Some of the most Instagram-friendly sandwiches on the planet are back in Denver for a three-week pop-up

Some things look too good to eat, which is both a blessing and a curse for Sandoitchi, the Japanese-style sandwich-maker that is hosting a pop-up in Denver this month.

It’s a blessing because Instagram posts about the photogenic sandos have been one of the primary drivers behind Texas-based Sandoitchi’s buzz-worthy marketing over the past two years. It’s a curse because, well, the brand’s founders want the food to stand on its own.

“We were born on social media. Instagram is our biggest media and social media tool,” said Sandoitchi operations manager Keith Tran. “But we don’t want to get lumped in with other ‘Instagram foods.’ It helps that the sandwich is very pretty. But we are a chef-driven brand.

“Our food tastes as good as it looks. Maybe better. We want to draw the line there,” he added.

Created in Dallas in 2020 by chef Stevie Nguyen — who had previously worked at Momofuku Ko, Morimoto and Uchi — the company’s goal is to bring a version of the pre-packaged sandwiches found in Japanese convenience stores, known as konbini, to the United States.

Wait. Convenience stores?

“Their convenience stores are not like the ones we have. It’s a whole different animal in Japan,” Train explained. Instead of stale hotdogs and greasy pizza sitting in a glass case for hours on end, Japanese convenience stores have entire walls of high-quality, pre-packaged food. “It’s pretty and pristine and in Japan, it’s not looked down on in that way.”

In fact, Tran points out that famed New York chef and restauranteur David Chang has long extolled the virtues of Japanese convenience store food — so much so that he opened his own version of one, Peach Mart, in Manhattan in 2019.

“It’s not often you think of a product that is new to everyone, but this one is,” Tran added. “We want to introduce it to as many people as possible.

To do that, Sandoitchi’s six-person team has hosted pop-up events in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana, California and Colorado, each lasting for a few weeks.

Sandoitchi’s first appearance in Colorado lasted two weeks in May, selling out each day. The current pop-up, taking place at Zeppelin Station, at 3501 Wazee St., runs through Aug. 27.