South Philly’s newest takeout shop specializes in Japanese cutlets
Chef Ryo Igarashi, who has worked seemingly everywhere, is starting small with Panco, his Japanese takeout eatery in West Passyunk.
After 25 years in restaurant kitchens around Philadelphia, Ryo Igarashi was burned out. He left the business, started driving for Uber, and kept thinking about a different kind of restaurant: a tiny place he could largely run himself.
“In Japan, a one-man operation is a real thing,” he said. “You’ll have ramen shops and little places where one person basically runs everything.”
That idea became Panco, the Japanese comfort-food takeout spot Igarashi soft-opened last weekend in West Passyunk. The kitchen is tiny, and the operation is deliberately lean, with his daughter, Maya, a high school senior, working the counter.
Igarashi wants to see what catches on from his yoshoku-style menu before expanding. “I don’t want to become that person who just keeps adding more and more because we can sell more,” he said. “I really want to test the market.”
There’s cold octopus sunomono marinated in sanbaizu, fried jumbo shrimp, and crab cream croquettes with demi-glace to start. Then there’s katsu, Japan’s adaptation of the cutlet: At Panco, chicken, pork loin, or soy-marinated eggplant and tofu are breaded in house-made panko. Igarashi serves them plain, or as katsu curry, with vegetable miso, rice, and pickles; katsu-don, over eggs and rice; or katsu Parmesan, essentially a Japanese take on chicken parm. (This is South Philly, after all.) Mains top out at $22, while appetizers run about $10.
Dessert is flan with caramel, candied sourdough crumb, and Chantilly — essentially purin, Japanese pudding.
Panco had been in Igarashi’s head since the pandemic, but his restaurant career goes back to 2001. The Tokyo-born Igarashi moved from Seattle to Philadelphia and enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia. He knocked on the door at Hikaru in Queen Village looking for work, starting as a dishwasher before moving up in the kitchen.
His resumé eventually included Raw, Fuji Mountain, Distrito, Amada, Morimoto, and Laurel. At Distrito and Amada, he learned high-volume cooking; at Morimoto and Laurel, he moved further into technique and fine dining. His last major job was as executive sous chef at the thousand-seat Liberty Point on Penn’s Landing.
Panco is intentionally the opposite: small menu, small kitchen, small staff. Igarashi said he wants to bring the same deliberateness to a restaurant category that often gets the short shrift.
“In Japan, takeout food is a really well-established market,” he said. “I’m trying to bring some of that idea here.”
Panco, 2300 S. Croskey St., pancophilly.com. Hours: 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday. Check instagram.com/pancophiladelphia for updates.
Inquirer Food Festival
Get your ticket to Philly’s ultimate food party! Join top Philly chefs and bakers for one unforgettable day of food.
