By admin 
The Sacramento Bee and Nehemiah Leaders Programs are celebrating this year’s 60 Change Makers. Join them at our gala at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Grand Sheraton in downtown Sacramento. Buy tickets at sacramentochangemakers.com.
Read more Fiery crash shuts down lanes on Interstate 80 in Placer County near Loomis
Marie Mertz says her life has always been “by accident.”
Fresh out of college, she didn’t expect to open a restaurant. She took a job in an entirely different field.
Mertz was applying to graduate school when she and her now husband went on a trip to her native Mexico. On that trip, when they were “eating tacos everywhere,” she said she told him: “It would be so great to open a restaurant.”
He took it literally. He called her one day and said he found a location. They signed a lease for Todo Un Poco, their Mexican-Italian restaurant in Elk Grove.
“Little did I know I went to Todo Un Poco University, and I am still enrolled,” Mertz said.
Read more Folsom DUI checkpoint planned Friday night. What drivers should know
Mertz’s menu at the 28-year-old restaurant is inspired by her childhood. Her father had a friend who was Italian and would bring spaghetti and meatballs to their house. When there were leftovers, Mertz’s mother would dress them up with Mexican ingredients.
Sustainability is at the core of Mertz’s restaurant’s mission. It is a zero-waste kitchen — using ingredients in their entirety and bringing anything they are unable to use to a local farm. She is teaching her employees her ways, Mertz said, aiming for them to bring this mindset to their next jobs.
Mertz also partnered with the Rancho Cordova Food Bank for six months this year to take its extra food and make ready-to-eat meals to give to those in need. She said her kitchen has saved 14,000 pounds of food, serving more than 16,000 meals. Mertz hopes to extend the program.
“For us, Todo Un Poco is more than a restaurant,” Mertz said. “It is a restaurant that was based and founded in community and has always been involved in the community.”
Read more Davis City Council passes measure to clarify, streamline outdoor dining program