When Phoenix cocktail pro Jason Asher launched Juniper & Jigger Hospitality Co. in December 2024, one of his goals was to find restaurateurs to collaborate with.
Now, Asher is developing a new cocktail lounge and restaurant with longtime Arcadia neighbor Jennifer Russo of The Market by Jennifer’s. The duo, with the help of the whimsical and inventive architect Wesley James, plan to open a Singapore-inspired lounge called Hornbill in early 2026.
Hornbill will replace The Market on Indian School Road and 36th Street. Russo announced the end of daily restaurant service at her 11-year-old restaurant on Sept. 4. She has continued to host special dinners, including a prix fixe menu for Arizona Restaurant Week, and run her 28-year-old catering business.
She was interested in changing up the restaurant and had seen Asher’s new venture. After the craft mixologist departed from the hospitality group that runs immersive bars Platform 18, UnderTow and Grey Hen Rx, he launched a consulting company, lending his expertise to bars around the country.
The trio of award-winning immersive bars that Asher co-founded serve unique cocktails just across the street from The Market. The old neighbors started talking earlier this year.
“All of it, the hours and time that we’ve spent together over the past six months, it just keeps driving home what an incredible idea – that’s turning into a partnership, into a beautiful space – has become,” Russo says.
Asher wasn’t trying to stay in the neighborhood, but says he was intrigued when he learned his former neighbor was looking to do something different at her restaurant. The Market is located in a bustling strip that houses Beckett’s Table, Six Byrd Cider Taproom & Kitchen and Trevor’s Liquor.
“I’m excited to blaze a whole new trail with (Russo),” Asher says.
The lounge’s name comes from the bird whose notable characteristic is its curved bill topped with a ridge, called a casque. The team was inspired by the bird’s charm and its symbolism of unity and strength.
Asher is drawing on memories from a trip to Singapore with his wife, Kailee. They sipped drinks at globally recognized bars, such as Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, and savored cuisine-spanning street foods at hawker markets.
“It was a melting pot of Asia,” Asher says.
The concept itself is a bit like that, too, and will be a melting pot of the ownership team’s experiences.
While the food and drink menus are still in development, the dishes will be shareable “small plates, very seasonally driven and from all parts of Asia,” Russo says.
Food options may include chile crab, noodles, hamachi and tartares. The chef credits catering, where “we do a little bit of everything,” and her love of research with building out the food menu.
“We’ve also done a lot of really deep diving and testing,” she says.
She notes they will hire a chef who is well-versed in dim sum, an area where she doesn’t have deep expertise. The team aims to offer weekend dim sum service, where plates of dumplings and other small snacks are served from roving carts.
Hornbill won’t be a “heavy-duty, sit-down experience,” Russo notes. Instead, “we want you to nosh.”
Though the owners hope to create a luxe experience with elevated service, they don’t want to have sky-high prices, aiming to keep plates around $10 to $20.
Over more than two decades in the bar industry, Asher has built a reputation for crafting creative and highly technical cocktails. He says guests can expect that same approach at Hornbill, with drinks that are “on trend with global cocktail trends, things you would see in Mexico City, Asia, around the world.”
“Really, the goal there is to do our best to extract the truest form of a flavor through those techniques,” he says.
The drinks will likewise use Southeast Asian ingredients and a heavy dose of cocktail wizardry, like clarification.
Hornbill’s design takes inspiration from fern bars, the comfy upscale taverns that became popular in the 1970s. The most notable fern bar was TGI Fridays, a spot that built a reputation for being a comfortable, welcoming spot for women featuring interiors adorned with greenery, Tiffany lamps and checker-tiled floors.
The Phoenix space will be designed by James, who built the bars at Century Grand and the dual Tempe bars Devil’s Hideaway and Idle Hands. At Hornbill, tropical plants will be placed inside and out. The lounge will seat about 40 to 45 customers, Asher says, with about half of those encircling a centerpiece bar in rattan chairs, “which really allows for this camaraderie piece,” Asher says.
“It’s sitting next to somebody that you don’t know and then finding a friend by the time you’re finished with your experience,” he adds.
Wicker-wrapped pillars arching up to the ceiling will evoke the look of a bird cage. Leaning into that, Asher calls Hornbill a “cocktail sanctuary.”
Work to transform the space is anticipated to begin in October. The team hopes to open Hornbill by April 2026.
“There’s a lot of years of experience here, there’s friendship, but I think the greatest part is that we’re just learning from each other and just want such a really cool space that’s different for the neighborhood,” Russo says. “I feel very blessed to be part of it.”
