive Santa Monica restaurant.
“Arizona’s landscape and welcoming people have made it the perfect location for our next venture,” Nick Mathers, founder of Wish You Were Here Group, said. “Élephante Scottsdale will create an experience that embraces local surroundings while staying true to our ethos of making guests feel like they’re on vacation, even if they’re just a few blocks from home. This has been our approach since we opened our first restaurant in New York over 20 years ago.”
Culinary Director Thomas Lim said the menu will contain classics like wood-fired pizza made with long-fermented dough and a starter (that’s over 30 years old!) and shareable puccia, a soft, puffed bread served with whipped eggplant. Exclusive to Scottsdale, look for expanded puccia options, including imported burrata, anchovies crudo and more. Mouthwatering mains like vodka sauce canestri with mascarpone, ricotta cavatelli with a pork fennel sausage ragù, dry-aged bone-in ribeye, pork pluma and lobster piccata with lemon-caper butter sauce will also be on the menu.
The restaurant will continue to conjure dreams of vacations with a vast selection of signature cocktails. The Élephante, the establishment’s namesake, is made with passion fruit, lemon, almond orgeat, Montenegro, Calabrian chili, and choice of spirit.
“We’re creating draft cocktails made in-house, such as our sparkling Paloma, where we use a centrifuge to clarify the fresh fruits, and then add carbonation so it looks like sparkling water, but you’ll take one sip and say, ‘Yeah, that’s a Paloma,’” VP of Beverage Julien Calella said.
There will be a rotating selection of frozen cocktails and a full menu of espresso martinis, with an option to add a custom picture of your choice that is printed in coffee ink right atop the cocktail.
You can’t be transported to the coastal Mediterranean without an extensive wine list, so Élephante will showcase wine from every single region across Italy, including limited quantity vintage wines from top producers, and four proprietary private labels, including a Pinot Grigio from Sicily and Super Tuscan from Tuscany. Offered by the glass, this private label program also includes Pinot Noir specifically designed for the Scottsdale palate.
For more information and to stay up-to-date on the official opening, visit elephanterestaurants.com.
