What is El Camino?
Most of Old Town sells an occasion. El Camino sells a burger and a beer. Its own slogan is “slow down and enjoy the ride,” and the room backs that up: unpretentious, inexpensive and open from late morning to midnight, tucked into Suite 105 of the building at 7133 E Stetson Dr that has held more famous names than any address on the street.
It is a Jocque Concepts venue, part of the Scottsdale group whose roster includes The Montauk, Diego Pops, The Hot Chick and, a few blocks east, Kill Club. Where those lean into a theme, El Camino keeps it plain: smash burgers, a full bar and, in the group’s words, friendly service.
The menu is a single page. Smash burgers come single, double, bacon or the house El Camino, with grilled poblano peppers and pink mayo, all dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and house sauce and served with fries. Around them are wings in a handful of sauces, chicken tenders, a fried chicken sandwich, hot pastrami, a sloppy joe and a grilled cheese. The drinks list starts with $4 PBR and runs through a Cowboy Killer, a shot of Jameson with a Budweiser, and a Redneck Rosé built from Miller High Life and Aperol.
It isn’t trying to be the best restaurant on Stetson. It’s trying to be the place you’re glad is still open, and on a block of tasting menus and bottle service, that’s a useful thing to be.
How El Camino works
Order at the bar. There’s no waitress service at the tables. Walk up, order food and drinks together, and find a seat indoors or outside. That one rule explains the prices: burgers run from $9.75 for a single to $11.95 for a double, and add-ons like grilled poblanos, jalapeños, caramelized onions or bacon jam are 50 cents each.
Know the house jokes. The menu has a “My Girlfriend Is Not Hungry” line, three dollars for extra fries, two wings or a single tender, which is the most honest item in Old Town. The Seasonal burger changes monthly. Burgers are cooked to 165 degrees per the health department, so this is a smash-burger crust place, not a medium-rare place.
Use the hours. El Camino opens at 11 a.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. weekends, and the kitchen stays open until midnight every day. That makes it a fit for three situations: a cheap lunch before the Waterfront, a mid-afternoon beer during a spring training weekend, and the late burger that keeps a night from ending badly. Our late-night food guide covers what’s open after the kitchen closes.
Book it for a group. The bar takes private events through its site, which is a cheaper way to host a birthday or a bachelor party pregame than a bottle-service table up the street. Park across the canal in the Waterfront garage and walk the bridge; Stetson itself has almost no parking.
A burger bar in Scottsdale’s most ambitious building
The building El Camino shares is one of the most consequential restaurant addresses in Scottsdale. Cowboy Ciao opened at 7133 E Stetson in 1997, and with Sea Saw and Kazimierz World Wine Bar beside it, restaurateur Peter Kasperski made this block of Southbridge the most inventive dining street in Arizona for a decade. Sea Saw won a James Beard Award. Cowboy Ciao’s Stetson chopped salad was copied across the Valley.
The next generation was looser. In 2019, after Cowboy Ciao closed, The Drunk Munk turned its corner into a tiki bar, and Maynard James Keenan opened Merkin Vineyards nearby, pouring only Arizona wine. Both were gone by the end of 2024. Shiso now holds the Drunk Munk corner, and El Camino is in Suite 105 down the row.
El Camino is the clearest sign of how the block’s economics have shifted. In the Kasperski years, a Stetson Drive lease came with an expectation of ambition. A $10 smash burger and a $4 PBR are a different bet: that a canal-side street between the Entertainment District and the Waterfront needs a place people can drop into without a reservation or a dress code. Jocque Concepts has made versions of that bet before in Old Town, from The Montauk’s beach-house brunches to Diego Pops on Scottsdale Road.
The honest assessment: El Camino will never be in a history of Scottsdale fine dining, and it doesn’t want to be. What it adds to this building is a price point and a door that’s open at 11 a.m. and still serving at 11:59 p.m.