Summer Starts Here: Your May–June Arizona Events Calendar
If May and June in Arizona had a personality, they would be beautifully overbooked with a reservation on the books, a wine glass in hand, and at least one “should we make it a weekend?” idea already forming.
This is the season when chef dinners turn into calendar anchors, wine festivals become road-trip excuses, Derby Day gives us permission to dress up before noon, Mother’s Day gets the brunch treatment, and local restaurants remind us why showing up still matters.
From chef reunion dinners and vineyard suppers to Arizona Restaurant Week, Local First love, Father’s Day plans, and a fine food and wine festival in Sedona, here’s your EatLoveTravelPlay™ guide to what’s worth planning around in May and June.
2026 Spring Arizona Restaurant Week
May 15–24, 2026
Arizona Restaurant Week is one of the best excuses to make the reservation, try the place you keep saving, and show up for the local restaurants that make our dining scene so special.
The official Restaurant Week site is packed with options across the state, so I pulled together a smaller EatLoveTravelPlay™ short list to make the scrolling a little easier. Think pretty and polished dinners, resort romance, sushi nights, steakhouse energy, global flavors, French bistro moods, and reliable local favorites worth revisiting.
Start with the vibe, check the price point, then book the table.
Read the full guide:
The EatLoveTravelPlay Guide to the 2026 Spring Arizona Restaurant Week
Four Top Chef Series: Homecoming Edition at Fat Ox
May 14 | Scottsdale
Why it’s worth the reservation
Because this is not just dinner. It is a chef reunion.
Must Not Miss
Fat Ox’s Four Top Chef Series returns with a Homecoming Edition that brings together a serious lineup of Arizona culinary talent for one night only. Matt Carter, Rochelle Daniel, Steven “Chops” Smith, Cory Oppold, Tammie Coe, and Lisa Graf come together for a five-course dinner that feels like a love letter to the restaurant’s story and the people who helped shape it.
For ELTP readers, this is the kind of reservation that hits all the right notes: chef-driven, local, limited, nostalgic, and deliciously intentional. It has the energy of a dinner you will hear about after the fact and wish you had booked.
Devour Summer Chefs Series
May 14 | Scottsdale
Why it’s worth the reservation
Because this is not just dinner. It is a chef reunion.
Devour’s Summer Chefs Series brings together Arizona chefs for five collaborative dinners, each hosted on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m., with extremely limited seats. Each dinner is its own experience, but together the series feels like a love letter to Arizona’s independent restaurants and the chefs who keep our dining scene moving.
Event Details
Five Dinners | Five Chefs | Five Unique Experiences
Fourth Tuesday of Each Month | 6 p.m. | Extremely Limited Seats
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May 26: Chefs Lori Hashimoto + Justin Beckett | Beckett’s Table
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June 23: Chefs Justin Beckett + Bernie Kantak | The Gladly
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July 28: Chefs Gio Osso + Lori Hashimoto | Hana Japanese Eatery
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Aug. 25: Chefs Bernie Kantak + Stephen Jones | Venue to be announced
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Sept. 22: Chefs Stephen Jones + Gio Osso | Virtù Honest Craft
Tickets are limited for this series of five collaborative dinners and are expected to sell out quickly. Individual dinner tickets are available for $250 per dinner. Each event offers not only a remarkable meal, but a chance to support Arizona’s independent restaurants when they need it most.
Celebrate local. Eat local. Support local. This is your invitation to experience summer through the eyes, hands, and talents of Arizona’s finest.
Food / Wine / Cocktails
If summer in Arizona is starting to whisper, this is your excuse to book the dinner, plan the wine-country drive, say yes to the tasting menu, and make the reservation before everyone else catches on.
From chef reunion dinners and vineyard suppers to Arizona Restaurant Week, local anniversary specials, bourbon-worthy nights, and Sedona’s new fine food and wine festival, May and June are full of reasons to eat, sip, and wander a little closer to home.
May
Miracle Mile Deli Week
May 4–9 | Phoenix
One of Phoenix’s longest-running family restaurants is celebrating 77 years with a little throwback love. Miracle Mile Deli Week features a limited-time $19.49 special honoring the deli’s 1949 founding year, with a choice of signature sandwiches, a side, a kosher pickle, and a slice of pie. It is nostalgic, local, and exactly the kind of small-business story worth showing up for.
Verde Valley Wine Festival
May 9 | Cottonwood
A wine-country day trip with Arizona wineries, local spirits, food, artisans, and live music in Cottonwood’s Riverfront Park. This is one of May’s easiest “make a day of it” picks, especially for readers who want local wine with a little road-trip charm.
