Katsu Sando - Review - Chinatown - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

"Before Sushi Sonagi, there was Katsu Sando. This tiny sandwich shop in Chinatown (with a second location in Monterey Park) is run by the same chef and pays homage to Japanese convenience store foods, like grab-and-go onigiri, fried chicken, and, most importantly, excellent sandos. The sandwiches are noticeably jumbo-sized, filled with creamy slaws and panko-crusted proteins, and make for the kind of quick but comforting lunch that’ll keep you full until dinner. Katsu takes sandwich making seriously. They bake their honey milk bread in-house, which you can enjoy soft and plush in a cold-case egg salad sando, or crunchy and toasted in one of the menu’s made-to-order options. Fillings range from fried bricks of honey walnut shrimp to kimchi brown butter chicken to pork katsu so juicy it requires dabbing your chin with napkins between bites. The rest of Katsu Sando’s menu includes more upgraded convenience store staples, like hambagu steaks, a burger, breakfast burritos stuffed with tiny arabiki sausages, and bulgogi onigiri that are great eaten later that night on a couch. Food Rundown Original Katsu Sando Look at that 1:1 cutlet-to-bread size ratio. Glorious. You can choose either chicken or pork katsu, but we're firmly team pork. The panko-crusted cutlet pops like a water balloon with juices, and the tangy katsu sauce and mayo-y slaw keep every mouthful of toasted bread moist. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Spicy Sansho Pepper Pork This sandwich is like a pinball machine of flavors hitting your tongue at once, including the cutlet’s numb-tingling peppercorn rub and the spicy mustard seeds mixed into the cilantro-heavy slaw. If you want some heat but don’t care to have your head blown off, order this. PlayMute video credit: Sylvio Martins" - Sylvio Martins