There’s a restaurant in Midtown right now that sounds like it shouldn’t work on paper. Syrian flatbread wraps built on a Mexican taco format. Lebanese sweet potatoes melted into a quesadilla. A dish literally called the Taco Arabe that combines al pastor spiced lamb with a garlicky Middle Eastern sauce called toum. And yet, anyone who has actually eaten at Meza California will tell you it doesn’t just work, it might be one of the most original things happening in Sacramento food right now.
If you have not been yet, here’s everything you need to know about the spot locals are already calling one of the city’s best new openings of the year.
Two Years of Pop Ups Before It Ever Had Four Walls
Meza California is the creation of chef Kasandra Kachakji, and the restaurant is basically an edible autobiography. Kachakji grew up with a Syrian father and a Mexican mother, and instead of picking a lane, she built an entire menu around the overlap. The project started small back in early 2023, popping up out of the now closed Midtown cafe Pressed Coffee and Records before building a real following on the road. Meza ran its circuit through local breweries, made stops at Nitty’s Cider in East Sacramento, set up at the Oak Park Farmers Market, and became a fixture at local festivals.
By the time Kachakji was ready for a permanent space, Meza already had a built in community waiting for it. That’s not a small thing in a city where pop ups come and go constantly. This one earned its brick and mortar the hard way, one weekend market at a time.
Moving Into a Sacramento Institution’s Old Home
In March, Meza opened its first permanent location at 1415 16th Street, a spot with a lot of history behind it. That address used to be Simon’s Bar and Cafe, one of Sacramento’s longest running neighborhood watering holes. Taking over a space like that comes with a certain amount of pressure, but Kachakji has leaned into the idea of continuity rather than erasing what came before. She’s described wanting a space where her community, the one she built slowly over two years of pop ups, could finally have somewhere permanent to gather.
What’s Actually on the Menu
The backbone of Meza’s menu is a style of sourdough flatbread wrap grilled on a domed griddle called a saj, a traditional Middle Eastern cooking method that gives the bread a thin, slightly charred, extremely satisfying texture. From there, the menu splits into two clear culinary directions that somehow keep meeting in the middle.
On the traditional Arab side, there’s the Za’atar wrap, built with tomato, cucumber, mint, wild thyme, sesame, and olive oil, and the Viva Palestina, which features sumac spiced chicken braised in pomegranate molasses with caramelized onions. This one is Meza’s take on msakhan, a well known Palestinian dish, translated into wrap form.
Then there’s the fusion side, which is really where Meza sets itself apart. The batata harra quesadilla takes spicy Lebanese sweet potatoes and melts them into a Oaxaca cheese quesadilla with cilantro and green onion, which sounds like it could be a gimmick and instead just tastes like it always should have existed. And then there’s the signature dish, the one everyone orders first: the Taco Arabe. It’s al pastor spiced lamb, braised until tender, topped with arugula, pickled onion, and toum, a whipped garlic sauce that’s a staple of Levantine cooking, all wrapped in that same charred saj flatbread. It’s not a novelty mashup. It’s a thoughtful dish that treats both food traditions with equal respect.
The dips deserve their own mention too. Meza’s hummus, muhummara, a sweet and nutty roasted red pepper and walnut spread, and a smoky eggplant baba ghanouj all stay close to their traditional roots. But the labneh gets its own twist with a chunky chile morita oil folded in, which is the kind of small detail that tells you this menu was built by someone who actually understands both cuisines instead of just borrowing ingredients for effect. If you can’t decide, the sampler plate lets you try all four.
For dessert, there’s a rotating pastry case that includes seasonal conchas, chocolate chip tahini cookies, and sfouf, a Lebanese almond and semolina cake. Meza also serves aguas frescas alongside Arabic tea and coffee, which might be the single most literal representation of the whole concept on the drink menu.
The Details
- Location: 1415 16th Street, Midtown Sacramento, in the former Simon’s Bar & Cafe space
- Hours: Tuesday 11 am to 3 pm, Wednesday through Saturday 11 am to 8 pm
- Also find them: Midtown Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, 8 am to 1 pm
- Dietary notes: Halal food throughout, and wraps can be served over arugula instead of flatbread for a gluten free option
- Good to know: There’s a kids play area, making it a workable lunch spot for families, not just a date night destination
Why This Restaurant Matters Beyond the Food
Sacramento has plenty of good restaurants, but Meza is doing something more specific than just being good. It’s telling a real, personal, bicultural story through food, and doing it in a way that respects both halves of that identity instead of flattening them into a gimmick. That’s a rare thing to pull off, and it’s part of why this restaurant has built the kind of loyal following that most new openings spend years chasing.
It’s also a reminder of how much of Sacramento’s best food scene starts small. Meza spent two years building trust one farmers market booth at a time before it ever had a lease. If you’re the kind of person who wants to say you found a place before everyone else was talking about it, you’re probably already a little late. But if you haven’t made it to 1415 16th Street yet, there’s no better time than now.
Bottom Line
If you only try one new restaurant in Midtown this season, make it Meza California. Order the Taco Arabe, get the dip sampler, and save room for a chocolate chip tahini cookie on the way out. It’s the kind of meal that makes you rethink what fusion food is even supposed to mean.
