Restaurant entrepreneur Yasuaki Saito is sharing the delights of multiple cuisines with local eaters, operating a bakery and community space called Saint Bread, as well as Post Alley Pizza and the TiVOLi pizzeria. Saito’s new spot the Wayland Mill, opened in summer 2025 in Wallingford, and features a blend of American and Japanese flavors.
Food has been a part of Saito’s heritage from his earliest years. “My earliest memories of cooking food at home were making miso soup for ichiju-sansai with my dad, which we would eat every morning,” Saito recalled. “I also remember helping my mom make chicken and dumplings using her mom’s, my grandma’s, recipe.”
In 1983 in St. Louis, Saito’s father Akio opened a teppanyaki restaurant called Tokyo Steak House. “At the restaurant, my older brother Hiroaki was a teppanyaki table cook, and I would watch him practicing with wooden batons,” Saito reminisced. “My younger brother Mitsuaki, younger sister Emiko, and I would sit at the bar, and we would drink ‘kiddie kiddie cocktails,’ which were just Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers, and I think it was an easy form of childcare for my parents.”
Despite this immersion in the restaurant industry, Saito chose to spend the first decade of his working life in the corporate world, before rejoining the world of food. “I restarted my hospitality journey in San Francisco, before moving back to Portland and eventually moving to Seattle in December of 2014,” he reported. “My wife Renee was offered a job, which predicated the move.”
Both Saito and his wife feel a spiritual connection to Seattle. “I reached out to a mutual friend named Eunjean Song,” Saito said, “who helped set me up with Katherine Anderson and Matt Dillon at The London Plane.”
But in 2022, The London Plane restaurant closed. “Pioneer Square is such a vibrant and dynamic neighborhood, and The London Plane taught me a lot about community, placemaking, and expressing myself as a small business owner,” Saito shared. “Pulling off all the different elements was also a lot of fun, basically trying to solve an ever-evolving puzzle every day. We had a great run!”
His current businesses utilize the different aspects of his food background. “I am a consulting partner at Post Alley Pizza,” he explained, “and my business partner there, Andrew Gregory, who I’ve worked with since my days in Portland and who is also from Saint Louis, runs the place with his wife, Ruel.”
Both Post Alley Pizza and TiVOLi stem from Saito’s childhood love of pizza. “TiVOLi came about as an extension of what we do at Post Alley, and the style that we’ve developed at Saint Bread, mixing heritage, nostalgia, and a particular brand of hospitality,” he said. “I believe it is one of those foods that is loved by most people, which makes it so great to serve to our communities.”
And Saito’s bakery, Saint Bread, was recently recognized as a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery. “I was surprised, humbled, and grateful!” he enthused. “I have been involved in bakeries for 15-plus years at this point, and I love the routine, methodology, and philosophy of baking as a craft. It is so cool for our team to receive this recognition for the hard work and dedication they display on a daily basis.”
But Saito’s passion for food doesn’t mean that it’s easy to run multiple restaurants. “Small businesses, and restaurants in particular, require a lot of care and involvement from you as a leader, especially the way that I work, but they also have unique opportunities, from the team-building, to the financial pitfalls, to the operational requirements,” he said. “I feel fortunate that the people I work with help me navigate these vagaries with such attention to the collective cause.”
And for Saito, calling Saint Bread a community space isn’t just a phrase. “We offer drinks and food to folks who are looking for shelter when they come by the shops, and try to give them some space to warm up if they’re cold,” he said. “We always try to meet people with kindness and hospitality, and often times, our unhoused neighbors just need a little love to help them along.”
When they need more than that, Saito tries to lend a hand. “If there is more of a crisis to navigate, we will take partners in assisting them,” Saito said. “We work with the University District Partnership, the University District Food Bank, University Heights, and the UW on everything from warm clothes drives to food donations to fundraising.”
Saito has also spoken openly about the effects of mental illness on his family, and his work with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “My family has navigated mental illness, and it is something we try to talk freely about it an effort to de-stigmatize discussions around mental health,” he said. “We try to create an open and supportive environment for staff, making sure everyone feels comfortable taking breaks, using mental health days, or sharing challenges they may be facing.”
Empathy is key. “I think the best way we can all help each other is trying to be kind,” Saito said, “knowing that no one knows what anyone else is going through, and that little bit of kindness can go a long way when someone is going through something.”
Looking ahead, Saito says the buildout of Wayland Mill in North Lake Union has faced some delays. “I am most excited about another chance to create a community-based third place right on the Burke Gilman Trail that expresses the food and hospitality that we want to share with our guests,” he said. “We are hoping for an opening in the next month.”
Saito also expects to continue working with community partners and do some fundraising events for local non-profits. “The next few years look much like the last few, I think, trying to keep the four spots humming along, developing them as small businesses with longevity in mind, and trying to build more community,” Saito summarized. “We do pop-up seasonal activations at Saint Bread from May to September called Hinoki and Heave Ho!, so that is always a lovely summer project.”
Feeding each other, Saito says, has always been a way for his family to connect, honor their heritage, and show love, and he strives to share those practices with the broader Seattle community. “We are so grateful for the support of our small businesses,” he said, “and hopefully we can continue being great community members for many years to come.”
