The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale: French Dining for Wine Lovers

There are restaurants designed to impress from the doorway, and then there are places whose seduction unfolds more gradually. The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale belongs firmly to the latter camp.

Set in McCormick Ranch at 9719 N. Hayden Road, the restaurant has the relaxed dimensions of a neighborhood gathering place, but its culinary imagination extends considerably farther. Here, French cooking technique intersects with memories of Southeast Asia, North Africa, the Mediterranean and South America. Wine is treated not as a supporting character, but as part of the architecture of dinner itself.

The result is one of Scottsdale’s more intriguing dining propositions: sophisticated without ceremony, serious about food without becoming precious, and deeply invested in the increasingly rare luxury of sitting around a table without feeling rushed.

That sensibility is not accidental. It is the foundation upon which restaurateur John Krause and chef-owner Brent Menke built The Mick when it opened in 2020.

The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale has become a beloved spot for both locals and visitors seeking quality French cuisine. You will also find a culinary experience that pays homage to various international influences, complemented by an extensive wine selection.

A Scottsdale Neighborhood Restaurant With a Much Bigger Story

The Mick’s name begins with geography.

Menke grew up around McCormick Ranch, and the very parking lot where the restaurant stands once served as a meeting place for him and friends after high school football games. Long before group chats dictated where everyone would meet, this was where plans were made.

When Menke and Krause eventually created a restaurant here, they wanted to recreate that sense of community. “Mick” nods to McCormick Ranch while also playing on the M and K of Menke and Krause, a story Menke shared during an appearance on PBS’s Check, Please! Arizona.

There is something refreshingly personal about the physical restaurant, too. The founders did much of the original design work themselves. Menke built tabletops, and artwork throughout the space includes original pieces by the chef, his wife, and local artists. The patio has emerged as a particular favorite, with garage-style openings helping dissolve the boundary between indoors and outside.

The atmosphere at The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale invites guests to relax and enjoy their meals, making it a perfect gathering spot.

Arizona PBS later included The Mick among its notable patio destinations, praising the restaurant’s lively, welcoming atmosphere and shareable approach to dining. Guests frequently rave about the dishes served at The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale, emphasizing the unique flavors and wine pairings.

It is polished, certainly, but the polish is not the point. The point is conviviality.

Chef Brent Menke’s Menu Reads Like a Well-Traveled Passport

Each dish reflects the essence of The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale, showcasing the chef’s journey through various culinary traditions.

To understand the food at The Mick, it helps to understand how unusually Menke came to cooking.

After graduating from the University of Arizona, he entered the world of luxury superyachts. He began as a deckhand, eventually moving into the galley and cooking aboard yachts traveling between the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Europe, and the United States.

Those years placed him in proximity not only to rarefied clients, but also to port cities and regional food cultures that would eventually become more important than the glamour of the yachts themselves.

Later, Menke and his family spent a year traveling through 13 countries, including France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Vietnam, Thailand, Peru, Ecuador and Bali. In a detailed 2026 profile, ICONIC LIFE traced Menke’s journey from yacht kitchens to Scottsdale and the way those travels continue to inform his cooking.

Travel remains an active part of Menke’s life beyond the kitchen. Together with his wife, Benedicte, he founded TDS Adventures, a bespoke travel company specializing in intimate food-and-wine journeys around the world. Drawing on their years of experience aboard private luxury yachts, jets and villas, the couple creates highly curated trips for small groups that can include exceptional wineries, private villas and yachts, culinary experiences and access to destinations well beyond the typical tourist itinerary.

It is a natural extension of the perspective Menke brings to The Mick: travel not simply as inspiration, but as a way of experiencing a place through its food, wine and people.

The chef describes his cuisine as French colonial-inspired, using classical French technique as its foundation while drawing flavors and ideas from Southeast Asia, North Africa and Europe.

That approach means dinner can move rather freely across borders.

What to Order at The Mick Brasserie

At The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale, diners can expect a menu that celebrates the intersection of cultures.

The Mick is at its best when the table orders collectively.

Menke’s signature Shrimp Tartine is a natural opening move. The restaurant’s current preparation layers shrimp with Creole Worcestershire butter, toasted ciabatta, and charred lemon, a dish that feels simultaneously French, Southern, and comfortably difficult to categorize.

A glance at The Mick’s current menu reveals the same borderless vocabulary elsewhere: whipped ricotta, octopus piccata, cavatelli with Sicilian pork sausage, chicken paillard, a Gruyère-laced leek flatbread and filet mignon with Madeira bordelaise and salsa verde.

Some dishes come and go. That is part of the pleasure. Escargot appears seasonally, while foie gras preparations, tartares and other specials rotate according to availability and Menke’s latest inspirations.

Even something as seemingly straightforward as focaccia becomes a reason to linger, particularly when it arrives with smoked honey butter, aioli and olives.

The kitchen also emphasizes precision cooking rather than relying heavily on frying. Sous vide, slow roasting, braising and careful finishing are used to build texture and concentrate flavor, an approach that reflects Menke’s French technical foundation.

