Craft 64

Wood Fire, Craft Beer, and the Rhythm of Old Town Scottsdale

Main Street in Old Town Scottsdale operates on a particular frequency after sundown: gallery walks giving way to bar stools, the smell of mesquite drifting through warm evenings, and a crowd that tends to settle in rather than move on. Craft 64 fits that rhythm precisely. The draw is wood-fired pizza cooked in Italian Mugnaini ovens alongside 36 local craft beers on tap, and the pace of the room rewards the kind of evening where a second round arrives before you've finished thinking about ordering it.

The pub-and-brewery format has found its footing in American cities that once had no serious answer to it. In the Southwest, where the dominant casual dining tradition runs toward Tex-Mex and steakhouses, a wood-fired pizza house anchored by a deep draft program occupies a specific and useful niche. Old Town Scottsdale has no shortage of places to eat, but the combination of Italian oven technique, locally sourced ingredients, and a craft beer selection of this depth is less common than the neighborhood's density might suggest. For context on how Craft 64 compares to the broader Scottsdale dining range, from white-tablecloth New American to raw bar seafood, see our full Scottsdale restaurants guide.

The Mugnaini Oven and What It Actually Does to a Pizza

Not all wood-fired ovens are equivalent. Mugnaini ovens, manufactured in Italy and used by a relatively small number of serious pizza programs in the United States, are purpose-built for sustained high-temperature baking with consistent flame management. The practical result is a crust that chars at the edge without drying through the center, a distinction that separates genuine wood-fired output from the approximations produced by gas-assist deck ovens marketed under the same label.

The use of local organic ingredients at Craft 64 connects this format to a broader shift in American pizza making, where sourcing has become part of the proposition rather than an afterthought. Regional produce, when matched to the right dough hydration and oven temperature, produces a different result than commodity ingredients, and the leading casual pizza programs in cities like San Francisco and Chicago have demonstrated that for years. Craft 64's approach, bringing that discipline to a pub context in Scottsdale, reflects how that sourcing expectation has moved from fine dining into the mid-tier. For a sense of how sourcing-forward programs operate at the fine dining end of the spectrum, the work being done at places like Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg and Lazy Bear in San Francisco illustrates how far that commitment can go.

Thirty-Six Taps and How to Read a Craft Beer Program

A 36-tap draft program signals something specific about a venue's operational intent. Running that volume of local craft beer at proper temperature and rotation requires active relationships with regional breweries, regular keg turnover to maintain freshness, and staff who can articulate the differences between adjacent styles. The focus on local beers rather than a mix of national brands and regional options narrows the curation toward the Arizona craft scene, which has grown considerably over the past decade into a market with genuine range across lager, IPA, wheat, and sour categories.

In the context of Scottsdale's drinking culture, Craft 64's tap list is one of the denser local-beer programs in the area. The addition of fine wines and craft cocktails broadens the appeal without diluting the draft focus, making it a practical choice for groups where preferences diverge. If you're spending an evening in Old Town and want to cross-reference the bar side of Scottsdale's scene, our full Scottsdale bars guide maps the full range.

The Dining Ritual at Craft 64

The customs of a wood-fired pizza pub are distinct from both fine dining and fast-casual. At Craft 64, the meal has a particular rhythm worth understanding before you arrive. Pizzas come from the oven on their own timeline, shaped by how the fire is running and how many pies are ahead of yours. This is not a format where dishes are coursed by the kitchen with precision timing. The expectation is that beer arrives first, conversation fills the gap, and the pizza lands when the oven is ready for it.

This is, in its own way, closer to how Italians actually eat pizza than the American sit-down-service model that treats a pie like an entree with a server-announced arrival time. The communal, sharing-forward table approach works better here than individual ordering, and the combination of a long tap list with a pizza program that's designed to be shared means the meal tends to sprawl pleasantly over two hours rather than conclude in ninety minutes.

Old Town Scottsdale rewards that kind of evening. The neighborhood sits at the convergence of the arts district and the resort corridor, and a long dinner at a wood-fired pub fits the unhurried tempo of the area more naturally than a rushed two-course meal before a next reservation. If you're building a longer Scottsdale evening that moves from dinner into late drinks or a hotel stay nearby, our full Scottsdale hotels guide and our full Scottsdale experiences guide are useful companions.

Where Craft 64 Sits in the Scottsdale Dining Picture

Scottsdale's restaurant scene covers a wide tier range. At the formal end, places like Cafe Monarch and Atlas Bistro operate with tasting-menu ambition and intimate room counts. Steakhouses like Mastro's Steak House and seafood-focused rooms like Ocean 44 hold the premium casual tier. Craft 64 operates below that tier in price and formality, but above the standard pub-food category in sourcing discipline and kitchen intent.

That positioning is what makes it a reliable choice for a certain kind of evening: not a special-occasion dinner with tablecloth expectations, but not a stop-anywhere situation either. The Mugnaini oven and the local-organic sourcing are commitments that carry real cost and operational weight, and they read on the plate. Relative to comparable wood-fired pizza programs in larger cities, the format at Craft 64 would not look out of place in the casual-serious tier that cities like Chicago and Los Angeles have normalized. For reference points on what serious pizza-adjacent programs look like at the high end, Alinea in Chicago and Providence in Los Angeles illustrate how far that city's restaurant culture extends, with Craft 64's accessible format sitting at the entry point of that same culinary seriousness.

Craft 64 is located at 6922 E Main St in Scottsdale's Old Town district. For bar programming, wine options, and winery visits that extend beyond dinner, our full Scottsdale wineries guide covers the regional wine scene.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I order at Craft 64?

The wood-fired pizzas are the anchor of the menu, made in Italian Mugnaini ovens using local organic ingredients. That sourcing and equipment combination is the defining credential of the program, so the pizza is where to start. Pair it with a selection from the 36 local craft beers on tap, which represent the depth of the Arizona craft brewing scene rather than a generic national draft list. The craft cocktail and wine options work well if your group's preferences are split.

How far ahead should I plan for Craft 64?

Craft 64 operates in Old Town Scottsdale, a neighborhood with consistent evening foot traffic, particularly on weekends during the peak October-to-April season when the Arizona climate draws visitors. As a casual pub format rather than a reservation-driven dining room, walk-in timing matters more than advance booking. Arriving before the main dinner rush, or planning for a mid-week visit during shoulder season, tends to give more flexibility. Confirm current hours and any booking availability directly with the venue before your trip.

What's the standout thing about Craft 64?

The combination of Italian Mugnaini oven technique, local organic ingredients, and 36 local craft taps in a single casual room is the distinguishing factor. Each of those elements appears individually in other Scottsdale venues, but the convergence of all three in a pub format makes Craft 64 a specific and useful option in Old Town's dining range. It occupies a tier that rewards casual commitment: the kind of place worth staying at for two hours rather than passing through.