Popular Jayna Gyro has a new location in Roseville with more restaurants coming

Jayna Gyro’s second Sacramento region opening in Roseville won’t be its last, promises Yusuf Topal.

Topal said he is eyeing locations in Folsom and the Lake Tahoe area and also plans to offer franchise opportunities for individuals to open other locations in California.

“Our first location in the area in East Sacramento has been very popular,” Topal said. “We got a lot of love from customers including Roseville residents who would come in and said they would love to have a second location closer to them.”

Topal opened the East Sacramento Jayna Gyro at 3101 Folsom Blvd. in August 2022.

He was introduced to the Sacramento area by friends as he looked to expand Jayna Gyro, which opened its first Emeryville location in March 2020.

Despite the pandemic, Topal said business was strong from takeout and delivery, planting the seeds for the East Sacramento opening.

The Roseville location at 1132 Galleria Blvd. in a strip shopping center opened on Jan. 2.

Topal decided to open in Roseville around a year ago after trips to the community convinced him that it was the logical place for a second Jayna Gyro Sacramento region location.

“Roseville is growing and we wanted to follow the growth,” Topal said.

Like the Sacramento location, the Roseville restaurant tempts diners with two very visible vertical skewers, one rotating with a combination of beef and lamb and the other with chicken. A variety of salads, lamb and vegan lamb burgers, a half-oven roasted chicken and roasted chickpeas are featured.

Topal cites the chicken as an example of his restaurants taking the extra steps to bring quality food to customers. It is marinated for three days in a Champagne vinegar and spice brine and served with a Napa chardonnay.

Jayna Gyro customers order their food at a counter and then it is brought to their table by a server. A full bar is also offered.

Topal said lingering is also encouraged although the food arrives fast.

“We want our customers to consider themselves part of our family,” he said.

While he wants to grow Jayna Gyro, Topal said the growth will be confined at first to several restaurants a year, because he wants to ensure that quality food and a welcoming atmosphere are maintained as more locations are opened.

New midtown project

Topal is also a business partner in a project called The Jacquelyn at 1114 22nd St. in midtown Sacramento.

He said he will own and operate The Cellar, a wine bar and restaurant on the ground floor of a three-story building as well as The Shoppe, which will sell bottles of wine and sandwiches and coffee to go.

He said the menu at The Cellar will feature Mediterranean food. Above his enterprises will be two membership-only private social clubs, he said.

Topal said he will also provide food and liquor for the social clubs that will be available for a fee to members or for catered special events.

The Jacquelyn, which Topal said will open in the spring, is a project in honor of the late Jacquelyn Anderson, a photographer, designer, dancer and philanthropist who died of cancer in 2021.

Topal said Anderson’s husband Jim wanted the project to honor his late wife and turned over the design and development of the project to a friend of Jacquelyn, fellow artist Maren Conrad.

That’s where Topal got connected to the project. He said he saw it as a good business opportunity but also something more.

He said Conrad has painted murals of the Mediterranean Sea for his Jayna Gyro restaurants and has become a dear friend. Topal said he wanted to support Conrad in her efforts to run a business that would honor her late friend.

“It’s a legacy project honoring Jacquelyn Anderson,’ he said. “I wanted to be part of it.”

Topal said The Jacquelyn will also feature an art gallery and various public programs, all designed to promote the arts, and good conversion to bring people together in the spirit of honoring Jacquelyn Anderson.

This story was originally published January 22, 2024 at 5:00 AM.