Teriyaki tri-tip and bear-themed caffeine among new tastes on the restaurant scene

From burger places to fast Japanese food, at least five new restaurants are opening in the area.

The newbies are part of the normal comings and goings on the restaurant scene. All but one are locally owned.

Here’s what you need to know about them, including what to order.

Kenji’s

Kenji’s Teriyaki Grill is a Japanese restaurant that doesn’t serve sushi. It’s in the new building on Blackstone Avenue with Jersey Mike’s Subs and Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in front of Target at Bullard Avenue.

The fast-casual restaurant is an order-at-the-counter type of place that serves teriyaki bowls and plates with chicken, pork, shrimp, salmon or tofu, and rice and veggies.

What to get here: The owners recommend Kenji’s katsu chicken, which is white meat breaded with panko breadcrumbs and deep fried. It can be served with rice and tempura vegetables or steamed vegetables.

Another rising star?

“The thing that’s starting to pick up is the tri-tip,” says Kin Jew, who owns Kenji’s with his wife Lee. “We use a different technique to make it super tender.”

Kin Jew is also part owner at Pete’s Teriyaki House at Marks and Shaw avenues. His family used to own Fong’s Chinese on Tulare Street, where he helped out as a youngster. The couple – she with a business degree and he with a chemistry degree, both from Fresno State – would eventually own Fong’s for a year before selling it.

A piece of trivia: Check out the greenery on the wall at Kenji’s. It’s movable and they change it regularly to spell out words like “love” or “eat.”

Details: Find them on Facebook or at 5776 N. Blackstone Ave. 559-374-6800.

Kodiak Mountain Coffee

Local couple Chad and Ashley Snavely are behind the new little coffee kiosk at Barstow Avenue and First Street. Kodiak Mountain Coffee is just a stone’s throw from the Triangle Drive-In.

You can walk up to it or use the drive-thru.

Kodiak has all the typical drinks – coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, tea, etc. – with a bear theme. So the dark roast is dubbed “grizzly bear” and the decaf is called “sleepy bear.”

Some things are a little different than your typical coffee spot, however.

“We’re trying to take it back to the old mom-and-pop way of doing things, where we deal as much as we can with other mom-and-pop companies,” said Chad Snavely, who was in industrial sales of nuts and bolts for years and used to own some of the Ewell’s Place cocktail lounges in town.

Kodiak’s coffee is a blend they created with Mariposa Coffee Company, which also roasts the beans.

Instead of the Torani syrups often used to flavor lattes (which can be packed with sugar) the Snavelys use extracts directly from ingredients like hazelnuts or cinnamon, for example.

What to get here: Whatever you want. Kodiak has a build-your own option that lets customers pick from five milks, more than two dozen flavored extracts and then choose how sweet they want the drink. Five levels of sweetness are available to choose from, from a sugar-based sweetener or a Splenda-based sweetener.

You can order lactose-free milk in your latte, (one of the owners is lactose intolerant, he made sure it’s on the menu) along with whole, fat-free, soy or almond milks.

A real recommendation: Autumn leaves, a drink the couple created that includes espresso, maple syrup, brown sugar and hazelnut extract.

Kodiak also sells “polar bear freezes” without coffee that they say taste like milkshakes.

Details: Find them on Facebook or at 737 E Barstow Ave. 559-374-6127.

The Tap House

For fans of craft beer and pizza, The Tap House has opened at Avenue 16 exit on Highway 99 in Madera.

It’s a pizza, craft beer and wine place. Only craft beers are on tap here (though you can get bottles of other domestic beers), said Dustin Franklin, who owns The Tap House with his wife Traci.

“That’s why we ended up in Madera,” he said. “We wanted to fill the craft beer void here.”

The Tap House is in a former Subway restaurant, though it looks totally different now.

Besides the beer, the restaurant serves appetizers and pizza made in a brick oven, including a build-your-own pizza.

What to get here: Customers’ favorite is the asada pie, a pizza with carne asada, onions, jalapeño, cheese, olives and a housemade cilantro pesto.

Details: Find them on Facebook or at 2175 N. Schnoor St. Suite 101. 559-377-5000.

Colorado Grill

The locally owned restaurant has opened a third location, this one on West Shaw Avenue near West Avenue. The new Colorado Grill is between Starbucks and The Broilers in the former Grilled Chz sandwich shop.

It’s the same as the other Colorado Grill locations, serving burgers, salads, fries and milkshakes.

What to get here: The half-pound Boulder burger is popular with customers. Turkey and veggie burgers are available, too.

Some trivia: After Grilled Chz closed, Deli Delicious rented the spot with the intent of making it into a test kitchen. Plans changed and Colorado Grill ended up taking over the lease.

Details: Find them at ColoradoGrillRestaurants.com or at 2088 W. Shaw Ave. Suite 103. 559-412-7860.

Five Guys

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is continuing its expansion blitz in the area.

The restaurant chain’s latest location, at Campus Pointe near Chestnut Avenue and Highway 168, is scheduled to open Saturday. It’s right next to Maya Cinemas in the spot that was briefly occupied by Wok It Out.

Five Guys recently dethroned In-N-Out as the top burger joint, according to The Harris Poll’s annual EquiTrend Study.

It will be the fifth Five Guys in Fresno and Clovis. In recent months the company has opened new locations at Fashion Fair mall and at Fowler and Herndon avenues in Clovis.

Details: FiveGuys.com, 3074 E. Campus Pointe Drive.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Teriyaki tri-tip and bear-themed caffeine among new tastes on the restaurant scene."