Joesler Kitchen Brings a 110-Seat Room to River Road Below Catalina Foothills Estates
Joesler Kitchen targets late November on River Road and Frida American Brasserie takes reservations at La Encantada. What it means for Foothills Estates owners.
The owners of Choice Greens spent a year rebuilding their Joesler Village space into a full restaurant, while the family behind Villa Peru moves into La Encantada. Here is what is opening, and where it sits.
The space at 1825 E. River Road, Suite 119, used to be a Choice Greens. Its owners closed it to build something else, and Tucson Foodie reports the job took about a year, six or seven months of it on the redesign alone. What comes out the other side is Joesler Kitchen: about 3,500 square feet and roughly 110 seats across a dining room, a bar with seating inside and out, and a pet-friendly patio. The target is late November. The restaurant's own website still reads "Opening soon," and it held a hiring fair on October 25 for servers, bartenders, hosts and kitchen staff.
- ~3,500 sq ft
- Joesler Kitchen's space in Joesler Village, per Tucson Foodie
- ~110
- Seats across the dining room, bar and patio
- 1935
- Year construction began on Catalina Foothills Estates, northeast of Campbell and River
- 2003
- Year La Encantada opened at Skyline Drive and Campbell Avenue
A Year to Rebuild One Suite on River Road
Joesler Kitchen comes from Jeff Katz and Paolo DeFilippis, who also run Choice Greens, Graze Premium Burgers and Truland Burgers & Greens. They previously operated a Choice Greens in this exact suite and closed it to develop the new concept, so this is not a new tenant moving in. It is the same operators trading their Choice Greens concept for a full restaurant with a bar. FORS architecture + interiors handled the design and Hidden Hollow Construction did the build. Tucson Foodie names Kimberly Backman as executive chef.
Katz describes the concept as "a modern American eatery with elevated but approachable food." The menu was still being finalized when Tucson Foodie reported it on October 21. It will run from appetizers, hand-helds and salads to entrées and desserts, with vegetarian and gluten-free options throughout. Expected pricing is about $22 to $35 for entrées and $8 to $20 for appetizers, hand-helds and salads. The bar will pour beer, wine and cocktails.
Planned hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Those are lunch-through-dinner hours, every day, which is the real change for this stretch of River Road: a full-service room that is open at noon on a Tuesday.
Turnover in Joesler Village
Joesler Kitchen is opening into a center that has just lost a tenant. On September 24, Tucson Foodie reported that the Muñoz family had permanently closed their Joesler Village restaurant at 1765 E. River Road. The space had been a Seis Kitchen until June 2026, when the family rebranded it as Seis Cantina, a quick-serve taquería. That format lasted about three months. Their three remaining Seis Kitchen locations, on Tanque Verde Road, in Oro Valley and at Mercado San Agustín, stay open. The article did not name a replacement for the River Road space.
A few doors down, Villa Peru has been at 1745 E. River Road since August 2017. The restaurant's own history says the family opened the first Villa Peru in Tempe in 2012 and that all six owners are members of one family, among them Frida Hunt. That name matters for the next opening.
Frida American Brasserie Takes the Former Living Room Space
Up Campbell Avenue at La Encantada, Charles and Frida Hunt are opening Frida American Brasserie at 2905 E. Skyline Drive, in the space The Living Room used to occupy. Tucson Foodie reported in late September that the Hunts had originally planned an August debut and were hoping for October 22, with Frida Hunt calling the end of October "the safer estimate." The restaurant's website now lists hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, and says it is taking online reservations and holiday party bookings.
The preview menu leans toward a steakhouse and raw-bar register: a crab Louie salad, French onion soup with Gruyère, crab cakes, mini lobster rolls, a 32-ounce tomahawk and a 12-ounce rib-eye, plus about five sushi rolls and a lunch list of panini, steak frites and a French dip. The wine list is built around Champagne. Tucson Foodie also describes a two-story Champagne display, a private second floor styled as a wine cellar, and a climate-controlled patio. All of it was labelled a work in progress and subject to change, so treat the specifics as a preview rather than a promise.
