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New Mexican eatery, local fruit store open
Published online on Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009
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New restaurant Pico de Gallo has opened at Chestnut Avenue near Shepherd Avenue.
Modeled after the chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, the restaurant sells burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, salads and the Mexican sandwiches known as tortas. Each dish costs $5.99 or less.
Brothers Steven and Matt McComas run the restaurant, becoming the latest generation in the McComas family to become restaurateurs.
"We were practically born in restaurants," Matt McComas says. Their grandfather, Louis Palomino, headed the kitchens at the old Hacienda Resorts in Fresno and Los Angeles.
And their father, Bill McComas, has had a long culinary career. His experience includes stints as the executive chef of Community Medical Centers (then known as the Community Hospitals of Central California) and of Carrington Pointe, the senior citizens complex in northeast Fresno.
Bill McComas also launched the Cottage Cafe and Classic Catering Co. in Clovis; he is a past president of the San Joaquin Valley chapter of the American Culinary Federation's Chefs Association.
Matt and Steven McComas both grew up cooking, but Matt pursued it as a career. He runs the kitchen at Pico de Gallo, while his brother handles the 50-seat dining room.
Pico de Gallo, at 8967 N. Chestnut Ave., is open Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Call (559) 298-8348 for more information.
*California Gourmet Co., a retail arm of Bouquet of Fruits, opened Tuesday in Fig Garden Village.
The 23-year-old company sells gifts made with California fruit -- much of it from the central San Joaquin Valley.
Products include chocolate-covered strawberries and clementines, chocolate-caramel apples, and chocolate bark and truffles.
The company also is known for its gift baskets filled with fruit from local farms.
The 400-square-foot shop, located next to The Ripe Tomato, is a temporary location for the holidays, says Cory Colligan, who handles corporate marketing and sales for Bouquet of Fruits.
The company is looking for a larger, permanent location in Fig Garden Village.
Other than its corporate offices, Bouquet of Fruits hasn't had a retail location for a couple of years, Colligan says.
The company used to have a shop at Bullard and West avenues.
The company has focused largely on Internet sales. It operates gourmet shoppingnetwork.com, which handles online ordering and payment technologies for small food retailers.
But the focus on the Internet came at a price. "We kind of lost contact with our roots here in Fresno," Colligan says.
California Gourmet Co. aims to re-establish Bouquet of Fruits' presence.
The store is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 12-5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call (559) 432-9135.
The columnist can be reached at jobra@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6365. Read her blog at fresnobeehive.com/author/joan_obra.
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