Todays mmm-yoso!!! post is being written by Cathy. Kirk is enjoying air conditioned comfort and is too busy to write.
As I was reading Kirk's post about Kumo Japanese Sandos, in early May, I realized that The Mister and I have also been grabbing Japanese supermarket sandwiches for decades but never posting on this ever present inexpensive quick and tasty meal. So, here's a small compendium.
Nijiya Japanese Market is a favorite stop because of the organic Produce section as well as the prepared foods area. I wrote about some 'grab and go' meals in 2010 and 2013. We were here a lot during Covid (yes, "Covid" defines a period of time), when they removed the outdoor tables so we had to eat in the car or at home. A few prepared items, along the back wall, have changed but overall the quality remains. 
There is a two sided refrigerated area near where you stand in line for the cash registers. One section has various sandwich choices.
This is a "Mix Sandwich" ($5.49) on white or wheat. Four different fillings- Tuna Salad, Egg Salad, Ham with butter and a Lettuce and Tomato with cheese and mayonnaise. Each piece of sandwich in this mix is 1/3 of a crustless bread sandwich made with three bread slices and two layers of filling.
The "Fruits Sandwich" varies daily. This one had melon and pear and orange along with whipped cream in between slices of a quality white bread.
Picked up some sushi while I was there and we had a nice meal.
There is a Chicken Cutlet sandwich ($5.99)-breaded deep fried chicken with a house made tonkatsu sauce (A Pork Cutlet sando is $6.99). On this day the Fruits Sandwich was simply strawberries with whipped cream. 
Placed between the three Chicken sando sections were three smaller lettuce/tomato/cucumber/mayonnaise sandwiches. A nice, balanced meal.
Nijiya Market 3860 Convoy Street San Diego 92111 Open daily 9-9 Website (858) 268-3821
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Marukai has two 'grab and go' island refrigerators as well as closed door freezers and a small hot deli counter. There is just so much inside this small yet packed market. 
The egg salad sando ($4.99) as well as the katsu pork sando ($4.99) are exceptionally good here. You can see I also purchased the potato salad and some katsu chicken (which is really tasty from here). {Yes, we use Christmas plates all year.}
Marukai 8151 Balboa Ave San Diego 92111 Open daily 8a.m.-9 p.m. (858) 384-0248 Website
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Located between Marukai and Nijiya is Mitsuwa, which has three small restaurants in the 'Food Court" area as you enter the store and a sushi area as well as plenty more 'Grab and Go' choices along the right wall with two open refrigerated sections across the aisle.
The Mix Sandwich here ($7.99) consists of four sandwiches, each 1/3 of a whole sandwich. Egg Salad, Tuna Salad, Ham with lettuce and a Japanese Potato salad sando. Each sandwich is fresh and flavorful and fancy. Again, katsu chicken was purchased as a 'side'. 
Mitsuwa Marketplace 4240 Kearney Mesa Road San Diego 92111 Mitsuwa website (858) 569-6699
We have so many great choices in San Diego.
And yes, it was quite full of Cha Lua, Thit Nguoi…… What I think banh mi purists' will appreciate, I'm looking at you "Billy" is that Phoung Nga still includes cucumbers in their banh mi, a rarity these days. The bread, as usual is a bit heavily baked (onsite), making it more hard and crusty than having a nice balance of light, crusty-flaky. But these days, this is almost a blessing, as much of what I've had is soft and doughy. There's a good amount of pickled veggies, the jalapenos were present, but not overly spicy on this visit. This was a nice lunch for me.
Like before, the sandwich uses a yeasty Telera roll. The pork was more seasoned than I recall, the pork was quite chewy, which is in line with 
I would also vote to have more camote, as it makes little impact on the sandwich.
