I’m a pretty positive person, or at least I like to think so. But for some reason, I had a blind spot around the Summer Moon coffee shop when it first opened. I’d heard about its signature Moon Milk and thought it sounded gimmicky and odd. For whatever reason, I was anti-Summer Moon—or at least agnostic.
That is, until I actually tried it.
I fell in love with the Moon Milk, with the unfailingly polite employees in their perfectly tucked little T-shirts. It became a sometimes treat, then a weekly stopover. Now my iced quarter moon is simply a habit. Like the tides themselves, I swoon for the Moon.
So how had I not learned my lesson by the time I heard about Mezzo?
I silently scoffed at the idea of a European café brought to us by the good folks from Summer Moon. It wasn’t nostalgia for Brown’s, which has been gone for years. I think it was simply a lack of imagination on my part. Could they really pull off a European café that was also, somehow, the commercial bakery supplying pastries to every metro-area Summer Moon?
Whatever I was on about went right out the stunning floor-to-ceiling windows the minute I stepped inside. Under the beautifully restored soaring ceiling, I had to eat my words. After that, I was happy to gobble up both the sumptuous interiors and the delicious food.
It all started with a pastry problem: With eight Summer Moon locations across the metro, Tori and Chad Arnold were outgrowing the commissary kitchen they used to keep up with pastry demand.
“We were doing all the work and all the behind-the-scenes stuff, and we were like, ‘Why don’t we just bring it front-facing?’” Tori recounted.
A family trip to Italy ultimately transformed the idea from a practical bakery operation into something more ambitious. The Arnolds returned home wanting to capture something of what they had experienced there through espresso, sandwiches, pastries and a slower approach to enjoying them.
“We were so sad when we left because there’s nothing like it here,” Tori said. “And so we were like, ‘All right, let’s do it.’”
With the concept in place, the next question was location. Serendipity entered the chat when Tori, after deciding against another potential location, happened to drive past the vacant Brown’s Bakery.
She called her husband with a simple declaration: “I think we’re supposed to go to Brown’s.”
The landlord had already completed significant renovations to the historic building before the Arnolds received the keys in January. They spent the next eight months transforming the bare-bones interior, and Mezzo opened in September.
I started with a deliciously sippable spritz, which I dutifully took my time enjoying. I love the inclusivity of a spot that takes espresso, cocktails and zero-proof drinks equally seriously.
After an impossible deliberation, I opted for the Scelta Madre sandwich, made with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil cream. The house-made schiacciata—focaccia’s better-for-sandwiches cousin—was the perfect platform for just-right bites of salty prosciutto, pillowy mozzarella and fresh tomato. Basil cream snuck into every nook and cranny of the airy bread, which somehow held its structure through the last perfect nibble.
I knew the breads and cheeses were made in-house. While visiting with the team, I also learned they mill their own flour, as one does.
At this point, my initial snobbery seemed downright silly. Much like my Summer Moon habit, I suspect Mezzo will quickly become part of my regular rotation.
I rounded the whole thing out with a wild-looking, delicious pignoli cookie. While it may be a classic Italian cookie, I’d never seen one before. It looked like a delicious little armadillo, and it will not be my last.
I’ve never been to Italy. In truth, I don’t know if I’ll get there in my lifetime, as is the case for many of us. But if I squint just a little while taking a bite of that sandwich, listening to the vague beats of a low-key house track above the din of my fellow Okies chatting, I’m not sure I need to suspend disbelief by much.
Every city can use more third places, but especially Oklahoma City, amid a population boom and with an upcoming date with the Olympics. Mezzo is to cafés what Scissortail is to parks: It has upped the ante in the best possible way.
This article appears in Thunder Season Preview.