Snap, Crackle & Pop Culture
A new cereal bar opens in Old Sacramento and serves up everything from Corn Pops to Instagrammable backdrops
Laterica Reddix-Espinoza is pumped up. But it’s not due to a sugar rush from the decadent desserts, supercharged soda pop concoctions, or over-the-top flavor combinations at her new cereal bar—aptly named Cerealism.
No, it’s because she just got word that an actress from the long-running TV show Pretty Little Liars, Lindsey Shaw, was stopping by any minute to shoot some social media content for her 1.1 million TikTok followers. And Reddix-Espinoza, who is 44, shyly admits she was a devoted viewer. Suddenly, she’s 14.
And frankly, that’s the point: Evoking giddy memories is the goal of her colorful new venture in an Old Sacramento basement—the same room that enthralled a generation of teens when it housed The Time Zone arcade from the ’70s through the ’90s.
Cerealism dispenses nostalgia with classics like Froot Loops and Cheerios.
“One of my favorite feelings as a child was watching Saturday morning cartoons with a bowl of cereal,” Reddix-Espinoza says. So, she wondered, “How can I package a Saturday morning feel? I wanted to create that feeling of being happy.”
The answer was to combine those sweet cereals we all remember with a modern iteration of Saturday morning cartoons—social media content creation. At Cerealism, that means vibrant themed backdrops like Toucan Falls, featuring depictions of a 6-foot-tall milk waterfall and giant Fruit Loops “floating” beneath your feet.
Actress Lindsey Shaw (left) and model Mila Deya in the Toucan Falls room, featuring floating Froot Loops and a milk waterfall
And because the new cereal cafe—which launched on Dec. 3 in Old Sacramento—is targeting Gen Zers and millennials (versus their younger counterparts), it stays open until 1 a.m. on weekends and hosts 14-and-over nights. As for the menu, the focus is on creative, curated cereal-and-toppings-and-milk “specialty bowls” dripping with sugary delights (such as the Magilla Gorilla mash-up that includes Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, cinnamon roll and banana oat milk).
Specialty bowls like the Strawberry Shortcake (pictured)—which includes Very Berry Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Biscoff cookies, madeleine cake and, of course, strawberries—anchor the creative menu.
Reddix-Espinoza notes that patrons can add nutrient-rich options like fruit and flaxseed, and choose, say, nonfat milk instead of regular or horchata. But in terms of less, shall we say, sugar-forward options, “We had healthy bowls,” she explains. “But no one was buying them.”
In a sweet spot like this, that’s the kind of cereal killing we fully condone.
128 K St. cerealismcafe.com
