The Abridged version:
- Antalya Delights & Cafe opened in late February in Rocklin, selling imported Turkish delights, baklava, coffee and more.
- Owner Eugene Shapishnikov, who was born in Latvia and has a background in IT, built the concept around a deep love for Turkish culture.
- The savory menu centers on simit, a sesame-crusted Turkish bread ring loaded with turkey, cheese or salmon, with a full Turkish breakfast available on weekends.
The Sacramento region’s lone Turkish café sits in a strip mall off Granite Drive in Rocklin, with unique baked goods, strong coffee and imported sweets waiting behind its front door.
Opened by Eugene Shapishnikov in late February, Antalya Delights & Cafe (named after a coastal city on the Turkish Riviera) is part of a larger Middle Eastern coffee trend sweeping the Sacramento region. But most of those competitors are Yemeni, and Antalya’s Turkish coffee uses comparatively darker roasts served small and strong.
Antalya also offers Dibek coffee, a Turkish preparation made by pounding beans in a stone mortar rather than grinding them mechanically, which produces a lighter color, coarser texture and a milder, creamier cup than the traditional version. Pistachio and hazelnut coffee variations are also on the menu, though the pistachio sold out in its first week and is currently unavailable until the next shipment arrives.
Simit is the heart of the savory menu. A chewy, circular, sesame-crusted bread that eats like a Turkish bagel, it’s not consistently offered at any other area restaurant. It can come loaded with turkey and melted cheese, or smoked salmon and cream cheese, or red pepper paste and tomatoes or a hazelnut spread Shapishnikov likened to Turkish Nutella.
On weekends, Shapishnikov runs a full Turkish breakfast: two types of simit, Turkish salami, cream cheese, pastes, olives, eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes and greens, served family-style and portioned for two or three people at $35. It is labor-intensive enough that weekends are the only time he offers it, but the response has been steady.
Walking in, the space is straightforward. Wood floors, grey upholstered chairs, wood tables and a teal accent wall with a geometric relief pattern that gives the room character.
The display case along the counter holds three shelves of lokum, or Turkish delight, the soft, chewy gel-based confection. Made from starch and sugar with a texture somewhere between gummy candy and pâte de fruit, it’s rolled and dusted in flavors that range from pistachio and coconut to rose, pomegranate and double chocolate. Packaged Turkish goods line the counter beside it.
The sweets and Turkish staples are imported directly from a producer who’s been making Turkish delights for more than a century, Shapishnikov said. The customs clearance process alone took months, but Shapishnikov was deliberate about sourcing, seeking out only the manufacturer’s top-shelf products.
The Facebook group “Foodies of Rocklin/Roseville” helped Antalya attract customers before it had much street visibility. Rocklin resident Allison Ward, who found the café through the Facebook group, said the draw was immediate.
“Everything you’ll see is beautiful, super tasty coffee,” she said. “We had a few samples and ordered some baklava — all really, really good.”
Google reviews followed, with more than 85 five-star ratings posted in roughly three months. For Shapishnikov, the response has made his career shift worth it.
Born in Latvia, Shapishnikov immigrated to the U.S. and built a career in the IT industry. He earned two master’s degrees and landed roles at Google and Time magazine, the last of which he finished while simultaneously overseeing the café’s build-out.
Shapishnikov’s career pivot was surprising to many, but his reasoning was simple. He had traveled to Turkey repeatedly over the years, fell hard for the food and hospitality and couldn’t find anything comparable back home. The nearest shop like it, he said, was in Palo Alto, with the next closest in Monterey and then Santa Barbara.
“At some point, the stars seemed to align: the right product, the right community, and the right moment,” he said. “So I decided to take the risk and go for it.”
Shapishnikov hands out free samples to anyone who has never tried Turkish food before, understanding that most customers have no point of reference for what they are about to eat. He would rather someone try the chocolate pistachio baklava before buying it than take it home unsure, he said.
The gesture is part of how he thinks about what the café should mean to the community around it. A year from now, he said, he wants Antalya to be the first thing someone in Rocklin thinks of when they think about Turkish coffee and sweets. There are plans for a large-format Turkish-themed mural and golden chandeliers, and more pistachio coffee is on order.
“(In the) corporate world, it’s meetings, it’s a lot of stress,” he said. “Here I work 12 hours a day most of the time. I get tired physically a little bit, but mentally it’s a blessing. I love talking to everyone.”
Antalya Delights & Cafe
Address: 4810 Granite Drive, Suite A6, Rocklin
Phone: 415-335-1542
Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Website: antalyadelights.com
Vegetarian/vegan options: Most sweets and the plain simit are vegetarian
Drinks: Turkish coffee, Dibek coffee, hot and iced tea, orange soda
Reservations: No
Keyla Vasconcellos is a Sacramento-based freelance journalist.