Michael Dorf has long been at the cutting edge of entertainment, creating City Winery and Knitting Factory. Now, City Winery — a notable music venue, restaurant, and winery — is scheduled to open its first Southwest location in late 2027 at the 26-acre entertainment district The Sydney.
The Sydney in Scottsdale is an $80 million, 26-acre entertainment and mixed-use development project developed by Palmer Development Group. Located near Pima Road and Pima Center Parkway on Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community land, it broke ground in April 2023 and is scheduled to feature a Reverb by Hard Rock hotel, set to open in 2027. The Sydney will also feature Pickle & Social, The Rustic, and over 120,000 square feet of retail/dining space.
City Winery’s Scottsdale location marks the first one in the Southwest. Dorf said Scottsdale “checked all the boxes” and soon the Valley will have a new place “where great artists, food and wine share equal billing.”
The Milwaukee native opened the independent venue, the Knitting Factory, in New York in the late 1980s. As the concert hall’s popularity increased, Dorf’s efforts grew as well, leading him to establish Knitting Factory Records.
After a successful run with the Knitting Factory, Dorf sold his equity stake to pursue other endeavors, including a Carnegie Hall concert fundraiser series and founding a Hebrew school.
He also discovered winemaking and the “real connection between the artistry of making wine and the artistry of making music.” In 2008, he opened City Winery, Manhattan’s first fully operational winery, restaurant, music venue and private event space.
City Winery is an urban winery that eschews the use of plastic cups, opting for Riedel Vinum Stemware. Guests can order dishes from City Winery’s chef-driven kitchen in the restaurant or in the theater, which has a capacity for 350 people. A separate space holds 100 people and is frequently rented for parties.
Across the restaurants, the burgers are among the most-ordered dishes. In Chicago, the menu features a CW burger, an 8-ounce patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, American cheese and “secret sauce” on a brioche bun; a truffle smash burger with Madeira mushroom, fontina and truffle aioli on a brioche bun; and a prosciutto and pesto smash burger with crispy prosciutto, basil aioli, peppadew relish and mozzarella cheese on a brioche bun. The burgers, which sell for $28 each, are best paired with a bottle of Bordeaux.
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However, Dorf called the wild mushroom risotto balls — complete with goat cheese and spicy tomato sauce — the signature dish.
“They’re arancini [Italian rice balls]. They’re finger food, but it’s really great risotto,” he said. “It’s a wonderful accompaniment to wine.
Dorf expanded the brand in 2012 by opening City Winery Chicago. Subsequent years have brought new venues to Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Washington, D.C., Hudson Valley, New York, and Philadelphia. The venues have booked the likes of George Lopez, Lewis Black and Prince.
Todd Rundgren, 10,000 Maniacs, Cowboy Junkies and Lyle Lovett are among those performing at other City Winery locations this year. Scottsdale’s opening act has not been scheduled.
The venues feature stages similar in size to those in 1,000- to 2,000-capacity concert halls but scaled to fit a 350-seat venue.
“The ‘350 seats’ isn’t just an arbitrary number,” Dorf said. “If you’re on the front of the stage, you can look in the eyes of everybody in a room. Everybody in the room can see the whites of the performer’s eyes, too.
“To me, that defines intimacy, and people are lacking intimacy — especially in live entertainment, in a world that’s filled with screens. We’ve built something that is really special. It doesn’t make sense for [promoters] AEG and Live Nation to do a 350-seat room.”
The backstage area has multiple dressing rooms and an artists’ dining room.
“We really pay attention to the hospitality around a show,” Dorf said. “The world of hospitality is at a much higher level when you’re doing 350 [people] and the expectation of what we’re trying to deliver can’t really happen in an arena or a 2,000-capacity theater.”
That makes City Winery memorable to acts to perform there, he said.
“They get on a bus for months or a week, and they go to the next town,” Dorf explained. “What do they remember? Not necessarily what the fee was, or what the backline and stage monitors were. They remember the food. They remember how they were treated when they showed up.”
Black was one of the first comics to work the City Winery rooms, as they had been primarily music venues. He described the spaces with affection.
“This is going to sound like a commercial,” Black said about his enthusiasm for City Winery. “There’s a lot of wood,” which gives them a warm, old‑school feel. He has since headlined multiple locations, including New York and Chicago.
Black — who performs at Gila River Resorts & Casinos-Wild Horse Pass on Saturday, April 11 — traces his relationship with City Winery back to its beginnings, recalling that he first walked in simply as a customer who enjoyed wine. The comic was impressed by Dorf’s early approach — “taking things in various vineyards, and blending them, coming up with their own Pinot and their own cab” to sell at a reasonable price.
Dorf said about 30% of its business is private events — weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties, fundraisers and galas.
“We’re a multi-faceted business,” he explained.
Dorf has spent 40 years shaping the way audiences experience live performances. He founded the Knitting Factory at age 23 in 1986, when he moved to New York, and it had locations throughout the United States.
“I’m getting old, and I’ve been putting on shows for over 40 years,” he said. “When I got out of the Knitting Factory in 2003 after 9/11 and sold it, I made a barrel of wine in 2004.
“I started this concert series at Carnegie Hall. We’re in year 21, and I had this desire to create an adult, more focused, combination of music and wine thing.
“A theater is not really a good setup to eat, and it doesn’t offer the flexibility to do things when most of our shows are seated. Occasionally, we’ll do an unseated show. When Prince decided to do four nights, we decided — well, I should say ‘he’ decided — to take out the tables and chairs.
“We’re very proud to be as much of a focused wine promoter as we are a music promoter, a comedy promoter and a private events promoter. We’re providing the best experience.”
