The constellation of Saint Bread, Post Alley Pizza, and Tivoli pizzeria is about to get bigger. Yasuaki Saito, the common thread between these most excellent establishments (and previously an owner of the London Plane) is opening a restaurant in Wallingford. The Wayland Mill will sit on the Burke-Gilman Trail, in a building that overlooks Lake Union and the city skyline. 

While the menu at Saint Bread contains many a tribute to Saito’s background, his new spot at 3800 Latona Ave NE will carry that even further. Saito’s father emigrated to Chicago from northern Japan; Saito grew up in the Midwest—largely St. Louis, where his father eventually owned a teppanyaki restaurant—eating food that adapted his family’s heritage to their surroundings. And vice versa. 

Saito describes the Wayland Mill as “Americana food applied with Japanese ingredients and Japanese sensibilities,” or yoshoku versions of American regional cuisine. He’s got a long list of menu ideas, from biscuits and miso-chashu gravy in the morning to a shokupan club sandwich for lunch, or chicken and mochi dumplings or chashu porchetta with hot mustard at night.

Last November, Saito did a popup with Sako Gordon of the Ayako and Family jam makers. The St. Paul sandwich (created, somewhat confusingly, in St. Louis) from that event will find a permanent home here. Saito grew up eating them in his hometown’s Chinese restaurants. “It doesn’t make much sense, but it’s like an egg foo young sandwich,” he says. “But it’s fun and nostalgic for me.” 

While Saint Bread is, essentially, a bakery that does food, the Wayland Mill will be a proper restaurant, open for morning coffee, breakfast, and pastries, but also counter service lunch and table-service dinner. "It's modeled after bistros, in that they're all-day affairs," says Saito. Unlike Saint Bread, this place will have indoor seating(!), plus covered outdoor tables—about 80 seats total.

Saint Bread chef Zach Lucido and team will contribute significantly (Saito’s working menu document is full of ginger scallion scones and various yoshoku-style pies). Portland chef Sam Smith, a friend from Saito’s Ava Gene’s days, is helping shape the opening menu, just as he did at Saint Bread. 

Saito’s a busy guy. Every time I visit Saint Bread, he’s running orders and bussing tables as a line extends out the front door. Post Alley Pizza has built a strong hoagie game in addition to its New Yorkish pies and slices. Newcomer Tivoli combines memorable deck-and-wood-fired pies and vegetable dishes that bring back fond memories of the London Plane (and one hell of a mortadella sandwich). It’s also, miraculously, open seven days a week.  

But he couldn’t resist the proximity, or the project. The Wayland Mill is part of a new development, Northlake Commons, built with mass timber construction. (The headline of this 2020 Vox story put it best: “The hottest new thing in sustainable construction is, uh, wood.”) 

Saint Bread occupies a former boat repair facility; the new restaurant’s name honors a cedar shingle mill that once stood on this site. It’s long gone, but Saito considers the Wayland Mill “our homage to that craft and the history of both the lumber industry and general industry on the waterfront.” 

As always, finish dates remain fluid until the end, but the Wayland Mill should hopefully open this fall. Until then, Saint Bread’s new expansive patio setup (and dinner menu) can help us weather the wait.