Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we give our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven announced (finally) last week that its long-promised egg salad sandwiches are now available nationwide — which doesn’t sound particularly appetizing on its own — but these sandwiches are a little unusual as they’re based on the Japanese sandos that have become a massive hit in that country and a popular treat here.
Related: Fluffy Japanese-style sandos are gaining popularity in Denver
Sandos in their true form are made with thick-sliced shokupan, or milk bread, which gives them a fluffy, slightly sweet and almost ethereal texture and flavor. They’re often sliced into triangles and most commonly contain either egg salad with Kewpie mayonnaise, strawberries and cream (or kiwi or other fruit), or breaded pork or chicken.
Once you’ve eaten a good sando – and I have tried half a dozen or so around Denver, as well as making my own with shokupan from Tokyo Premium Bakery – they become addictive.
Over the past two years, these highly photogenic (read: Instagram-friendly) sandos – short for sandoitchi – have become more popular in Denver, although only a few restaurants or shops serve them regularly. So finding a good one is hit or miss.
For Oliver Finkel, 7-Eleven’s timing made him laugh because on Dec. 6, that same week, he opened Eloise, a north Denver cafe dedicated to Japanese-style sandos.
Finkel isn’t new to Denver. He also owns Lula Rose General Store, a tiny, 10-year-old coffee and breakfast shop at 3434 E. Colfax Ave., and Good Bread, a bakery, across the street at 1515 Madison St. (in the former home of the Normandy French restaurant).
Good Bread makes everything from croissants, cruffins and pastries to baguettes and loaves of sourdough, along with a rotating selection of sandwiches and pizzas on specific days. But Good Bread has also been baking shokupan almost since the beginning.
“It’s so versatile. You can do anything,” said Finkel, who has even used it to make ice cream sandwiches. “It’s not overly salty or overly sweet. It’s the perfect delivery system.”
The idea for Eloise, at 4315 Tennyson St., was born out of Finkel’s and his staff’s love and “fascination” with shokupan and Japanese food in general. He found the north Denver space by way of a friend after having what he described as “a very Colfax day.” The street has been buried beneath the construction of a new bus rapid transit line – something that has cut off restaurants like Lula Rose and other businesses from their customers.
The opposite is true on Tennyson, where people have been lining up out the door of Eloise, which only has a handful of tables, starting at 11 a.m. each morning (Eloise is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) to try the sandos, or other offerings, like beet salad, brioche sandwiches and matcha lattes.
“The reception has been great. Everyone loves these things, and there aren’t that many places to get them,” Finkel said.
The opening menu hit what he called the favorites, including Kewpie egg salad with a whole, soy-marinated jammy egg tucked inside ($13); chicken katsu in tonkatsu sauce with cabbage salad ($15); and braised bacon with heirloom tomatoes and chicarones ($15). (There is also mortadella on a brioche bun, with pistachio cream and fennel honey.)
I tried the egg salad and the chicken katsu. Both were sliced in rectangles rather than triangles, and both satisfied my craving — and then some. My favorite, unsurprisingly, was the egg salad with the soy-marinated egg taking center stage. Each is made to order on a line behind the counter, and then finished, packaged and presented either to-go or for eating on-site.
They are a far cry in both price point and craftsmanship from 7-Eleven. But Finkel was quick to point out the benefits of the convenience store’s version, which costs less than $4. “It was good,” he said. “Kind of like eating air. And it costs nothing.”