I enjoyed that the bread was airy, crusty, and slightly yeasty. The bright and acidic pickled veggies pared well with the good amount of cilantro which was mostly leaves…having a banh mi full of cilantro stems is a pet peeve of mine. There were two slices of sinus clearing jalapenos in the sandwich. I enjoyed the savory, slightly sour, nem nuong, which also had a nice slightly chewy-meaty texture.
First off, the bread was as I recalled from the "old school" location, crusty and fairly dense, with some yeastiness.
I did find the ratio of Bi (pork skin) to be kind of small compared to the amount of pickled veggies and even cilantro. And of course, I think that it's all about ratios when it comes to these sandwiches. Strangely, I found that the Bi had an almost sweet-sour flavor? Though those jalapenos did a good job of clearing my sinuses.
Much like the Dac Biet, this version had quite a bit more meat than what I've had from Paris Bakery. In terms of consistency, Paris scored well as the bread was crusty and yeasty, those jalapenos nice and spicy, and the pickled veggies nice and refreshing.
On this corner to the right of this famous sign, is Lee's Sandwiches, which began in 1982 as a family venture with 500 food trucks in Northern California and currently is a franchise in four states with 60 Brick and Mortar locations.
The Menu Board includes six inch breakfast sandwiches (on baguette or a croissant) served all day.
Beverages and Korean Rice dogs are available; quite a variety.
Asian Sandwiches, served on ten inch baguettes as well as 
European Sandwiches ("American" fillings) served on a large croissant or baguette.
There's also a hot food display case and some offerings on the counter.
The Pate Chaud ($2.75) is offered in chicken or pork and both fillings are excellent. 
The herbs and flavoring in the ground chicken and also in the ground pork are fresh and flavorful. The pastry is crispy-flaky and each bite is quite nice. The egg rolls sold from this case (five for $6) also have the same fillings and are a crispy snack.
As mentioned, the breakfasts served all day are smaller. 
The #82, ham, bacon, egg and cheese on croissant ($5.49) was quite hearty and filling. The six inch croissant appears to have been baked in the baguette tray, so it's the dough but not the shape of a croissant. Everything on the sandwich is good. 
The #90 ($5.49) sausage, egg and cheese on a baguette was also filling. The bread/crust ratio is good, bread is fresh baked and the sausage was a better quality than I've had in other breakfast sandwiches. 
We returned for lunch. I've been choosing yogurt drinks lately and the mango yogurt ($6.25) was a great choice; just enough sweet from the mango chunks and tart from the yogurt. Of course, we had to have a Lee's Cafe original (Cafe su da)($4.49). The strong coffee and sweetened condensed milk over ice is indeed a perfected beverage.
The #1-combination ($6.99) is made on a ten inch baguette and includes house pickled daikon and carrots, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, mayonnaise and soy sauce. 
Jamon-Head Cheese-Pate are the meats. 
The #35 Roast Beef European ($9.49) included lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and cheese (I was not asked which type of cheese I wanted, but the menu shows a choice of American, Swiss or Provolone). Condiments are on the side (mustard, onion, pepperoni and pickle). Plenty of roast beef on this fresh baked, soft crusted croissant. Satisfying. 
The matcha green tea ($5.99 large) is another favorite beverage; a nice strong matcha flavor and not very sweet.
Fortunately Brothers Family Restaurant has survived, since 1994. 
When you walk in and see people seated at the lunch counter, know that it's a busy day and you may have to put your name on the Wait List for a table.
From the breakfast menu, the Belgium waffle with fruit and whipped cream ($9.95) was ordered by The Mister for lunch one day (the Breakfast menu is available until 2 p.m.). The light crispness of the waffle edges covering the puffy (not cake-like) filling is one of His cravings…plus we share our meal choices, so I was happy. 
The cup of soup and half sandwich ($10.99). I chose roast beef on rye toast and the Soup of the Day was vegetable beef. Two different types of beef and each very flavorful- the large chunks of stew pieces with the still slightly crisp vegetables in a strong beefy broth really hit the spot. The sandwich came with lettuce and tomato and mayonnaise and the meal was quite filling.
