A star Sacramento chef and coffee maestro team up for a new midtown cafe
A new coffee shop has just opened in midtown, helmed by some big names in the Sacramento culinary scene.
Gami Burger and Origami Asian Grill owner Scott Ostrander is teaming up with Ty Manukyan, of Kingdom Coffee Roasters, and Oksen Nersisyan for a new P Street concept.
Concept Coffee launched Monday at 1912 P St. in midtown. Ostrander is expanding his repertoire from savory lunches and dinners to a full breakfast menu. And Manukyan brings his coffee expertise to the table.
“With the team we have, we’re constantly trying to innovate,” Manukyan said. “Constantly trying to, like, keep the community and also (ourselves) just excited about what we’re doing.”
Manukyan and Ostrander met through the latter’s cycling club, when the team would stop at Manukyan’s coffee shop in Folsom for a drink. Ostrander said his cycling group visited Kingdom Coffee so often, the shop eventually sponsored the team and created a special coffee roast for it.
“(Manukyan’s coffee was) really, really good,” Ostrander said. “To the point where I was like, ‘You should open one of these in midtown sometime.’”
Despite Ostrander’s marked success with his burger and Asian restaurants, he was missing one bucket list item: Running a coffee shop. It was a feat that seemed completely out of reach for a chef and business owner operating multiple restaurants.
But when an opportunity to launch a new cafe in the turnkey unit formerly housing Sun & Soil Health Co. opened in spring 2025, he called up Manukyan and Nersisyan — Manukyan’s childhood best friend. The team had loosely discussed the possibility of launching a business together for four years, Manukyan said.
Though the Kingdom Coffee Roasters owner is accustomed to the coffee preferences of Folsom suburbanites, he said he was ready to try something different in the heart of Sacramento.
“With Concept, I want to highlight the coffee more,” Manukyan said. “All the while, highlighting specialty items and drinks, especially working with Chef Scott and his background.”
Ostrander said his take on classic cafe fare comes from years of personal research and development, testing waffle recipes and browning butter to perfection. His main goal was to bring a new perspective on some of the most popular breakfast dishes, like avocado toast and waffles.
“Mashed avocado? That’s too simple,” he said. “An avocado mousse? It’s kind of different, I’ve never seen that. It’s silkier, it’s smoother, the texture is nicer. I don’t know anybody doing it, so I’m going to do that.”
The Concept Coffee team plans to maintain a standard menu of avocado toasts with some rotating seasonal offerings. Ostrander’s menu will also include brown butter Belgian waffles and breakfast sandwiches, which Ostrander said he was still workshopping in the days leading up to the opening.
All the cafe’s pastries and breads will be prepared and baked in-house, he said.
On the drinks front, Manukyan plans to supply coffee beans from his Kingdom Coffee roasts. The business uses various roasts from around the world — Bali, Colombia, Ethiopia, Peru and more — which Manukyan said he plans to rotate regularly to keep up with fresh coffee crops.
Similarly to the Folsom coffee shop, Concept Coffee will have house-made chocolate sauces and syrups with seasonal variants.
“Having the two worlds collide, where we’re just both giving our excellence in our trade, I think we’re able to create something very beautiful and unique for Sacramento,” Manukyan said.
Nersisyan and his wife, Ester, created much of the furnishings by hand, according to Ostrander.
Ester Nersisyan planned out the cafe’s interior design, and her husband then built tables, benches, chairs, shelves and other accents throughout the coffee shop out of hardy, rich black walnut wood.
Ostrander and Manukyan said developing the midtown cafe came with its own set of challenges, including infrastructure updates to meet the business’s needs. After months of navigating these obstacles, Concept Coffee finally opened Monday. According to its Instagram page, the cafe is open daily from 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
Manukyan said the opening was originally planned to be a soft launch, but his and Ostrander’s friends were eager to spread the love for Concept.
“I have friends that have literally made Facebook events,” Manukyan said ahead of opening day. “The amount of people Scott knows and (Oksen Nersisyan and I) know ... it’s probably going to feel more like a grand opening.”
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