Ryan Ota’s humble sandwich window says a lot about him. First, the name. Mecha Mucho, two Japanese and Spanish words that mean “a lot.” The phrase reflects Ota’s Japanese and Mexican origins. And “a lot” is what Ota is doing.
A lot of focus. A lot of flavor. A lot of passion.
Inspired by West Coast Little Tokyos and Japantowns, Ota developed a tight menu of exceptional lunchtime offerings. His sandos, hearty and simple in appearance, hold the details of precise cooking. The results are unforgettable.
Start with the bread. Ota imports loaves of shokupan (milk bread) from Japan for every sandwich. The fluffy, light, rich white bread is soft enough to make the sandwich sumptuous, but firm enough to hold ingredients snug.
“We’re obsessive about ingredients,” Ota says as he tells me about importing panko breadcrumbs from Japan with the perfect crumb size. Panko coats the fried chicken katsu cutlets that are the stars of a couple of his sandwiches.
Other sandwich champions include a high-quality egg salad, fruit, cream and Spam.
The pinnacle of Ota’s vision is the J-Town Hot Chicken sandwich—chicken katsu, topped with house-made chili crisp, house-made mayo, house-made sunomono pickles and a smear of egg salad.
Spam Musu Mi Sando
J-Town Hot Chicken sandwich
But wait, there’s more. Shredded Napa cabbage and seaweed flakes add texture and a touch of briny essence, all working in harmony. Ota spent days experimenting to find the ideal cabbage shred width.
Compared with brash, face-punch flavors of Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, this hot chicken sandwich is blended, subtle and sophisticated. It’s my sandwich of the year. I return for Ota’s J-Town chicken several times a month.
Ryan Ota has been cooking in local kitchens for more than 20 years. Learning from chefs such as Gary Sleppy, Patrick Mulvaney and Oliver Ridgeway, Ota knows California cookery. He also respects tradition.
“We want to elevate tradition,” he says. “We’re drawing from our elders, but we have to use our own toolbox.”
Fruit Sando
Photos by Linda Smolek
Ota has a deep toolbox and passion for Japantown. The community was devastated by World War II internments. Many buildings were demolished in the 1950s for Capitol Mall and state office sites. Now a stretch of 10th Street between U and W carries history forward.
“I’m lucky to be working in partnership with Osaka-Ya,” Ota says.
Osaka-Ya is a circa-1963 shop specializing in mochi candy and other Japanese sweets. The shaved ice window is legendary.
Shop owner Linda Nakatani is the second-generation confectioner who distributes her specialties from San Diego to Seattle. Ota refers to her as the “matriarch of J-town.”
Adding the sandwich shop to Osaka-Ya brought new culinary attention to the shady stretch of 10th Street. Binchoyaki was nominated for a James Beard award. Southside Super is gaining traction. World-class food with a national reputation—plus cultural memory—drives the momentum.
“Sure, I’d like a larger space where we can do a little more—bake our own bread, make our own Spam—and hopefully, we can find that nearby,” Ota says. “But we will always have this window. Always.”
I’m glad he’s keeping the window. Grabbing a quick sando, parking on a chair under a tree and dining with fellow food lovers is a glorious way to spend a lunch hour.
“We just want to make stuff that our elders would be proud of,” Ota says.
Mecha Mucho is at 2215 10th St.; (916) 753-6214; open 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Greg Sabin can be reached at saceats@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
