Yelp me some katsu

Hattoriya

799 San Antonio Road

Palo Alto, CA

It was lunch time, and I didn't know where to go or what to eat. So I Yelped the neighborhood, and a few minutes later I was eating homey Japanese food in a little place that I would never have noticed on my own.

Hattoriya looks like it was a burger joint or a donut shop in a previous life. If you enter through the side door, the entry is lined with bookshelves, stocked with Japanese-language books and magazines. I received a warm greeting from the lone server and a shout from the chef in the kitchen.

I ordered a dish that several Yelpers had recommended, beef curry tonkatsu. Before I could even finish my appetizer bowl of miso soup, the beef curry arrived in a metal gravy server. Rice was served on a large flat plate, alongside a piping hot tonkatsu (pork cutlet).

The tonkatsu was perfectly fried, crispy, tender and greaseless. The curry was mildly spiced but very flavorful, with small chunks of tender beef.

The server playfully congratulated me for cleaning my plate.