The Half Tuna Salad ($11.99) was my choice another day. The tuna salad is lightly seasoned with finely chopped celery, very little mayonnaise and some fresh herbs. It is basically all tuna, which I like. Served on lettuce with tomato and a sliced hard boiled egg, the house made Thousand Island dressing pulls every bite together with great flavors. This 1/2 size is a good size meal.
The French Dip ($14.99) is served with a choice of sides, so, of course, The Mister chose onion rings. Nice, crisp batter surrounding whole onion ring slices (you know, made here and not frozen). The thin slices of warm roast beef were served on a very soft, freshly toasted French roll. The au jus is not salty and has some herbs for flavoring. Quite nice. 
On days when the Soup of the Day is clam chowder, a bowl is ordered ($5.99). Thick, creamy, some chopped potatoes and plenty of clam meat as well as clam juice, this is a great choice. Soup bowls are served with a half slice of that soft French Roll made into a crisp topped garlic bread; delightful.
As you walk to the seating area, you'll pass the refrigerated dessert case. Save some room. (Yes, they make rhubarb berry from scratch!)
When I finally had another opportunity, I arrived just as the very friendly young lady was folding up the blinds on the front door. And as during the soft opening, only one party is allowed inside the shop at once. I recall seeing chicken karaage on the menu when I did my aborted visit, but that was no longer offered. There are four sandwiches on the erase board menu; chicken katsu, menchi katsu, egg salad, and fruit and cream.
Compared to the Japanese version; this was chopped too coarse, there wasn’t enough mayo. There was a bit too much black pepper and it edged on the sweeter side. Liked the visual of the quarter tamago. The bread was slightly moist, but a bit too firm and chewy for me. Like I said before, I prefer my shokupan fluffier and softer.
It was also quite dry. This did the bread no favors. There was some flavor though it was quite mild. I could have used with a bit more katsu sauce to added a nice savory-umami-sweetness to things. It’s a sad day when I think that the shredded cabbage is the best part of the sandwich.
Which was soggy and peeling off the protein. Man, this was not good eats at all. It seems that the only thing I could taste was the katsu sauce. Again it was the cabbage that was the headliner of the sandwich, bummer!
The Mister and I stopped in on a Saturday and walked through the store which is undergoing renovations. Fresh, warm tortillas in an insulated box on the floor, as well as all sorts of beverages, a couple of grocery aisles and a small freezer as well as a meat counter with well-priced selections made this look like a convenient place in the neighborhood. We ordered and paid at the check out counter.
There are outdoor tables and on the weekends, the smoker is filled with meats (ready at around 2 p.m., if you want to purchase by the pound).
Soon, our sandwich was brought out. ($11.99, includes a beverage from the cooler).
It's already cut in half and ordered with 'everything'- mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion, pickled jalapeño and pickled carrots. Sometimes we have to 'rearrange' the tri-tip on our sandwich. 
The meat has an excellent flavor-smoky and meaty (with a thin smoke ring),even with the condiments. The torta is soft and fresh. The size is just right for sharing.
You might notice the truck in the parking lot, as well as neighbors who stop by on weekends.
I perused the menu where prices range from $7.99 to $10.99 for sandwiches. Siesel's sells Dietz and Watson products and that's what they use for their sandwiches as well. The gentleman behind the counter saw me checking out the menu, came over and apologized. Apparently, they had just raised prices of all sandwiches by a dollar that week
So, as you can see, there was a lot going on here! From the three meats, Hot Ham (Capicola), Turkey, and Bacon. The "Buffalo" Cheddar was actually a good match in this protein laden sandwich as it added a bit of spice. Loved the sprouts and avocado. The triple threat of sauces, chipotle mayo, mustard, and D&Ws oil-vinegar "hoagie sauce" was a bit too much. I'd probably go without the mustard next time.
I definitely didn't expect anything like what 
