This new Instagram pop-up makes konbini-style egg salad sandwiches

My apologies to anyone who subscribes to the doctrine that a fried egg makes everything better. I am going to make the argument that the only thing that makes an egg palatable is mayonnaise (preferably Kewpie). And that the best way to eat this dynamic duo is in an egg salad sandwich.

Before Akira Akuto and Nick Montgomery ignited a citywide love affair with the egg salad sandwich at their Silver Lake restaurant Konbi, most associated this particular variety of sandwich with cellophane wrap and a bad cafeteria lunch. But those who have traveled to Japan know better. Akuto and Montgomery created a version of the konbini (Japanese convenience store) egg salad sandwich that resembled and celebrated the ubiquitous pre-packaged snack that food obsessives all over the world know and love.

The beauty of the konbini egg salad sandwich lies in its ability to be pure mush; a distinct mouthfeel with no disruption from the sensation of velvety pulverized egg and mayonnaise between two pieces of cloudlike milk bread.

The Togarashi egg salad sandwich from Egg Salad Sando, a pop-up that sells egg sandwiches.

(Sydney Yorkshire)

There are a handful of local places that make this style of egg salad sandwich, but my current favorite is from an Instagram-born pop-up appropriately named Egg Salad Sando. Started by Sydney Yorkshire (@whatcouldbebutter on Instagram), the restaurant consultant and publicist began selling egg salad sandwiches late last summer as a way to keep sane during quarantine.

While the sandwich ingredients are simple, Yorkshire insists on specific eggs, bread and mayonnaise. She spent a week of testing at Japanese markets around Southern California before she decided on the milk bread from Cream Pan bakery in Tustin. She exclusively uses eggs from Handsome Brook Farms. And Yorkshire only has eyes for Kewpie mayo.

Each sandwich includes two hardboiled and one jammy egg. She boils them separately for a precise amount of time. The hardboiled whites and yolks are separated, run through two food processors and then folded together with the mayonnaise, yellow mustard, white pepper and salt. Then she nestles the salad and a quartered jammy egg into the middle of the bread so that the tangerine yolks are on display when she cuts the sandwich.

The OG sandwich is plain; the Togarashi is sprinkled with the spicy condiment; the Furikake gets a shake of the toasted nori condiment; and the Go Crazy includes a healthy amount of both togarashi and furikake. The OG took me right back to Kyoto, where I sat and marveled at the mayonnaise-intensive egg salad sandwich while waiting for my train. It is full mush, and it is brilliant.

To order, visit @egg.salad.sando on Instagram and look for “order forms.” Email the form, and then wait for instructions on when and where to pick up or have your sandwiches delivered.