Punch in gate code 418 at the call box on Southern Highlands Parkway, follow the signs past the pool and the leasing office, and you land somewhere you wouldn't guess from the street: a 5,000-square-foot bar with a fire pit patio, open to anyone, tucked inside an apartment community called Tuscan Highlands. The space is called Tuscan Cove Bar & Patio now. Ask around and you'll find out it wasn't always.
Apartment residents who've lived through the changeover mention at least two earlier concepts that occupied the same room, referred to in their reviews simply as Becca's and Scotty's, before the current operators, Steven Kennedy of All In Hospitality and Executive Chef Ricardo Romo, took over the lease. One reviewer flagged that a menu item's brunch hours didn't match current operating hours because the person answering was thinking of "the previous owners," not the current ones. The room has hosted at least three named concepts, including the current one.
A neighborhood bar with a history of different concepts
For comparison, Distill, a 24-hour sports bar and gaming lounge on West Pyle Avenue, opened in 2014 as the second location of a Summerlin original. Its most recent listing still shows round-the-clock hours.
And on Southern Highlands Parkway itself, in a freestanding retail space built for exactly this kind of business, Zest Bar & Grill's listing was marked closed as of its most recent update this past May.
Put those three side by side and a shape appears:
| Spot | Location type | What's happened |
|---|---|---|
| Tuscan Cove Bar & Patio | Amenity space inside a gated apartment community | Third named concept in the same room; current operators took over the lease in 2025 |
| Distill | Freestanding building, W. Pyle Ave | Open and unchanged since 2014 |
| Zest Bar & Grill | Freestanding retail, Southern Highlands Pkwy | Closed as of May 2026 |
Together, the examples show how varied the settings for local dining can be; their different histories do not establish a single formula for success.
The examples cover several local dining settings, but community events offer another way to gather.
The community calendar runs alongside local businesses
Its recurring offerings include a weekly farmers market and seasonal gatherings.
The Sunday farmers market at 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway has been running weekly, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., long enough that its listing barely changes from one weekend to the next. It's not tied to a single operator's lease or a single restaurant's survival. It's infrastructure the HOA maintains on its own schedule.
The same goes for the fall calendar. This year's Fall Festival at Goett Family Park is set for Saturday, October 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., free to attend, with the usual mix of games, costume contests, and food vendors that the Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation runs to raise money for local causes. Movies in the Park returns during the warmer months at the same park. None of this depends on whether a given restaurant renews its lease.
The foundation's other signature event, the Governor's Black-Tie Invitational golf tournament, has helped the community's charitable giving climb past $27 million over the years, according to the HOA's own accounting. That's not a number about real estate value. It's a number about how much social infrastructure this community has built that doesn't rise or fall with any single business's fortunes.
For residents, the useful question is where to look for each kind of update.
What this means if you already live here
If you're trying to keep up with what's actually new in Southern Highlands, two practical things follow from all this.
First, local dining spots aren't all visible from the parkway. Distill is a 24-hour sports bar on West Pyle Avenue, while Tuscan Cove is inside the Tuscan Highlands apartment community. Asking neighbors is one way to hear what's new.
Second, the HOA's calendar lists community events, while restaurant hours can be checked separately. The farmers market happens every Sunday. The Fall Festival on October 17 is scheduled at Goett Family Park.
None of this is a reason to avoid trying Tuscan Cove. The different histories offer context, not a prediction about how long any one business will stay.
If you're curious about more of what makes this pocket of the valley tick, our Southern Highlands neighborhood guide has more on the community beyond this fall's calendar. And if you're weighing a move here or already call it home and have questions about the market, Rachelle G Cox is always happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.