3603 E. Indian School Road
Now, Asher is developing a new cocktail lounge and restaurant with longtime Arcadia neighbor Jennifer Russo of The Market by Jennifer’s. The duo, with the help of the whimsical and inventive architect Wesley James, plan to open a Singapore-inspired lounge called Hornbill in early 2026.
Hornbill will replace The Market on Indian School Road and 36th Street. Russo announced the end of daily restaurant service at her 11-year-old restaurant on Sept. 4. She has continued to host special dinners, including a prix fixe menu for Arizona Restaurant Week, and run her 28-year-old catering business.
She was interested in changing up the restaurant and had seen Asher’s new venture. After the craft mixologist departed from the hospitality group that runs immersive bars Platform 18, UnderTow and Grey Hen Rx, he launched a consulting company, lending his expertise to bars around the country.
The trio of award-winning immersive bars that Asher co-founded serve unique cocktails just across the street from The Market. The old neighbors started talking earlier this year.
“All of it, the hours and time that we’ve spent together over the past six months, it just keeps driving home what an incredible idea – that’s turning into a partnership, into a beautiful space – has become,” Russo says.
Asher wasn’t trying to stay in the neighborhood, but says he was intrigued when he learned his former neighbor was looking to do something different at her restaurant. The Market is located in a bustling strip that houses Beckett’s Table, Six Byrd Cider Taproom & Kitchen and Trevor’s Liquor.
“I’m excited to blaze a whole new trail with (Russo),” Asher says.
The Market by Jennifer's stopped regular restaurant service in early September. It will be revamped into a fern bar-inspired lounge.
The Market by Jennifer's
What is Hornbill?
For their new food-forward lounge, the team is taking inspiration from Southeast Asia.The lounge’s name comes from the bird whose notable characteristic is its curved bill topped with a ridge, called a casque. The team was inspired by the bird’s charm and its symbolism of unity and strength.
Asher is drawing on memories from a trip to Singapore with his wife, Kailee. They sipped drinks at globally recognized bars, such as Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, and savored cuisine-spanning street foods at hawker markets.
“It was a melting pot of Asia,” Asher says.
The concept itself is a bit like that, too, and will be a melting pot of the ownership team’s experiences.
While the food and drink menus are still in development, the dishes will be shareable “small plates, very seasonally driven and from all parts of Asia,” Russo says.
Food options may include chile crab, noodles, hamachi and tartares. The chef credits catering, where “we do a little bit of everything,” and her love of research with building out the food menu.
“We’ve also done a lot of really deep diving and testing,” she says.
She notes they will hire a chef who is well-versed in dim sum, an area where she doesn’t have deep expertise. The team aims to offer weekend dim sum service, where plates of dumplings and other small snacks are served from roving carts.
Hornbill won’t be a “heavy-duty, sit-down experience,” Russo notes. Instead, “we want you to nosh.”
Though the owners hope to create a luxe experience with elevated service, they don’t want to have sky-high prices, aiming to keep plates around $10 to $20.
Bar pro Jason Asher and chef Jennifer Russo have teamed up to bring Hornbill to Arcadia.
Juniper & Jigger Hospitality Co./Jennifer's Catering
“Really, the goal there is to do our best to extract the truest form of a flavor through those techniques,” he says.
The drinks will likewise use Southeast Asian ingredients and a heavy dose of cocktail wizardry, like clarification.
Hornbill’s design takes inspiration from fern bars, the comfy upscale taverns that became popular in the 1970s. The most notable fern bar was TGI Fridays, a spot that built a reputation for being a comfortable, welcoming spot for women featuring interiors adorned with greenery, Tiffany lamps and checker-tiled floors.
The Phoenix space will be designed by James, who built the bars at Century Grand and the dual Tempe bars Devil’s Hideaway and Idle Hands. At Hornbill, tropical plants will be placed inside and out. The lounge will seat about 40 to 45 customers, Asher says, with about half of those encircling a centerpiece bar in rattan chairs, “which really allows for this camaraderie piece,” Asher says.
“It’s sitting next to somebody that you don’t know and then finding a friend by the time you’re finished with your experience,” he adds.
Wicker-wrapped pillars arching up to the ceiling will evoke the look of a bird cage. Leaning into that, Asher calls Hornbill a “cocktail sanctuary.”
Work to transform the space is anticipated to begin in October. The team hopes to open Hornbill by April 2026.
“There’s a lot of years of experience here, there’s friendship, but I think the greatest part is that we’re just learning from each other and just want such a really cool space that’s different for the neighborhood,” Russo says. “I feel very blessed to be part of it.”
Hornbill
Opening in 20263603 E. Indian School Road
