Sandos Head South

Wildly popular Dallas Japanese sandwich pop-up heads to Houston

The sandos taste as good as they look.

Sandoitchi

Dallas' 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.

Another aspect of Sandoitchi's success is its packaging. 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.

Other 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. Houston's 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

news-you-can-eat trends

Ice Cream News

Global gourmet ice cream chain debuts in U.S. with 2 Dallas-area shops

Dumont Ice Cream

An ice cream concept from India has made its U.S. debut, right here in Texas: Called Dumont Creamery & Cafe, it's a ice cream chain founded in Hyderabad that now has two locations in the Dallas area.

Their first location was Frisco, which opened at 1951 FM 423 at the end of 2023; a second location opened in late October in Coppell at 1535 S. Belt Line Rd. #160.

Dumont was founded in 1999 by brothers Vivek and Bhashkaar, and currently has 23 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Vijayawada listed on their website.

Bringing the concept to Texas are local franchisees and friends Sai Sashank and Tarang Tirumala, who moved to the U.S. in 2005 to attend college.

Both have successful consulting careers, but craved a taste of home.

Ice cream is the centerpiece at Dumont with more than two dozen flavors, ranging from gourmet to classics to flavors boasting global influences: from Italian-inspired sorbet to a New Zealand-inspired honey ice cream called "hokey pokey."

There is vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip — but also unique options such as cake and jam, an ice cream with a vanilla base, bites of cake, and spiced jam; and kheer, a coconut ice cream studded with dried fruits and nuts — a nod to the kheer rice pudding that's one of India's favorite desserts.

A single scoop is $4. They have cups and a cute version of waffle cones: shorter and fatter than usual, to provide a greater ratio of ice cream-to-cone.

In addition to ice cream, they have a beverage program with coffee and espresso drinks such as lattes, plus boba tea. There are also special drinks like falooda — an exotic Indian milkshake with rose syrup and vermicelli — as well as limited-edition drinks like iced kheer, a cool beverage version of that same popular rice pudding dessert.

Both locations are spacious, bright, and clean, with pale green banquettes at Frisco, and pale blue chairs and tables at Coppell. Both feature an astronaut theme with statues and framed photos and cartoons on the wall. The Coppell location also has a mural dedicated to great moments in Coppell history.