{"id":357450,"date":"2026-06-12T06:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/357450\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T06:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:23:21","slug":"aiona-is-cooking-with-fire-in-downtown-sacramento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/357450\/","title":{"rendered":"Aiona is cooking with fire in downtown Sacramento"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Art Deco-inspired arches infuse the dining areas with dramatic flair.<\/p>\n

Chef Deneb Williams and sommelier Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou weren\u2019t looking to expand their culinary footprint. The husband-wife duo was quite content running Allora, their Michelin-recognized Italian eatery in East Sacramento.<\/p>\n

But when they heard that Esquire Tower owner Angelo Tsakopoulos was looking for a top-flight restaurant team to take over the prominent ground-floor space in his downtown high-rise, the potential and legacy of the 6,200-square-foot site\u2014which formerly housed Esquire Grill\u2014were hard to miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis building is incredible,\u201d says Williams. \u201c[Esquire Grill] was an iconic restaurant for Sacramento for 20 years, owned by one of the most prolific restaurateurs in our city\u2019s history, Randy Paragary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Owners<\/a><\/p>\n

Aiona\u2019s husband-and-wife owners, chef Deneb Williams and sommelier Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou<\/p>\n

In developing the identity of their new venture, Aiona, the couple\u2019s love for the Mediterranean region and expertise in Italian cuisine formed the starting point. Building on that, Aiona\u2019s heritage reflects Mandalou\u2019s own Greek heritage, which Tsakopoulos shares. Factor in executive chef Lee Hinton (who previously served as executive sous chef at Allora) and his affinity for Lebanese, Egyptian and North African flavors, and you can see how the plot to develop a globally inspired theme thickens.<\/p>\n

The heart of Aiona, which opened in late April, is captured in two concepts: seasonality and live fire. An illuminated mural in the dining room\u2014anchored on one side by Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, and on the other side by Aion, the eponymous Greek god of perpetual, cyclical time (Williams and Mandalou added an \u201ca\u201d at the end so that their new restaurant\u2019s name would be bookended with the vowel, like Allora)\u2014expresses the primacy of the seasons and connects Greek mythology to Sacramento\u2019s abundance as America\u2019s Farm-to-Fork Capital. The visual homage to elemental forces appears in other wall-mounted art depicting kiln-fired vases and urns, courtesy of local artist and friend Emily Briggs Jones, whose large-scale nudes would be familiar to Allora\u2019s patrons.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A large illuminated mural by artist Mike Willcox featuring Demeter (the Greek goddess of the harvest) and Aion (the Greek god of unbounded time) anchors the dining room.<\/p>\n

The classical motifs coexist surprisingly well with the restaurant\u2019s more modern features, which were developed in concert with another friend, designer Emily McCuiston. Art Deco-inspired arches add drama to the bar area and large private dining room, and the mid-century-modern terrazzo and tambour wood complement the restaurant\u2019s coral and teal palette, providing a yin-yang balance, much like how the open kitchen with live fire adds warmth and the lounge\u2019s deep teal evokes the cool stillness of water.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Aiona\u2019s eclectic menu balances comfort with creativity and elegance, from the velvety hummus beautifully presented with a vast well of chili oil to the luxurious and substantial zabuton\u2014a thick-cut, richly marbled steak that is slow-cooked over three days at exactly 131 degrees, then grilled over flame and served with labneh, chermoula and crisp fried onions.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Mibrasa open grill and charcoal oven has Aiona cooking with fire\u2014literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n

Williams, whose experience includes a nine-year tenure as executive chef of The Firehouse Restaurant, refutes that anything is tweezer-level fussy, but points out that \u201cthe technique for cooking vegetables and protein on this live fire creates flavor that you really can\u2019t get anywhere else.\u201d Live fire, for Williams, is a serious business. He speaks almost reverentially about a visit he and Hinton made last fall to the Mibrasa factory in Palam\u00f3s, Spain, the birthplace of Aiona\u2019s hand-built, heirloom-quality hearth grill and charcoal oven that is used to prepare half of Aiona\u2019s offerings. Tables near the open kitchen give you a ringside seat to how the living element of fire transforms ingredients to more glorious and sometimes unexpected instantiations of themselves.<\/p>\n

