It may sound innocent and sweet, but the Little Sparrow Cafe in Downtown Santa Ana makes a “Big City” statement. With a menu setting high culinary standards and expectations, the bistro cafe could be in NYC’s Fashion District, Chelsea’s art and gallery scene, SoHo, San Francisco or a corner of London or Paris. A friendly welcome at the café’s door is more West Coast, however, and a sophisticated menu worthy of even the most discriminating palate awaits.
From tasty breakfasts to mouthwatering lunches and dinners, it’s one unusual temptation after another at the Little Sparrow Café. Savor menu items like light and creamy, non-dairy “French-style” scrambled eggs with added gruyere and shards of red tomato, crispy, chewy, sourdough toast, fresh ground sausage and chocolate cherry scones—all from the kitchen of the café’s chef Eric Samaniego.
Owners Naseem Aflakian and Bruce Marsh met in NYC when she attended NYU’s food studies program and Bruce worked in the high-powered world of advertising representing such well-known companies as Porsche. Their lives of travel and a passion for food brought them back to Orange County and Santa Ana, Aflakian’s home.
“My wife and I have enjoyed great travels and many good meals,” says Bruce. “We decided a cafe would be an interesting next step, and this location spoke to us!” Naseem adds that she would probably not have taken on such a project all by herself. “The real entrepreneur was Bruce!” she says.
“When I travel from one place to the next, I expect things to be different,” Bruce adds. “At the Little Sparrow Café, we want to offer fine food in a casual, urban atmosphere and do things a little differently. Too much in life has become too similar. We wanted The Little Sparrow to be different from the next good restaurant down the way.”
Little Sparrow’s interior design work is first rate, as anyone might expect from New Yorkers. While the sparrow motif is subtle, a small, black bird presides high on the inside right entry wall where you’ll see it mid-flight near soft, hand-stenciled tree branches.
The kitchen view sets a professional culinary tone as gleaming stainless appliances compete with white marble counters and tin tiles from historic ceilings, as well as white, hexagonal mini-tile floors. A vaulted wood roof in off-white tones adds breadth to the café that contains rectangular wooden tables, and a glass cake dome displaying pastries teases the sweet tooth in everyone.
Follow a horizontal antique mirror around to the right of the kitchen along the sparrow motif wallpaper wall, and you’ll find a quirky, intimate cocktail lounge. Glass bottles perch on glass shelves and a Baroque chandelier shade floats above.
The Little Sparrow is a sweet treat to tweet. Visit the restaurant at: 300 North Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701, 714-265-7640