The Architect the New Restaurant Is Named For
Katz told Tucson Foodie the name honors Josias Joesler, whose designs helped shape Tucson's character, and that it reflects the goal of "a welcoming neighborhood gathering place." The name is more local than it sounds. The Catalina Foothills Association's history of the area says developer John Murphey secured a 7,000-acre tract north of River Road, between Oracle Road and Sabino Canyon, at a federal land auction in 1928. In the early 1930s he partnered with the Swiss-born Joesler, who designed large Southwestern and Mexican-style homes while Helen Murphey supplied furnishings from Mexico.
Construction on Catalina Foothills Estates began in 1935, northeast of Campbell Avenue and River Road. The next year brought St. Philip's, the Spanish Colonial church the association's history notes is on the National Register of Historic Places. A restaurant called Joesler Kitchen, in a center called Joesler Village, on River Road near Campbell, is therefore opening a short distance from the corner where the Murpheys and Joesler started building the Foothills.
What Two New Dining Rooms Mean for Catalina Foothills Estates Owners
Catalina Foothills Estates is the original Foothills subdivision, in unincorporated Pima County. This site's page for it describes nine numbered areas laid out on the bajada roughly east of First Avenue, north of River Road, south of Skyline Drive and west of Hacienda del Sol Road. Lots generally run from about one to six acres, and the original plan called for parcels larger than three acres. The housing stock is Joesler's vocabulary of Spanish Colonial Revival and Southwestern homes in burnt adobe and white stucco under red clay tile, later joined by Territorial, Pueblo Revival, mid-century Ranch and desert-contemporary houses on the same large parcels.
There is no master association or amenity club. The Catalina Foothills Association enforces the deed restrictions and CC&Rs covering setbacks, building height, exterior color, land use and native-plant protection across Areas 1 through 6, while Areas 7 through 9 have their own homeowners associations. The place page puts everyday retail along the Campbell Avenue and River Road corridor and La Encantada just to the north, and these two openings land on exactly those edges: Joesler Village on the River Road side, La Encantada on the Skyline side.
For an owner, the practical change is a new full-service lunch-and-dinner room at each edge of the subdivision, one on River Road and one at Skyline Drive. For a buyer comparing the Foothills Estates to newer gated communities with clubhouses, it is a reminder of how this subdivision works. The amenities are the desert on the lot and the commercial corridor at the edge, not a club on the inside. Nothing about either opening changes the deed restrictions, the lot sizes or the review process for a remodel. It also does not add any new homes. Both restaurants are reoccupying existing retail suites.
For what homes in Catalina Foothills Estates have sold for and how the area has changed, see the Catalina Foothills Estates page linked below, which is where this site keeps those figures current.
Before You Make a Reservation
Joesler Kitchen has not announced a firm date, so check its website before you drive over. Frida American Brasserie is taking reservations online now. Both menus were described as works in progress when they were reported, so the dishes and prices above may change by the time you sit down. If you want a third option in the same block, Villa Peru is still a few doors down from Joesler Kitchen on River Road.
Sources
Tucson Foodie — "Choice Greens owners to open Joesler Kitchen on River Road, now hiring" (October 21, 2026) — https://tucsonfoodie.com/news/choice-greens-owners-to-open-joesler-kitchen-on-river-road — accessed November 6, 2026
Joesler Kitchen — home page — https://joeslerkitchen.com — accessed November 6, 2026
Tucson Foodie — "Seis Cantina permanently closes its Joesler Village location" (September 24, 2026) — https://tucsonfoodie.com/news/seis-cantina-permanently-closes-its-joesler-village-location — accessed November 6, 2026
Villa Peru — "About" — https://villaperutucson.com/about — accessed November 6, 2026
Tucson Foodie — "Frida American Brasserie plans late Oct. opening at La Encantada" (September 29, 2026) — https://tucsonfoodie.com/news/frida-american-brasserie-plans-late-oct-opening-at-la-encantada — accessed November 6, 2026
Frida American Brasserie — home page — https://www.fridaamericanbrasserie.com — accessed November 6, 2026
Catalina Foothills Association — "History of the Foothills" — https://www.cfatucson.org/history-foothills/ — accessed November 6, 2026
Subdivision details are from this site's Catalina Foothills Estates page. Opening dates, hours and menus are as reported and may change; confirm with each restaurant before you go. This post is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase real estate.
Topics
- New Business
- Catalina Foothills Estates
- Catalina Foothills
- Joesler Village
- La Encantada
- Restaurants
- River Road