Troy Watkins and Kyu Utsunomiya of Conceptually Social (the partnership behind Kaizen in Downtown’s The Lawrence Building) are getting real busy real fast, taking on two new restaurant projects at roughly the same time. In these early days, both venues are operating as pop-ups until the restaurants’ permanent spaces are ready.
Silo, which will be part of the Hayden Flour Mill Redevelopment adaptive reuse project in Tempe, will open during the first quarter of 2024. For now, the Silo pop-up inhabits a tiny space that will be abandoned for a larger permanent one with a patio across the driveway.
As its name suggests, Silo is an homage both to historical Hayden Flour Mill, built in 1918, and to its massive grain silos, which were added in 1951. Watkins and Utsunomiya describe Silo as an amenity for its business-oriented neighborhood, saying it will be an efficient but comfy spot, urban with global accents, to drop by for coffee and other beverages, breakfast, lunch and grab-and-go meals. The menu, which is limited for now, will include hot and cold items (some cooked-to-order) such as breakfast burritos, burgers, sandwiches and salads, as well as sushi, rolled on site and offered in grab-and-go form.
The two are quick to explain that their sushi will be restaurant quality, bearing no resemblance to grocery store sushi, which, as we all know, barely qualifies as sushi at all. Silo will use the same top-notch fish featured at Kaizen, offering many of Kaizen’s maki and signature rolls (including the beloved Señor Larry and Caribbean King) and making fresh sushi for the grab-and-go case all day long. The sushi in Silo’s case will never be more than an hour old.
Utsunomiya compares the format to that of Japan’s konbini — convenience stores, the most popular being, believe it or not, 7-11. Konbinis sell sushi, onigiri, sandwiches, bento and more, items of far higher quality than anything offered at convenience stores (including our own 7-11s) here in the States. Silo, the pop-up, is open now: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Conceptually Social’s second pop-up, temporarily called Temporary, sits in the lobby of the Phoenix Art Museum, where coffee, sandwiches, salads and pastries (including vegan and gluten-free dishes) are currently offered for museum goers. By early 2024, Conceptually Social will have moved its broader concept into the completely refurbished space formerly occupied by Palette.
Utsunomiya and Watkins say they want their new café (its name to be announced in October) to be a chef-driven, made-from-scratch restaurant, not just a museum amenity. They plan to offer an approachable yet elevated dining experience (complete with china dinnerware) that conveys the evolution and aesthetic of the museum. Bryan Messier — a Beckett’s Kitchen alum who has worked at Kaizen for the past two years — will helm the kitchen. Watkins describes him as “young and hungry,” just the guy to push boundaries and bring a sense of dynamism to the project. We can expect soups, salads, healthy bowls — maybe even poke bowls — and lots of share-plates. They hope to draw customers who just want to hang out, maybe have a cocktail or a glass of wine (chosen from a global wine list) with a nosh at the bar, which will overlook the restaurant’s brand-new patio. The multi-windowed space will be light, bright and open, the perfect place for a weekend brunch. This should be fun. It’s the Kaizen guys, after all.
