九月，尼古拉斯·吉利奧 (Nicholas Gillio) 在東亞諾納利街 (East Yanonali Street) 的一個停車場推出了 Sando 卡車。 “我只是想保持它的傳統。”
Nicholas Gillio, owner and operator of The Sando Truck, is bringing a taste of Japan to the Funk Zone with his authentic katsu sandwiches. Gillio, whose mother is from Yokohama City, was born in Japan and lived there for his first two weeks before returning to Santa Barbara. He visited Japan every four years or so, and even attended a month of kindergarten there. Those trips introduced him to the katsu sandwich, an 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. 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 Cafe and Dusk Craft Bar. 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. Gillio uses Mary’s Chickens and pork from Ideal Meats. 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 uber-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, who you might find helping out inside the truck. 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. Gillio knows that it may take time to attract a steady Santa Barbara audience. “Right now, it’s about educating the customer,” he said. 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 的所有者兼經營者 Nicholas Gillio 正在用他正宗的炸豬排三明治將日本風味帶到 Funk Zone。吉利奧的母親來自橫濱市，他出生在日本，並在日本生活了兩週，然後回到聖塔芭芭拉。他大約每四年就會去一次日本，甚至還在那裡上過一個月的幼稚園。這些旅行讓他認識了炸豬排三明治，這是一種在日本隨處可見的零食，從便利商店的貨架上出售到地鐵站的小販，可以在旅途中快速食用。 Gillio 長期以來一直希望聖塔芭芭拉能夠提供更多種類的經典亞洲美食——「我希望有一家烤雞肉串店，」他沉思道——並看到了為我們帶來專門的炸豬排服務的機會。 Gillio 於 2011 年開始在聖地牙哥的 Hotel Palomar 酒店擔任行李員，開始從事酒店業，最終成為棕櫚泉 The Rowan 的助理經理，之後搬回家在 El Encanto 工作，並短暫在 Alisal Ranch 工作。他的最新職位是 2022 年夏天擔任 State Street 的 The Drift Hotel 開幕經理，同時負責管理 Dawn Cafe 和 Dusk Craft Bar。他於 5 月離開了 Drift，全身心投入研究，閱讀並觀看了盡可能多的有關 katsu 的 YouTube 影片。他認為，菜單的緊湊性、食譜的簡單性和原料的高品質是正確實施的關鍵。 Gillio 使用來自 Ideal Meats 的 Mary's Chicken 和豬肉。但主要成分甚至不是他最在意的。 「麵包對我來說是最重要的，」吉利奧說，他找到了一家名為「shokupan」的日本牛奶麵包首選生產商。他切掉外皮，然後將其油炸，製成超級新鮮的麵包粉，將壓扁的肉外皮包裹起來。他目前購買炸豬排醬，但有一天想開發自己的炸豬排醬，並且還在製作大型外帶盒，以便公司可以購買 20 個三明治與辦公室共享。豬肉或雞肉沙多以三包或六包出售。吉利奧說：「我認為三個是零食，六個是正餐。」儘管外表端莊，但它們卻很飽。菜單上最近還添加了炸雞塊和他媽媽做的清爽馬鈴薯沙拉，你可能會發現她在卡車裡幫忙。 Gillio 也將開始販售雞蛋沙拉選項，並在11 月3 日的聖塔芭芭拉半程馬拉松決賽中首次亮相。 還有薯條、糖果和飲料，他還計劃推出更多特價商品，例如壽司捲和油炸食品。吉利奧知道，要吸引穩定的聖塔芭芭拉觀眾可能需要時間。 「現在，重點是教育客戶，」他說。但去過日本的人不需要這些課程，例如一位在那裡住了四年、現在經常去 The Sando Truck 的女士。 「這讓我想起了日本，」她告訴他。 “這讓我想起了從奈良火車站出來的情景。”這對他來說就是音樂。吉里奧說：“這正是我想要的。”
