Sandoitchi rolls south

Wildly popular Dallas-based Japanese sandwich pop-up arrives in Houston this week

The sandos taste as good as they look.

Sandoitchi

Dallas's feel good hit of the summer is popping up in Houston. Sandoitchi will be in the Bayou City for the next three weeks, according to a post on Instagram.

As its name implies, Sandoitchi serves Japanese sandwiches, aka sandos, that are served on milk bread. Fillings include egg salad, Nashville-style hot chicken, pork katsu, and — at least occasionally — Japanese wagyu topped with edible gold and shaved black truffle. For dessert, it offers a sando filled with strawberries and matcha cream.

While that all sounds pretty compelling, let's turn it over to CultureMap Dallas to explain another aspect of Sandoitchi's success:

But really, the packaging is what clinches it. They come in little boxes, and have stickers. They're trimmed neatly, like finger sandwiches, or like the sandwiches your fantasy mom made where she cut off the crusts.

These sandwiches back up all the branding with some serious culinary firepower. Chef Stevie Nguyen worked at Uchi in both Dallas and Houston before heading to New York where he worked at Momofuku Ko, the two-Michelin-starred crown jewel in superstar chef David Chang's culinary empire. Nguyen shows off his techniques in a number of ways, including by using three different egg preparations to make his egg salad and coating the chicken with an umami-packed '"wet shio koji solution."

Sandoitchi only started this summer, but it's won legions of fans who sell out each week's production shortly after they go on sale. After beginning as a pop-up in Dallas, it spent a couple of weeks in California before returning to the Metroplex. The Houston stop is the next step of its statewide tour. Currently, Nguyen and his partners have not announced plans to open a permanent restaurant.

Ordering requires a certain amount of luck and persistence. Sign up on the Sandoitchi website to receive a password. Then be fast enough to order at 6 pm on Thursday, November 5 before the week's allotment sells out. Pickup will take place at a yet-to-be-revealed location in The Heights on Saturday, November 7.

Houston restaurants make sandos, of course. B&B Butchers sells a $120 katsu sando made with A5 wagyu from Japan. Kata Robata offers two delicious variations: one made with Texas wagyu beef and another with lobster. Local Foods in Rice Village makes its own version of an egg salad sando as part of its Japanese-inspired Hapa offerings.

But none of the existing local options have received an Instagram shoutout from Chrissy Teigen, so clearly Sandoitchi has created something worth trying.

View this post on Instagram

The guys from the incredible @sando.itchi just taught john to make me their famous Japanese egg sandwich - delivered to my bed 😩 thank you so much Elie @foodbeast for helping set this up! I slid into the DM’s hard when they posted about them and it all worked out! Can’t wait to show you guys on @cravingsbychrissyteigen

A post shared by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) on

Sep 17, 2020 at 3:26pm PDT

May the sando odds be in your favor.

news-you-can-eat

head east

Eagerly-anticipated Houston barbecue joint hosts weekend preview pop-ups

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

One of Houston’s most eagerly anticipated new barbecue joints is giving diners a preview of what’s to come. Eastbound Barbecue will host “Sneak Peak Weekends” every Saturday and Sunday beginning this Saturday, December 20, until the restaurant opens in early 2026.

Held at the restaurant’s location in the East End (1105 Sampson Street) from 12-4 pm (or sold out), the weekend service gives diners their first chance to try Eastbound Barbecue’s smoked meats, sides, and desserts. That includes, smoked brisket, baby back ribs, jalapeno & cheese sausage, hatch chili lasagna mac & cheese, herbed potato salad, and more. Save room for the two dessert offerings, salted caramel banana pudding and cookie butter cake.

To distinguish Eastbound’s barbecue, chefs Lopez and Granville use different seasonings than other restaurants, such as rosemary salt in the brisket rub and a miso-caramel sauce that gives its ribs a sweet and savory bite. During the preview, Eastbound’s prices are noticeably lower than many other Houston barbecue joints, with brisket priced at $29 per pound, ribs at $26 per pound, and pulled pork at $22 per pound.

As CultureMap reported in August, Eastbound unites four friends, Ryan Penn, Ryan Powell, Luis Lopez, and Jake Granville, who also held senior roles at various restaurants owned by prominent Houston chef Ronnie Killen. Since then, the four partners have finished many of the improvements they needed to make prior to opening, including closing in the patio and installing offset smokers on the property.

For Penn, leaving the Killen’s organization after almost 20 years was a difficult decision, but one he felt he had to make. “I could have worked for [Killen] forever and been happy. It was more along the lines of, if I don’t do this now, I don’t want to be 70 and wish that I had,” he said at the time.

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

news-you-can-eat barbecue openings