Drive past 17767 N. Scottsdale Road these days and the building looks the same from the parking lot: same stucco, same patio wrapping the corner near the Loop 101. What's different is what's happening inside, and who's running it.
That address spent six years as Chauncey Social, the restaurant and nightclub Evening Entertainment Group opened there in December 2019 with room for about 130 guests inside and another 50 on the patio. Chauncey Social closed on April 1, 2026. As of September 16, the space belongs to Kuza, a live-fire robata and sushi concept from Clive Collective, the hospitality group that already runs two other spots a few blocks up the same road. That puts three Clive Collective concepts on one short stretch of Scottsdale Road, giving diners several different options for a night out.
What Actually Opened
Kuza is built around an open robata grill, the kind of live-fire cooking where the coals sit in the middle of the room and you watch the food happen. The menu splits into raw starters, binchōtan-grilled robata, a sushi program, and shareable plates, with dishes like chutoro tataki finished in yuzu kosho aioli, A5 wagyu tartare with ossetra caviar, and spicy tuna crispy rice. Dessert runs to a matcha nameraka pudding and a sudachi lime tart, and the night-cap section includes an espresso and miso caramel drink called the Yami-Jillo.
The chef in the kitchen isn't the one who originally developed the concept. Beau MacMillan, the Food Network chef behind Clive Collective's Cala, built out Kuza's menu before stepping away from the group earlier this year. Executive Chef Erik Davila, who spent 16 years cooking around the Valley and most recently ran the kitchen at Sandfish Sushi & Whiskey, took over the program before opening night. For a restaurant whose whole identity is built on the technique at the grill, that's a real handoff, not a footnote, and it means the menu you'll actually eat is Davila's execution of a concept someone else designed.
Kuza is the sixth restaurant from Clive Collective and the third the group has placed on this particular stretch of Scottsdale Road, joining The Americano and Tell Your Friends.
What Used to Be There
Chauncey Social opened as a sports bar and nightclub, the kind of place built around a large LED wall and roughly 30 television screens, with a menu of flatbreads, wings, and a Chauncey Burger alongside heavier plates like a short rib and a steak dinner. It was a casual, screens-on, order-a-flatbread kind of stop, not a reservations-required destination.
Kuza is aimed at a different evening entirely. There's no sports programming, no wall of screens, and the menu leans toward small, composed plates meant to be shared slowly rather than eaten quickly between innings. The building didn't get bigger or smaller. It got repositioned for a different kind of night out, and that shift says something about what this stretch of North Scottsdale is now expected to support.
Two Doors Down, Same Owners
A few blocks from Kuza sits The Americano, the pasta and steak concept led by chef Scott Conant, and beneath it, accessed through an unmarked side door, is Tell Your Friends. Tell Your Friends is a below-ground, art deco cocktail lounge with 16-foot ceilings and a 52-seat capacity, designed around live music on most nights, with weekend hours pushing to 1 a.m. In 2025, the lounge was named Bar of the Year at the Bar & Restaurant Expo Awards, and its current cocktail menu, developed by beverage director Ashley Cibor, still leans on the same jazz-age theatrics the room opened with. Beau MacMillan, before he left Clive Collective, was also the chef behind the original small-bites menu downstairs.
So the same ownership group that built a below-ground speakeasy under an Italian steakhouse also just took over a former sports bar a few blocks away and turned it into a Japanese robata restaurant. Three concepts, three different moods, all part of Clive Collective's presence on this part of Scottsdale Road.
What This Actually Changes for a Weeknight
For anyone who already lives near this corridor, the practical shift is less about any single dish and more about having three Clive Collective concepts nearby. If Kuza is booked on a Friday, The Americano is a few minutes away with the same underlying hospitality team, and Tell Your Friends is sitting directly beneath it if the plan shifts from dinner to a late set of live music. That's a different kind of flexibility than three unrelated restaurants happening to sit near each other. The shared hospitality team also coordinates reservations, staffing, and pacing across the three rooms.
The hours line up in a way that covers most of the week. Kuza runs Wednesday through Saturday evenings. Tell Your Friends is open Wednesday through Sunday, with weekend hours pushing to 1 a.m. Between the two, the corridor has something open on almost every night residents are actually looking for one, which wasn't true when Chauncey Social's schedule was the only thing anchoring that particular address.
A few specifics worth keeping straight if you're planning around this stretch:
- Kuza: 17767 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 100, open Wednesday through Saturday, 5 to 10 or 11 p.m. depending on the night
- The Americano: pasta and steak from chef Scott Conant, a few blocks north on Scottsdale Road
- Tell Your Friends: entered through a side door beneath The Americano, open Wednesday through Sunday evenings with live music
- Chauncey Social's building did not change size or location. It changed hands and changed concept entirely, closing April 1, 2026 before Kuza's September 16 opening
For residents, that means Japanese robata, pasta and steak, and live music are all available along the same stretch of Scottsdale Road.
Daynes Development pays attention to changes like this because they shape what a Tuesday night actually looks like for the people already living in North Scottsdale, long before anyone starts thinking about their next move. If you want to talk about what else is shifting along this stretch of Scottsdale Road, or anywhere else in the neighborhoods we work in, Daynes Development is easy to reach.
