Texas’s Buzzy Japanese Sando Pop-Up Is Coming to New Orleans

A hugely popular sando pop-up hailing from Dallas, Texas is visiting New Orleans next week, serving the Japanese convenience store-inspired sandwich that’s become a hit in the US in recent years and an Instagram influencer favorite. Sandoitchi, which has popped up in Houston, Austin and Los Angeles, will be in New Orleans for the weeks of February 28 and March 7.

The Japanese sando is made on thick, fluffy milk bread, and Sandoitchi — Japanese for “sandwich” — serves them with a variety of fillings — pork katsu, hot chicken katsu, egg salad, and a dessert version with fruit and cream — for $9 to $12. The pop-up, led by Texas chef Stevie Nguyen, first came to fame over the summer, when it advertised a $75 wagyu sando topped with black truffles and gold leaf. Nguyen and his partners planned to open a restaurant in Dallas prior to the pandemic, and have since switched to a traveling pop-up model, where they’ve typically sold out within minutes of opening up ordering.

The pop-up requires preorders, and the system is very specific: Sandoitchi’s website opens up at 6 p.m. CST on Sunday, February 28, for a pickup to be scheduled at checkout for Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday (the local address in the French Quarter for pickup is provided at checkout). The same process repeats at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 7, for pickup that week. The menu won’t be available until Sunday, but prospective diners can expect chicken or pork katsu (a panko-breaded, fried cutlet), an egg-based sando, and a sweet, fruit-filled version.

Sandoitchi still plans to open a restaurant in Dallas, followed by Houston and Austin. A New Orleans pop-up called Yakuza House made its debut at Union Ramen late last year, serving a menu of sandos on milk bread from local home baker Banh’s Vi, with more pop-ups expected in the future.

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