Three years ago, one of the most popular sandwiches to appear on Instagram was the katsu sando from Echo Park’s Konbi. In fact, Bon Appetit featured the recipe for their pork katsu sando. While I haven’t frequented Konbi, I recently visited Katsu Sando, a restaurant located in downtown LA’s Chinatown.
If you aren’t familiar with the Katsu Sando, think of it as a Japanese version of a schnitzel sandwich. It is made with crispy pork cutlet and soft white milk bread. In Japan, the Katsu Sando is Japanese comfort food and available everywhere. Because it is easy to grasp, Katsu Sando is literally the best meal-on-the-go.
Parking in downtown LA is quite challenging. Fortunately, Chinatown features the cheapest public parking in the area. This time, I couldn’t find a metered spot on the street and paid $5 for parking nearby. If you haven’t parked in LA before, Chinatown lots offer the lowest prices. I’d rather pay the $5 instead of receiving a parking ticket.
Katsu Sando’s shop occupies a small footprint on Broadway. It is large enough to serve as a to-go counter where orders are placed and there is no room for indoor seating. I discovered that most customers order online, but if you order in person, you are politely asked to wait outside to receive your order.
Peering at the inside before leaving, I observed a refrigerated case with pre-made items such as egg salad sandwiches made with milk bread. Onigiri (rice ball) lovers will appreciate the unique selection of bulgogi, tuna mayo and kimchi with spam.
Chef Daniel Son bakes the honey shokupan (white milk bread) in-house. He uses Japanese A5 Wagyu to make his beef katsu sando. What caught my attention is that he makes a walnut shrimp katsu, a riff on the classic Cantonese dish. Pre-made onigiri rice balls are available to-go in their refrigerated case.
They use sizable pieces of shrimp in their Honey Walnut Shrimp Sando and enough to taste on each bite. The shrimp is moist and perfectly cooked. Combined with the candied walnuts, this sandwich is both sweet and salty. The mayonnaise dressing nicely complements the milk bread.
Pork katsu is the most popular. While this sandwich was tasty, what placed this over the top was to dip the sandwich into their optional A5 Waygu Curry dipping sauce. The curry sauce gave the sandwich a nice umami boost of delicious flavor.
Fortunately, vegetarians can select from a number of items. They include the Mushroom Katsu, and Seasonal Fruit Sandos, Waffle Fries, Waffle Slaw, and pickles of the day. They also have katsu and katsu curry plates available.
Katsu Sando, 736 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012; 213.395.0710; eatkatsusando.com