The beautification of downtown Turlock is accompanied by the growth and expansion of new businesses filling Main Street.
Ramio Esho, owner of Xhale Hookah Lounge, is opening a business across the street from the hookah lounge that he says represents “the finer things in life” and gives him an opportunity to “drift into the daytime gig.”
Esho plans to bring a city feel to the downtown environment with the opening of his cafe that will feature Turkish and Clayton coffee, baklava pastries, crepes and jazz on the weekends.
Cafe Rome is set to open next week pending their last health inspection, and Esho says they are “ready to roll.”
“My staff is all trained baristas and they have perfected the art of making Turkish coffee,” he said.
Notably, there’s quite a difference in Turkish coffee compared to traditional expectations.
The coffee bean goes through a special imported grinder that produces a fine powder.
Because of that, the texture of Turkish coffee, Esho explains, is more like the texture of a shot and it is served in a special Turkish cup.
“The best part about it is the residue it leaves in the bottom of the cup,” said Esho. “You can flip it over and make a wish.”
Turkish coffee reading is a practice of interpreting residual coffee grounds and it is believed that the images and shapes created in the coffee ground in contrast with the white color of the cup have predictable future happenings.
Esho plans to bring in expert Turkish coffee fortune tellers every other weekend to the shop as an option for the customers to have a reading.
The Turkish take on fortune cookies is more accurate than expected.
“It’s really mind blowing,” said Esho. “My mother is a reader and when she does it a lot of what she says comes true.”
Esho added that every cup creates different images.
“You flip the cup inwards towards yourself and the texture inside creates a message from the art,” he said. “It’s very interesting.”
Pastries from Turlock’s Sunrise Bakery will be served alongside the coffee and Esho says they’ll be a lot like baklava — a dessert made of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey.
Cafe Rome will feature these Middle Eastern pastries, coffee, crepes and also beverages that stretch beyond espresso. There will be espresso smoothies and protein shakes.
Esho is excited to feature Persian tea, as well.
What he likes most about the tea, he says is the different scent it has, “It’s almost like a perfume, mainly close to an earl grey tea, but it has a different floral taste to it.”
Future plans Esho anticipates to implement at Cafe Rome is to have wine in the summertime, with a ladies night out, painting parties and even tea parties.
“I think it will be nice to bring a city vibe downtown,” he said. “There will be outdoor seating and I want to bring a clarinet player on the weekends and have him play jazz music outside.”
There will be free Wi-Fi and a discount for CSU Stanislaus students.
“There’s so many great places downtown, there should be a place on this side of Main like what La Mo Cafe does,” he said. “They do such a great job there and I hope Cafe Rome is recognized alongside of it.”
Visit Cafe Rome at 122 W. Main St. and follow them on Instagram at @cafferome.
