Karē Japanese Curry

Although Stanton’s Rodeo 39 Public Market has had a katsu (Japanese cutlet) vendor since its earliest days, it didn’t have a Japanese katsu curry shop until late 2022. That’s when Karē Japanese Curry took over the somewhat hidden RTE skewer spot near the back left corner of the food hall.

Like many other Rodeo vendors, Karē’s menu is super simple: You can order a plate with rice, brown curry, and your choice of chicken katsu, pork belly, beef belly, gyoza, shrimp tempura, or spam katsu with a fried egg. Each plate can be customized with whichever of the previously named items you want to add, and fries are available with or without furikake. That’s it.

Properly battering and frying crispy items for service with curry isn’t always easy, but Karē has that locked down, delivering relatively low oil in its battered items, and nice portions of its proteins, including jumbo shrimp. Their curry sauce is unremarkable – not as thick as at some curry specialists, and without extra veggies (carrots, onions, potatoes) that you’d also typically get making these simple dishes at home. Our single biggest issues is the range of choices, which omits seafood (squid, scallops) and preparations (traditional pork tonkatsu) most focused curry houses offer. That having been said, Karē does a pretty good job with what it serves, and is worth a visit if you’re looking for a curry fix at Rodeo 39. An Irvine location is coming soon.