Walk the upper level at La Encantada on a Wednesday in July and the rhythm of the place is not what it was two summers ago. The AJ's patio still fills at 8 a.m. with the same standing-order crowd. The difference sits at the other end of the day. The Restaurant Circle is holding light past nine, patios are staying open later into the evening, and the tenant mix is bending toward Champagne, DJs, and after-dinner social hours rather than lunch-and-out shopping trips.
For Foothills residents who treat this center at Skyline and Campbell as their default weeknight anchor, the changes coming in and already landed this year are worth reading together rather than one press release at a time. Two arrivals in particular, one open since late February and one due in August, tell you where the center is headed. The rest of the roster is quietly adjusting around them.
The Living Room Space Becomes Frida American Brasserie
The most consequential change of the year is the reworking of the corner that used to house The Living Room. Frida American Brasserie plans to open in August at 2905 E. Skyline Dr., in the former Living Room space at La Encantada, introducing a polished dining experience with a strong Champagne focus and European-inspired American cuisine. The owners are familiar names locally. Charles Hunt and Frida Hunt, who also own Villa Peru with their family, aim to create a high-energy yet refined destination for Tucson diners.
Two design decisions inside the concept are worth flagging because they change how the space will feel from the sidewalk. First, the patio. The patio will function as a climate-controlled "living patio," designed to stay comfortable during Tucson summers. That is a direct answer to the July and August question every Foothills resident already knows: where can you sit outside at 7 p.m. without giving up on the evening. Second, the service ritual. Guests seated in booths can press service buttons to request Champagne cart service. That is a table-side theatrical touch you have not previously found at this center.
The menu ambition is broader than a wine bar. The menu will feature a wide range of dishes, from elevated small plates to steakhouse-style entrées, with items like mini lobster rolls, crab cakes, duck confit salad, and filet mignon medallions, plus seafood-forward options such as oysters, lobster tails, and grilled halibut, and indulgent additions like caviar and veal ossobuco. Read that against the existing Restaurant Circle and it is clear Frida is not slotting next to Blanco Tacos + Tequila or North Italia. It is aiming at the reservation slot Foothills residents currently drive down to Vivace or into midtown to fill.
The final signal is the programming. The restaurant will host DJs during Sunday brunch and weekend evenings, aiming to create an upbeat, social atmosphere that transitions from daytime dining into nightlife. Whether or not that lands with the neighborhood's older brunch crowd is a fair question. What is not in question is intent: the corner is being programmed as an evening destination, not a lunch stop.
The Tox and the Wellness Half of the Same Shift
The Frida arrival gets the food-press attention, but a quieter opening earlier this year matters for how the center's daytime hours are being used. The Tox is opening on February 28, 2026. The Tox is a lymphatic-massage and body-contouring studio, which sounds tangential until you notice what it does to foot traffic patterns. Foothills residents who used to make a single Saturday-morning loop through the center for AJ's, the gym, and a coffee are now adding a mid-week appointment. That mid-week visit tends to bring a Haute Coffee or True Food stop with it.
Layer that on top of the wellness anchor already there. Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of the UA's Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, founded True Food Kitchen in Phoenix in 2008, and diners can expect nutrient-rich staples, responsibly sourced proteins, and little-known superfoods in creative and flavorful dishes. Between True Food, Peloton-adjacent apparel at Alo and Vuori, and now The Tox, the daytime identity of the upper level is settling into something specific rather than generic.
Reading the Evening Tilt Through the Anchors
The clearest evidence that the operating clock has moved is not in the new openings. It is in the posted hours of the tenants who have been here for years. True Food's own posted rhythm is instructive:
| Anchor | Notable evening detail |
|---|---|
| True Food Kitchen | Open Monday through Thursday from 11am to 9pm, Friday from 11am to 10pm, Saturday from 10am to 10pm, and Sunday from 10am to 9pm |
| Frida American Brasserie (Aug 2026) | Climate-controlled patio, Champagne cart, DJ weekend evenings |
| Blanco Tacos + Tequila | Patio with misters, indoor and outdoor seating |
| Firebirds Wood Fired Grill | Circular drive, hand-cut steaks |
| AJ's Fine Foods | Patio with a fireplace, prepared meals |
Alongside the schedule, the restaurant is candid about when the patio actually opens up. Weekday lunch and weekend brunch are typically peak at La Encantada, with Saturday midday drawing the heaviest shopping-center crowds, and the patio with heaters and misters tends to open up after 8 p.m. on weeknights.
That last detail is the useful one for a resident. If you have avoided the center on Saturday at 1 p.m. because parking near AJ's is a scrum, the reverse of that pattern is your window. Tuesday and Wednesday between 8 and 9:30 p.m. on any of the patios facing the Catalinas is a different center than the one you experienced during holiday shopping.
What This Means If You Already Live Up the Hill
A few practical reads for residents who use this center weekly rather than seasonally.
The Restaurant Circle is now two circles. Blanco, North Italia, Firebirds, Ra Sushi, and True Food have held the reservation category. Frida sits above them in check average and below the resort dining rooms at Loews Ventana and the Westin La Paloma. That fills a gap Foothills residents have been driving out of the neighborhood to close.
The center is behaving less like a mall and more like a plaza. La Encantada is a two-level, outdoor specialty center that celebrates the splendor of old-world Spanish traditions alongside modern sophistication, and it delivers world-class upscale brands to Tucson, including West Elm, Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, lululemon, Apple, Madewell, Tecovas, Alo, and Vuori. The open-air layout is being used differently now that a climate-controlled patio and after-dark programming are on the way. Expect the courtyard events, which already host charity fundraisers throughout the year, to lean further into evening formats.
Wednesday and Sunday are the new weekend. Sunday brunch with DJs at Frida will pull some of the Saturday brunch demand off Blanco and North Italia, which currently absorb it. Wednesdays already benefit from the mid-week wellness visits The Tox is generating. If you have been avoiding the center on weekends, the shoulders of the week are where the experience has quietly gotten better.
The tenant mix is still shifting. Frida is filling the largest recent vacancy, but earlier retail additions like Tecovas, Levi's, and Psycho Bunny remain exclusive to this center in the Tucson market. That exclusivity is a piece of why the Foothills draw is holding rather than shifting to the newer developments north of River Road.
None of this changes what La Encantada has been for two decades. It sharpens it. The Foothills side of Tucson has always had the mountain views and the trails. What it did not consistently have was a walkable evening block where residents could keep the day going past sunset without a fifteen-minute drive. That block is filling in this year, corner by corner.
If you are weighing a move, a downsize, or a second-home purchase somewhere with this kind of daily texture within walking or short-driving distance, the specifics of which street you land on inside the Foothills matter more than they used to. Mark Klugheit is happy to walk through the tradeoffs between the streets north of Skyline, the pockets behind Sunrise, and the newer builds closer to the center itself. Let's connect.