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. x Local First Arizona Round-Up Campaign
May 12–31 | Arizona Wilderness Locations
Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. and Local First Arizona are bringing back their point-of-sale round-up campaign to support Keep Arizona Beautiful, a statewide initiative focused on community cleanups, litter removal, waste reduction, and environmental stewardship across Arizona. Guests can round up their tabs at Arizona Wilderness locations, turning a beer run into a small but meaningful way to help keep Arizona beautiful.
Four Top Chef Series: Homecoming Edition at Fat Ox
May 14 | Scottsdale
This is one of the big reservation moments of the season. Fat Ox hosts the third chapter of its Four Top dinner series with a Homecoming Edition, bringing together Matt Carter, Rochelle Daniel, Steven “Chops” Smith, Cory Oppold, Tammie Coe, and Lisa Graf for a five-course chef reunion. It has that one-night-only energy that makes dinner feel like an event.
Spring Arizona Restaurant Week
May 15–24 | Statewide
Ten days of prix fixe menus across Arizona, and one of the best excuses to finally try the restaurant you keep saving, sending, and somehow not booking. This is the big statewide dining anchor for May, especially for readers who like a little reservation strategy with their seasonal plans. Arizona Restaurant Week lists the 2026 spring dates as May 15 through May 24.
Los Milics Chef’s Dinner Featuring Christian Padilla
May 17 | Elgin
A vineyard dinner in Southern Arizona wine country with Chef Christian Padilla of Copper Ash Culinary, hosted at Los Milics Vineyards in Elgin. The evening leans into Southwestern and Sonoran flavor, making it a beautiful “worth the drive” pick for anyone craving a dinner with a sense of place.
Devour Summer Chefs Series: Lori Hashimoto + Justin Beckett
May 26 | Beckett’s Table, Phoenix
The first dinner in Devour’s five-part summer chef series brings Lori Hashimoto and Justin Beckett together for a collaborative evening rooted in Arizona’s independent restaurant community. See the full series spotlight above.
Northern Arizona Wine Festival
May 30 | Flagstaff
A high-country wine escape at Oeno Wine Lounge, featuring small-production, family-owned, and sustainably farmed wines in a relaxed outdoor festival setting. This one is a smart pick for readers looking to trade the Valley heat for Flagstaff air and a glass in hand.
June
602 Day
June 2 | Phoenix
A Phoenix-pride moment made for local love. Use this as a reason to spotlight the restaurants, coffee shops, cocktail bars, small businesses, and neighborhood favorites that make the 602 feel like home.
National Bourbon Day
June 14 | Statewide
A built-in excuse for a bourbon cocktail, Arizona whiskey pour, steakhouse reservation, or moody desert nightcap. This is a perfect editorial hook for readers who like their June plans a little smoky, spirited, and stirred.
Father’s Day
June 21 | Statewide
The day practically writes the guide: steakhouses, whiskey bars, barbecue, golf resort brunches, cigar patios, and Arizona wine country escapes. Think less tie-and-mug, more “where are we taking him that he’ll actually love?”
Devour Summer Chefs Series: Justin Beckett + Bernie Kantak
June 23 | The Gladly, Phoenix
The second dinner in Devour’s summer chef series pairs Justin Beckett and Bernie Kantak for a collaborative night at The Gladly. See the full series spotlight above.
FLEUR: Sedona International Festival of Fine Food + Wine
June 25–28 | Sedona
A new Sedona festival bringing together fine food, wine, art, floral installations, chocolate, and red rock scenery. This has “make it a weekend” written all over it and feels like one of June’s most EatLoveTravelPlay™ aligned travel-and-taste moments. FLEUR is confirmed for June 25 through 28, 2026.
A Few Worth Booking First
MAY
If you want to prioritize the most distinctive May experiences, start with Fat Ox’s Four Top Chef Series, Devour Summer Chefs Series, Verde Valley Wine Festival, Spring Arizona Restaurant Week, and Los Milics Chef’s Dinner. For a more casual local-love moment, stop into Arizona Wilderness during the round-up campaign and let your tab do a little good while you sip.
JUNE
For June, start with Devour’s Summer Chefs Series and FLEUR Sedona, then build the rest of the month around 602 Day, National Bourbon Day, and Father’s Day. It gives the month a nice rhythm: local love, great pours, family plans, and one big Sedona escape.
Final Sip
Summer in Arizona may arrive hot, but the calendar still knows how to show off.
This is the season for booking the table, taking the drive, raising the glass, and remembering that some of the best local stories happen over a meal. Whether you are dressing up for Derby Day, celebrating Mother’s Day, supporting a longtime Phoenix restaurant, sipping through Arizona wine country, or grabbing a seat at one of the chef dinners everyone will be talking about, May and June are giving us plenty of reasons to get out.
Mark your calendar, make the reservation, buy the ticket, and go have the kind of season you’ll actually remember.
Got an event we should know about?
Email us at krista@eatlovetravelplay.com. We love a good tip!