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About Baklava

I came to the Bay Area from Turkey in 1999 for two weeks of vacation and decided to live here because I discovered greater opportunities than in my home city. Quickly finding a job in an Italian restaurant owned by Turks, I soon noticed too many Italian restaurants with Turkish owners yet no Turkish restaurants. Customers began asking questions that were growing in my heart: "Where are the Turkish restaurants? Why do all the Turks have Italian restaurants?" So, I asked myself "Why don't I open one?!" and committed myself to put a genuine Turkish restaurant in the heart of the Bay Area.

I love Turkish food! It's what my mother cooked in the kitchen, it's my culture, it's my life!
On February 20th, 2005 Cafe Baklava Mediterranean Grill opened on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View - my first restaurant - and has been successful ever since with a minimum of 50,000 customers per year. The best things in life are hard earned!

In life, of course, we want to grow and so, I opened a different Turkish restaurant named Pilita Mediterranean Grill with another Turk in San Carlos, serving more traditional dishes. He kept that one and later, I opened Baklava in downtown Palo Alto on Emerson Street.

Turkish food has great connections to culture and history, which people here are beginning to realize now as they enjoy healthy hearty food.