by TM Petaccia

Growth has come a little faster for Perry Saito than he expected. His 14-seat West Charlotte izakaya counter, Dōzo Japanese-American Kitchen, will be moving to a full restaurant space later this fall. He will relocate from the City Kitch space in Wesley Heights to the former location of Fern: Flavors of the Earth at 1419 East Blvd. The last day of service in the current space will be September 27, with the new location slated to open four to six weeks later.

“The original plan was always to be at City Kitch for two years,” Saito says. “We had that scoped out even before we moved in here. We had a renewal in our hands and were ready to sign. Then I came across the Fern space online late one night, just looking to see what was available. I called my broker and said, ‘reach out to these guys.'”

After a walk-through and a little negotiation, Saito and his partner, John Gamble, closed on the space.

“John and I had very specific parameters on what we were looking for,” Saito says. “We wanted an open kitchen and something that had some type of counter bar, like we do here. I think what we’ve built in here is very cool, very unique, and I wanted to continue that. Also, due to our budget, it needed to be a second-generation space. It had to be something we weren’t going to have to sink half a million dollars or more into to get open. So walking in there and looking around, I’m like, ‘this is checking every box.’ It’s a great location and worked out really well.”

The new space will be, in effect, two spaces. The inside restaurant space will seat approximately thirty and will be a more traditional full menu/full service concept, whereas the thirty-seat patio space will offer an abbreviated menu with ordering done via tableside QR cards.

“That’s the plan, at least until we get our feet under us and we get comfortable,” Saito says. “This way, we can really curate a full dining experience inside — and it will allow us to activate the patio right from the very beginning.”

The inside menu will offer the same dishes as the current counter service, and will also expand to include more refined offerings. “We do really well here with these kinds of rustic, homey dishes,” Saito says. “So I’m taking what we’ve been doing here and tweaking it to bring something a little bit more polished.”

Saito will continue to take advantage of seasonal harvests as well as be able to bring in higher-end fish and meats. “It’s been hard for us to bring in nice stuff serving 30 people a day or so,” he says. “With the new space, we’ll have the volume to bring in more different fish, utilize different cuts of meat, and expand on what we’ve already been doing here.”

The Dilworth space will also have a full bar and cocktail program, plus expanded sake offerings. “I want to have one of the best sake lists in the city,” Saito says. “That’s something that I’ve been really passionate about. This is what we wanted from the beginning. Izakaya is meant to be enjoyed with alcohol. I think it’s going to be something unique for us, and a little bit of a challenge for us as well.”

It’s another progression in the growth of Saito and his partners. From its initial food truck, 2022 UPPY Food Truck of the Year Katsu Kart Sando Shop, which Saito still runs, to the izakawa counter at City Kitch, to now a full-blown restaurant.

“This is another big step in this whole journey,” Saito says. “Not just from the food truck, but in our entire lives. We’re going to leave no stone unturned for the right thing to do as far as the customer goes, and continue to grow and continue to get better.

“We have always been willing to break everything down and rebuild. We are gluttons for punishment. We want to continue to reinvent ourselves.”