When we arrived at Meyhouse in Sunnyvale, our waiter described it as “the best restaurant in Silicon Valley” and proceeded to show us what he meant.

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We barely scratched the surface of the extensive Turkish menu, sticking to mostly vegetarian options, as that tells you a lot about the abilities of the chef. The sesame-topped bread, soft and yeasty, was perfect to dip into the Kopoglu—oven roasted eggplant and tomato sauce atop tangy yogurt—and to smear with the electric flavors of the Girit, sheep’s cheese from the Dardanelles with Aleppo peppers and roasted pistachios.

The Uc Borek, fried phyllo wrapped around leeks and mushrooms and zucchini, were hot and juicy, as was the phyllo stuffed with pastirma, which turns out to be water buffalo. The hot Katikli, with a thin crust called Antakya, was stuffed with a spicy mix of spinach, Aleppo pepper, cumin, zahtar and cheese. It was really good, but by then I was breaded out. Beyond the vast vegetarian options, the Meyhouse menu also includes copious meat, chicken and fish options.

Our curiosity had bested our capacity, but we somehow managed to eat an entire order of divine Şöbiyet, which is like baklava but made with pistachios instead of walnuts, and filled with semolina creme. It was so good, I brought an order home for my husband.

Meyhouse has a location in Palo Alto, where they recently started offering jazz. The menu there is slightly different.

Speaking of Palo Alto, the latest darling spot at Stanford Mall is Sushi Roku, part of the culinary overhaul that has ousted places like Max’s. With a very unassuming exterior, quite Zen and humble, this Japanese-centric restaurant eschews flash for flavor. It’s in the vicinity of California Pizza Kitchen, and not far from the wallet-draining Tiffany’s and Shreve.

Gracious yet unpretentious, the kitchen serves up plenty of sushi and rolls, but also renders some surprisingly fun takes on dishes common to other menus. Here, they are done uncommonly well.

The star of the show is the fried Brussels sprouts leaves, so crispy and addictive that my friend—who never eats the things—was eager to share them with me, having downed two orders with her niece on a prior visit. Definitely a hit. We also tried the sesame-oil fried shishito peppers, served in oyster sauce.

The lunch menu offers specials including sushi, rolls, bowls and churashi, as well as hot dishes like donburi and pork belly or wagyu fried rice, a tasty red pepper and scallion infused dish topped with an egg. We opted for the pork belly version.
With a lunch special, you can add on two of their signature Hanabi, which are crispy squares of fried rice topped with your choice of tuna, yellowtail or avocado for $12 and handrolls for $7 each. The dinner menu, also available at lunch, is vast, and will have you pondering choices over your Zen Garden, a pretty drink made with muddled cucumber, mint, pineapple, lemon, lime and cucumber soda.

The Grove in Felton showcases the kind of seriously creative food you’d expect to come out of Santa Cruz County. Owned and operated by executive chef Jessica Yarr, The Grove emphasizes plant-forward ingredients and made- from-scratch baked goods, yielding wonders from the oven in the form of pastries, breads and cookies.

My friend and I arrived a moment too late for breakfast, for which service ends at 11:30 a.m., but the lunch menu has excellent salads and sandwiches. We tried a smoked beet Reuben on house-made mountain rye with sunflower seeds, much like the old-fashioned German bread my grandmother used to make. The beets were topped with sauerkraut, smoky Swiss and Thousand Island.

Our favorite was the Bigfoot sandwich, with avocado, scallion aioli, crispy sweet potato strings and lemon-dressed pea shoots on house-made country sourdough. Breakfast bowls include Turkish eggs—two poached eggs atop herbed yogurt with harissa butter and a side of sourdough toast—as well as creamy polenta with roasted seasonal vegetables, herbed feta cheese, poached egg, basil pesto and arugula.

Being the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Mushroom Magic, featuring roasted shiitake and oyster mushrooms, balsamic reduction, thyme, parsley, garlic confit, goat cheese and arugula on house-made sourdough porridge bread, sells out every day.