The Sando Truck Katsu-fies the Funk Zone

Crunchy, succulent meat. Tangy, sweet, salty sauce. Cloud-soft bread.

That’s it: the three components that comprise the Japanese katsu sandwich. And that’s exactly what you’ll get from a red-and-white truck in the Funk Zone from noon until late night most days of the week.

“This is the way they do it in Japan,” said Nicholas Gillio, who unveiled The Sando Truck in a parking lot on East Yanonali Street in September. “I just wanted to keep it very traditional.”

The Santa Barbara–raised son of rare coin expert Ron Gillio, who’s been dealing in precious metals here since 1971, Nick is also deeply tied to Japan thanks to his mother, Emi Gillio, who’s from Yokohama City. She returned briefly to Japan to give birth to Nick near her family, and he lived there for his first two weeks. Since then, Nick has visited every four years or so, and even attended a month of kindergarten there.

Those trips introduced him to the katsu sandwich, a ubiquitous snack in Japan, sold from convenience store shelves to subway station vendors for quick, on-the-go eating. Gillio has long wished for a greater variety of classic Asian cuisine in Santa Barbara — “I wish there was a yakitori spot,” he mused — and saw an opportunity to bring us a dedicated katsu service.

“It’s been fantastic,” said Gillio of the early attention for The Sando Truck, which is parked Wednesday to Sunday in the lot outside of Paradise Springs Winery and Test Pilot bar. “We’re trying to fill that late-night void, and we get a good hit after 9 o’clock.”

Now 36 years old, Gillio started in hospitality as a bellman at the Hotel Palomar in San Diego in 2011, eventually becoming an assistant manager in The Rowan in Palm Springs before moving home to work at El Encanto and, briefly, the Alisal Ranch. His latest post was as opening manager of The Drift Hotel on State Street in the summer of 2022, where he also oversaw the Dawn Café and Dusk Craft Bar.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind,” he said of what led to this career change. “I thought, ‘Nick, while you’re still somewhat young, just pursue it.’”

He left Drift in May, and dove into the research, reading and watching as many YouTube videos about katsu as he could find. He determined that making the menu tight, the recipes straightforward, and the ingredients high-quality were the keys to doing it right.

“Keeping it down to a few items, it’s all about simplicity, kind of like In-N-Out,” said Gillio, who uses Mary’s Chickens and pork from Ideal Meats. “It’s such a simple sandwich that I don’t want to use a cheap chicken or a cheap pork.”

But the main ingredients weren’t even his biggest concern. “The bread was the most important thing for me,” said Gillio, who hunted down a preferred producer of Japanese milk bread called shokupan. He cuts off the crust and then fries that to make über-fresh panko to crust the flattened meat. He currently buys the tonkatsu sauce, but would one day like to develop his own, and is also crafting large-format to-go boxes so that companies can purchase 20 sandwiches to share with the office.

The pork or chicken sandos are sold in three- or six-packs. “I think of three as a snack and six
as a meal,” said Gillio, and they are quite filling despite their demure appearance. Rounding out
the menu is recently added chicken karaage and an airy potato salad made by his mom, whom
you might find helping out inside the truck. She came to town from Japan in 1981 to study
English at UCSB — having her first son just 18 months before Nick — but never lost her love for
making and eating the cuisine of her homeland.

“He’s very meticulous,” said Emi of her son, while pointing to herself and exclaiming, “DNA!”

Her potato salad can be made into a meatless sandwich, and Gillio will start selling an egg salad option as well, debuting that at the finale of the Santa Barbara Half-Marathon on November 3. There are also chips, sweets, and drinks, and he’s planning more specials too, like sushi rolls and the fried rice balls called yaki onigiri.

He knows that it may take time to attract a steady Santa Barbara audience. “Right now, it’s about educating the customer,” said Gillio. But those who’ve been to Japan don’t need those lessons, like the one woman who lived there for four years and now stops by The Sando Truck frequently.

“This reminds me of Japan,” she told him. “This reminds me of getting out of the train station in Nara.” That was music to his ears. Said Gillio, “That’s exactly what I want.”

The Sando Truck, 210 State St., is open Thu-Sat, noon-midnight; Wed & Sun., noon-9 p.m. thesandotruck.com