Cassidy Waigand
Kurt Bellon, owner of the pop-up Izumi, is excited to bring to St. Louis food inspired by Japanese convenience stores.
As a child, Kurt Bellon remembers hearing the Japanese folklore of Momotaro, which translates to “peach boy.” The story highlights the adventures of a boy who is born from a peach.
“[The story is] about making friends with different people by sharing the food and the gifts that you have. And by teaming up is the only way we can solve and accomplish things essentially,” Bellon says. “So, it's not just reflective of Izumi’s collaborative, pop-up nature, but just in general, the collaborative spirit of St. Louis.”
Now an adult, Bellon is sharing his own gifts, and making friends in the process, not unlike the child in that tale. As the owner of Izumi, which he named after his mother’s hometown in Japan, Bellon offers customers pre-made food they would find in Japanese konbini, or convenience stores. The pop-up’s main staple is sandos, which are Japanese sandwiches served on shokupan, also known as Japanese milk bread.
For Bellon, the childhood tale also captures the inspiration behind Izumi. Just like in Momotaro, Bellon’s journey with Izumi, which began in October of 2020, has allowed him to connect with others in the St. Louis restaurant industry to accomplish his dream through pop-up events – and people are eager to give it a try. He says he has hosted pop-ups around three times a month since beginning the brand but adds that a recent one at the Delmar Nudo House on February 22nd was the first of 2022. For the event, Bellon says preorders sold out in roughly fifteen minutes.
Cassidy Waigand
The "Peach Boi" sando, was inspired by the story of Momotaro Bellon heard as a child.
Though sandos are new to St. Louis, Bellon notes that some of his customers have visited Japan and tried them before. He says it is rewarding to receive compliments from these customers. Others, Bellon says, have not previously tried sandos, and he’s excited to have the opportunity to introduce them to something so special to him.
“It's really great when people have never heard of these things and end up really enjoying it even if they've never heard of it before,” Bellon says. “So, it's just really nice to see that it's just universally appealing.”
Izumi offers sandos such as the “Tamago” which has egg salad with kewpie mayo, along with Kurashi hot mustard butter. The “Tonkatsu Sando” offers shredded cabbage atop a crispy, golden pork cutlet. Bellon’s favorite sando, the “Peach Boi” - which has peaches, cinnamon and whipped cream – is named after the story of Momotaro. All of the sandos are served on Japanese milk bread, a fluffy, whtie bread with a soft, springy texture, with a light crust. Both savory and sweet sandos are served on this cloudlike Japanese delicacy.
Izumi’s sandos have become so appealing, in fact, Bellon says he is working to find ways to grow. However finding access to milk bread has been difficult. Currently, Kim’s Bakery in Chesterfield is his primary source, though he says he used all of the milk bread he had access to for his most recent event. While he could use cheaper and more accessible products like Wonder Bread, Bellon says that is not why he started Izumi. For Bellon, his goal is to offer customers delicious and authentic sandos.
Cassidy Waigand
The strawberry sando features strawberries and whipped cream on Japanese milk bread.
As Bellon works on growing Izumi, he says one of the nice things about having a pop-up is being able to adapt– even if that means going with the flow when circumstances call for a quick pivot. Though he normally goes to pop-up locations in his little red Japanese fire truck and sets up a tent outside, both were absent at his recent Nudo House event because the truck had trouble starting and the wind gusts were too strong. Still, he’s happy to roll with the punches.
“That's the really nice thing about being a flexible pop-up is that I'm not tied down to any one location. I'm not tied down to any one format of selling my sandos and I'm not even just tied down to just Sandos,” Bellon says. “So, it's one of those things where I'm just trying to stay flexible.”
Bellon is going to test selling his fruit sandos through the Delmar Nudo House starting on Friday, February 25. He says Qui Tran, owner of Mai Lee and Nudo House in St. Louis, has supported him and Izumi – even letting Bellon use the Delmar Nudo House to prepare food on Mondays when the shop is closed. Overall, Bellon hopes for all of his collaborations with local businesses to be “win-wins.” This collaborative atmosphere is a natural part of the St. Louis food scene, according to Bellon.
Cassidy Waigand
Bellon offers sandwiches, as well as Japanese snacks and drinks, at his Izumi pop-ups.
“We just seek to help build each other up, especially as local owners,” Bellon says. “We just love this city, and we want to support everybody that's helping make this the city greater.”
Since leaving his job as a general manager at Chao Baan to start Izumi, Bellon says he has also received strong support from his family. He says his brothers helped him find and select the Japanese fire truck he would end up buying as his “anti-food truck,” a phrase he uses because he actually prepares his sandos off the truck. Moving into the future, Bellon says he is testing out the idea of expanding his konbini inspired menu past sandos. Whatever happens, Bellon says he feels lucky.
“I’m really grateful - really, really blessed; to be able to do this is the biggest thing, because this is just a cool idea to do,” Bellon says. “Like, it’s really fun … but it's been way more successful than I ever thought it would be. I just feel really blessed at the end of the day just thinking about it, when I have a second to wind down and actually think about where it's at and how far it's come.”