Consider the origins of Aiona\u2019s gnocchi. One of the techniques the chefs learned during the factory visit was to finish cooking the boiled gnocchi in a wire basket directly on the coals, then slightly above them. It was something that would have never occurred to him, says Williams, rhapsodizing about the way the gnocchi picked up the smoke and the flavor. Aiona serves the gnocchi with an escalivada, consisting of charred red bell pepper, onion strips and an eggplant pur\u00e9e, which is further punctuated with salty, crispy pancetta cubes and lightened with arugula.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Aiona\u2019s globally inspired menu includes dishes like grilled branzino with Portuguese-Spanish pil-pil sauce (center) and, clockwise from top, seasonal gnocchi; carpaccio with fried feta and a salt-cured egg; lamb and beef souvlaki skewers; mussels with chorizo and white wine; hummus served with house-made pita and topped with chili oil; and focaccia in a cast iron skillet.<\/p>\n

This dish is one of Williams\u2019 favorites, in close competition with the branzino plate, a simply grilled Mediterranean sea bass with salty crispy skin and delicate, succulent white flesh accompanied by Portuguese-Spanish pil-pil sauce, which Williams likens to \u201cdemi-glace on a steak\u201d and is derived by extracting collagen from fish heads, skin, tails and spines, and emulsifying it with olive oil. The result: pure luxurious essence of fish, establishing the entr\u00e9e as a standout in the pantheon of live-fire dishes.<\/p>\n

Almost 3,000 bottles ranging from an accessible $40 to mid-four digits present as options in wine selection. \u201cI can\u2019t cook or bake to save my life, but I can be studious, I can learn, I can teach, and I can interact with guests in a way that\u2019s fun for me,\u201d says Mandalou, the first female Advanced Sommelier in Sacramento who previously served as a sommelier at nearby Ella Dining Room and Bar. In addition to wines from Greece, Italy and Sonoma, she loves those from the southern hemisphere, including South African selections like the Chama chenin blanc from Vulpes Wines in Swartland. \u201cI think they\u2019re incredibly food-friendly\u2014they\u2019re really delicious and underappreciated,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"Crema<\/a><\/p>\n

Chocolate crema catalana with white chocolate and orange panna cotta, cinnamon toast tuile and crushed brown butter crepe flakes<\/p>\n

On cocktails, Mandalou collaborates with bar lead Brett Walker. The lineup features both expertly executed classics (like the perfect dirty martini, assertive without being aggressively briny) and libations with unexpected twists, such as adding tahini or mastiha\u2014a liqueur flavored with herbaceous pine-like resin. (Word is that Walker is able to coax diners into trying drinks beyond the usual repertoire, including the playfully named \u201cOuzo Charming\u201d cocktail, which packs a punch with its tart lemon and licorice-forward notes. This bold concoction, tempered only by a cloud of honey lemon foam, should be sipped and savored.)<\/p>\n

Beyond the well-curated drinks, d\u00e9cor and menu, however, what Williams and Mandalou want diners to experience is hospitality. A willingness to please may go hand-in-hand with Aiona\u2019s location just a few blocks from the Capitol\u2014the varied tastes of power brokers from up and down the state fill up seats on weekdays. But for the couple, all their diners are VIPs. \u201cIt\u2019s really not even about food and wine. It\u2019s about how you feel in the space, what you\u2019re looking at, how comfortable you are and how you\u2019re welcomed,\u201d says Williams. \u201cGreat, friendly, engaging service is the most important thing. We are a yes-taurant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aiona. 1213 K St. 916-790-3473. aionasacramento.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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