Watch: The History of Meson Sabika, Naperville’s 1847 Mansion Restaurant

In this Living in Naperville episode, Dan Firks visits Meson Sabika, the Spanish tapas restaurant set inside an 1847 Victorian mansion in downtown Naperville, and sits down with owner Hossein Jamali to hear how the historic building became one of the area’s most beloved dining destinations. They walk through the mansion’s history from its Willoway Manor days to today, Hossein’s journey from a $20 arrival in the United States to running the restaurant, the staff-first philosophy behind it, and a step-by-step paella Valenciana demo.

Read the full guide: Meson Sabika Naperville →

Video Transcript

Dan Firks: Today we’re at the iconic Meson Sabika in downtown Naperville. The restaurant started in 1990, but the building was built in 1847. It’s absolutely beautiful inside. Let’s go see what tapas and the Mediterranean have to bring, and see what the “Taste of Spain” is all about.

Dan Firks: Hossein, so tell me, one thing that the public might not know about Meson Sabika.

Hossein Jamali: I’m not sure if the public doesn’t know, but basically this used to be a private home, a residence at some point. It was turned into a restaurant in 1960 by the resident. Willoway Manor was the name. Mr. Polivka, who was the owner, ran it successfully for the first 10 years. In 1990, when we came, it was vacant.

Hossein Jamali: I grew up in poverty, and my dad, the reason he wanted all of his kids to attend college. Back then, out of every thousand-plus applicants for the university, of which there was only one in Iran, only one could get in. He sold our family rug and got me a ticket with five stops to come to the United States. So I came here with $20 in my pocket and not knowing a word of English. I started as a dishwasher, and I worked my way up in every position in the restaurant, up to general manager. Pretty much by the time I graduated as a software engineer, I knew my heart wasn’t in it, but I finished it because of my dad. I got the job as an engineer for six months and just said, “okay, it’s not for me,” and got into the restaurant business. The goal was always there.

Dan Firks: And how did you find Meson Sabika?

Hossein Jamali: I used to work with Emilio, who was my original partner. We always talked about opening a restaurant together. We found this by coincidence, I guess.

Dan Firks: It was a restaurant when you looked at it, but it wasn’t in business, it was just sitting?

Hossein Jamali: Correct. We opened it with Emilio, and we were partners for the first seven years. After that it used to be called Emilio’s Meson Sabika until 1997, and after that it’s just Meson Sabika.

Dan Firks: Hossein, tell me a little bit about the teacher appreciation.

Hossein Jamali: The culture I was brought up in, I was taught the first person you respect is your mother, second is your teacher, because teachers make the future of the world. They make the future of our kids. In this culture, I feel that’s not appreciated the same. Up to four guests, they get a 40% discount.

Dan Firks: Well, I do have a lot of friends that are teachers, so I appreciate that when I come in with them. So thank you.

Hossein Jamali: Sure.

Dan Firks: Hossein, tell me a little bit about your business philosophy.

Hossein Jamali: The most important thing is we are all equal. No one can use their position of power, more or less. We all operate based on personal power. Between me and our dishwasher, there’s no difference. It’s just that we have different responsibilities. I call them by their first name, and everyone calls me by my first name. Our concentration is the staff, so the responsibility is to take care of the staff in every way we can. The most important, again, I wanted to create a place that people are happy to come to work.

Dan Firks: Excited to come to work.

Hossein Jamali: Yeah. By focusing on the staff, if they are happy, they give that energy, that joy to your customers, and the profit or whatever will happen. It’s a win-win, really. What it comes down to is you get your profit, you take care of your customers, your customers come back, and they go home with a full belly.

Dan Firks: Hossein, thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions. I would love to take a little tour, is that okay?

Hossein Jamali: Absolutely, my pleasure. Let’s go.

Hossein Jamali: 1960 is when the home was turned into a restaurant. Those were the exterior walls, so everything past those walls was added in 1960 for it to be a restaurant. This was a living room. The room that we were sitting in was a dining room, and the other room was the library, and there were five dining rooms upstairs that were the bedrooms. Two years after we opened, we did an addition, kitchen, offices, and so on, and in 2007 we built a pavilion.

Dan Firks: Meson Sabika is more than a restaurant. Tell me a little bit about the venues and what else you offer besides just the traditional restaurant.

Hossein Jamali: Whether it’s a wedding or a casual event, graduation, showers, and so on, we have five dining rooms as well as the Pavilion next door for larger functions, a lot of weddings. We also have a patio right in front where there’s a fountain, and a smaller patio by the Pavilion. We are certified by the Commerce of Spain as a true Spanish restaurant. There’s a little stamp on our menu, and that is because 100% of the wine list is Spanish. Most of the products that we can get from Spain, we do get from Spain. Our chefs have been trained in Spain, so of course we have a Spanish flag.

Dan Firks: So tell me, Hossein, I heard that you have a special event coming up, the end of February, beginning of March.

Hossein Jamali: Our next fundraiser, 100% of the sales of the day will be given to World Vision, helping the victims of the California wildfires.

Dan Firks: Well, thank you for doing that, that’s much appreciated. Tell me what you’re making, my friend.

Hossein Jamali: I’m making a paella Valenciana, and we have everything here ready. There are a lot of different steps to make a paella. First we have to make the broth, a fish broth. Then we have to make what’s called sofrito. This is a mixture of chicken, onions, peppers, and garlic. Then we have all the seafood right here to put it together. You can get a different kind of fish in it, a different kind of chicken, whatever you want. You can make a paella actually with just chicken, or just a vegetarian paella, or a seafood paella. Since the rice, everything is measured, it’s always consistent, it’s always cooked the right way. For the paella Valenciana we use chicken and seafood broth.

Dan Firks: Seafood broth, love it.

Hossein Jamali: Then we have some shrimp, and then we just put them on the stove right here.

Dan Firks: How long does it take to cook?

Hossein Jamali: It takes about 25 to 30 minutes to cook.

Dan Firks: We forgot the main ingredient.

Hossein Jamali: Oh, what did you forget? We’re going to get it, here we go. This is the main ingredient in the paella, the saffron.

Dan Firks: The saffron.

Hossein Jamali: Yes.

Dan Firks: All right, well it’s not too late, we can still get that in there.

Hossein Jamali: We can still put it in here with just a little bit of saffron. Are you familiar with saffron?

Dan Firks: I am not, tell me a little bit about it.

Hossein Jamali: It’s one of the most popular spices in Spain, and it takes about 4,000 flowers to make an ounce. You can see the little flower right here. This is the saffron in the middle. This little flower, 4,000 of those to make one ounce.

Dan Firks: To make one ounce of saffron. That is something else. This must be expensive.

Hossein Jamali: It is. It is expensive.

Hossein Jamali: Then we just finish it up in the oven, right here, and that’s where we cook the paella.

Dan Firks: This is a big oven.

Hossein Jamali: It is, yes. So then you put it at 25 minutes there, then you put it in here.

Dan Firks: For how long?

Hossein Jamali: For about 20 minutes. And we can make all these paellas from 2 to 100. We have big giant paella pans, so we can make paellas up to 100 people for parties and weddings.

Dan Firks: I love that. Well, thank you for making that for me, thank you very much.

Hossein Jamali: You’re welcome.

Dan Firks: Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to give me a little bit more in-depth history of Meson Sabika.

Hossein Jamali: Thank you. Absolutely.

Dan Firks: Be sure to like and subscribe to get updates on our next episode, and for all your real estate needs please visit Naperville.com.

Read the full guide to Meson Sabika Naperville →