Smorgasburg’s Popular Katsu Sando Is Opening a Full-Time Location in Chinatown

Katsu Sando, one of the more popular additions to Smorgasburg last year after debuting as a pop-up at West Hollywood’s Kura Sushi, will open a full-blown restaurant in Chinatown right next to Wax Paper some time later this year, potentially as early as summer. Chef Daniel Son, who also operates the omakase counter at Kura Sushi, will prepare a similar menu of Japanese-style katsu sandwiches containing fried pork, chicken, menchi (a beef patty), and the famous A5 wagyu katsu sando that currently costs a whopping $70.

In addition, he’ll expand the menu a bit with more Japanese convenience store, or conbini, grab-and-go foods. Since Son is somewhat obsessed with Japanese yoshoku (Western-style) dishes, he’ll serve things like curry in various spice levels, onigiri, fruit sandos, and house-baked milk bread. Katsu Sando helped launch the popular Japanese sandwich craze in Los Angeles, which has now become a nationwide trend. In 2018, one of the most popular sandwiches to appear on Instagram was the egg or pork katsu sando from Echo Park’s Konbi.

Once it opens, Katsu Sando hopes to open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, though those hours may change.

Katsu Sando. 736 N. Broadway, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA

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