Turkish food is a vibrant blend of flavors, shaped by the country’s key position along the ancient Silk Road. It’s where Sephardic Jews and Muslims in the south, Greeks across the western sea and Slavs along the Black Sea’s southern edge converged to create a rich culinary tapestry.
Sunnyvale’s Meyhouse Restaurant captures this melting-pot heritage by recreating the traditional “meyhane” or wine house taverns, offering an authentic taste of Turkey’s cultural crossroads.
“The first meyhane opened during the Byzantines,” co-owner Koray Altinsoy told San José Spotlight. “People go there to eat and drink and have very deep conversations together with music. We are trying to mirror this here, in the heart of Silicon Valley.”
Altinsoy and his partner, Omer Artun, were both successful in the tech world and began cooking as a hobby, intent on recreating recipes they learned from their mothers and grandmothers. Together, they started doing pop-up events every other month, starting in 2017, with tickets selling out in a matter of hours.
“Food is kind of a religion for us,” Altinsoy said. “That’s the reason why we wanted to serve 100% authentic Turkish food. People enjoyed it and started pushing us to open a restaurant.”
The first iteration of Meyhouse, a 50-seat restaurant, opened in 2019 just a few doors down from the current South Murphy Avenue location. It moved in 2023, the same year the owners opened a location in Palo Alto. The attraction to expanding, Altinsoy said, felt like a reward for his efforts he never found in his day job.
“You spend four years developing a product and you are waiting for a results,” he said, “When you serve the food to your customer, you see in their face right away if they like it or dislike it.”
And there is much to like about Meyhouse. Everything is done in-house, including the pastrami and sausages, the yogurts, sauces, breads and baklava. Many of the ingredients — particularly seafood items like octopus, turbot and sea bass — come from Turkey, along with more exotic items such as molasses made from black pomegranates and mastic tree resin.
“I won’t be humble,” Altinsoy said. “Some customers say they return to Turkey just for the food, but they say they can’t find authentic dishes like ours anymore.”
Meyhouse’s bill of fare starts with “meze,” a variety of small hot and cold plates that can serve as appetizers or as a complete made-to-order tasting menu.
One of the most popular mezes is the Türkmen Manti, soft dumplings filled with lightly spiced beef or vegetables that are steamed within the dough and served over garlic yogurt with a dash of paprika sauce. The yogurt also makes an appearance in the Köpoğlu, an oven-roasted eggplant and pepper meze in tomato sauce.
The recipe for Lakerda, salt-cured bonito, can be traced back to the Byzantines. The fish is packed in ice for three days to remove the blood, then packed in salt for up to two months, then served with red onions, fresh dill and plenty of extra virgin olive oil.
Those craving pizza can find a good substitute in Lahmacun, a flatbread layered with ground beef and finely diced tomatoes, then garnished with onions and tomatoes. In an interesting twist on hummus, Meyhouse serves a warmed version with thin-sliced beef pastirma and plenty of brown butter.
One of the more popular main courses is the Adana Kebab made with Superior Farms lamb and served with an onion, Aleppo peppers and tomato salad. It’s a finger food made by slicing off a bit of the kebab, topping it with the veggie mix, wrapping it in a thin sheet of flatbread and finishing with a final squeeze of lemon.
“We knife-chop the fresh lamb breast instead of grinding it, so it’s not mush,” Altinsoy said. “Then we mix it only with salt and red pepper. It is quite a unique kebab.”
It’s the favorite dish of longtime customer Yankaan Tanurhal, who described the dish as “authentic.”
“It is extremely well done, without losing the origins of the locality,” he told San José Spotlight. “The flavors are not overwhelming. They’re just done right.”
As with many of the meat dishes at Meyhouse, the kebab is cooked over a traditional Turkish grill. It is fueled by charcoal, which has been completely covered in ash to regulate the temperature.
“In Turkey, anywhere you eat they are cooking on this grill,” Altinsoy said. “You cannot see any fire, and the fats drip down onto the charcoal, creating a smokiness in the meat.”
Meyhouse breaks with tradition in one particularly delicious way by serving Pide as the house bread. It’s a sourdough with a pillowy texture, between crispy crusts covered in sesame seeds, usually available in Turkey only during Ramadan. Served with a dipping sauce made with parsley, oregano, extra virgin olive oil, mint and garlic, it is an excellent addition to the meal.
It goes without saying that Turkish wines go well with the food, and Meyhouse stocks a nice variety, such as a 2022 Isabey Sauvignon Blanc, a tropical-fruity white from the Aegean coast, and a Produm 2022 Öküzgözü Kalecik Karası, a medium-bodied red from Elâzığ.
Desserts include Kunefe, a shredded phyllo dough bird’s nest encasing a disk of mozzarella, and Damla Sakizi ice cream made with mastic. Pro tip: order them together. The crunchiness of the phyllo crust and the creaminess of the cheese balance the ice cream’s honey tones.
“Every dish tells a story, every night is an experience and every guest becomes part of our rich Turkish dining tradition,” Altinsoy told San José Spotlight.
Contact Robert Eliason at [email protected].
Editor’s Note: The Biz Beat is a series highlighting local small businesses and restaurants in Silicon Valley. Know a business you’d like to see featured? Let us know at [email protected].
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