For a restaurant inspired by so many places, the menu never feels like a culinary travel scrapbook. The ideas are translated rather than simply imported.

The Wine Cellar May Be The Mick’s Greatest Luxury

For iLoveWine readers, this is where the restaurant becomes especially interesting.

Wine is fundamental to The Mick’s identity. The restaurant describes a cellar numbering more than 350 labels by the bottle, supported by an unusually broad by-the-glass program and selections that stretch from approachable weeknight pours to bottles intended for serious collectors.

At the rarefied end of the spectrum, the cellar has included several selections from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, one of Burgundy’s most coveted estates.

The program is overseen by Wine Director Jeff Menzer, affectionately known within the restaurant as the resident “Cork Dork.” The intent is not simply to assemble expensive bottles, but to help guests navigate them without turning dinner into an examination.

That philosophy has earned outside recognition. The Mick has received Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for four consecutive years, from 2023 through 2026, recognizing the depth and quality of its wine program. 

The wine list at The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale is celebrated for its quality and extensive selection.

Menzer’s involvement extends into the broader professional wine community as well. He has been selected to participate in industry wine immersions alongside sommeliers and beverage professionals from across the country. Most recently, The SOMM Journal documented him representing The Mick at Paso Robles CAB Camp, where he received the Award of Excellence in the camp’s professional blending competition.

This matters because The Mick’s food practically invites experimentation at the table. Instead of deciding on a single entrée and bottle, diners can move among smaller dishes and different glasses, testing acidity against richness, fruit against spice, and texture against tannin.

Wine Here Is Also an Experience, Not Just a List

The Mick has turned wine education and competition into part of its social life.

Wine dinners, tastings and seasonal prix fixe menus appear regularly on the calendar, alongside events such as Somm Brawl and the restaurant’s World Cup of Wine.

The 2026 World Cup begins September 14 with France facing Australia, followed by matchups including Spain versus Portugal and Italy versus Greece. Guests taste wines during a multi-course dinner, score them, and effectively help determine which wine-producing nation advances. Current experiences can be viewed through The Mick’s OpenTable reservations page.

Events at The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale bring wine enthusiasts together for memorable experiences.

It is a clever format because it removes some of wine’s intimidation factor without diminishing its seriousness. You can debate French terroir and Australian expression, but you are still, fundamentally, having dinner.

A Restaurant Growing Beyond Scottsdale

The Mick’s next chapter will extend beyond McCormick Ranch.

The restaurant’s hospitality already reaches well beyond a standard dinner reservation. The Mick hosts private events on-site, creating customized experiences for celebrations, corporate gatherings and other special occasions, with food and wine playing an integral role in the planning. Its off-site catering brings that same approach throughout the Valley, allowing the team to create a Mick-style experience in private homes, event spaces and other venues.

Both have become an important part of the restaurant’s identity, giving guests another way to experience Menke’s cooking, the wine program, and the warm, highly personal style of hospitality The Mick is known for.

The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale’s private events showcase the restaurant’s hospitality and culinary expertise.

A second location is planned for Higley Commons in Gilbert, where the restaurant has leased approximately 4,400 square feet plus a patio. The new outpost is expected to open in the first quarter of 2027 and will bring the concept’s French-influenced cooking and wine program into the East Valley, with an expanded beverage offering that includes a full liquor license and cocktails.

The expansion is significant, but perhaps more revealing is what The Mick intends to preserve.

This was never conceived simply as a formal French restaurant. It was built around the idea of a gathering place, one connected to Menke’s childhood in Scottsdale but informed by everything he encountered after leaving it.

Community is at the heart of The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale, as it strives to be a welcoming gathering place.

Years later, the restaurant is still essentially delivering on that promise.

Why The Mick Brasserie Belongs on a Wine Lover’s Scottsdale List

The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale is recognized for its unique place in the Scottsdale dining scene.

Scottsdale has no shortage of restaurants engineered for special occasions. The Mick offers something slightly different.

Its luxury is less about spectacle than access: access to a deeply stocked wine cellar without pretense, to a chef whose cooking is shaped by years of travel, to dishes designed for passing around the table, and to hospitality that encourages conversation instead of choreography.

It also remains connected to the broader Arizona dining community. The Mick participates in Arizona Restaurant Week, collaborates with chefs and winemakers, hosts tasting events and supports local charitable initiatives.

For the first visit, take the restaurant at its word. Bring people you actually want to talk to. Order more than one plate. Ask the wine team to surprise you. Sit on the patio when Scottsdale’s weather permits.

Then allow the evening to unfold at the pace of a good bottle.

Plan Your Visit

The Mick Brasserie is located at 9719 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258, near Hayden Road and East Mountain View Road in McCormick Ranch. Reservations are recommended for weekends, wine dinners and special events, although walk-ins are welcomed when space allows. The restaurant can be reached at (480) 246-6197, and reservations are available through The Mick’s official website and OpenTable.

Make your next meal unforgettable at The Mick Brasserie Scottsdale, where exceptional cuisine and wine await.