This Fresno chef once ran a Tower District sushi spot. His new restaurant is a new direction
Sometimes the person making the food is just as fascinating as what’s on your plate.
Take the new restaurant L’Apéritif Bistro Fusion, for example.
It opened Aug. 1 in the former Shenanigans Irish pub at the southeast corner of Herndon and Cedar avenues. It’s a fusion restaurant serving all kinds of cuisine, from French and Italian to Korean dishes – even some ramen and escargot.
But most people probably know the chef and owner behind it, Thomas Nouantanouvanh, from Tower Sushi.
He and partner Noi ran that restaurant for four years in the heart of the Tower District, after taking it over from his brother-in-law, who ran it as Mr. Sushi.
They closed Tower Sushi, which was on a month-to-month lease, earlier this year after the building was sold to a new owner who wanted to do something different with the space.
The Nouantanouvanhs were sad about it, but viewed it as an opportunity because Thomas wanted to do so much more than sushi.
“It’s risky, but you love your job,” he said. “When you love what you do, it’s no matter.”
Nouantanouvanh went to culinary school in France for baking. He was born in Laos to a father who was in the French military and grew up in the Alsace region of France. He moved to the U.S. in 2009.
His culinary career is as varied as the places he’s lived.
At age 15 he apprenticed at a patisserie – a bakery in France – but didn’t like the 2 a.m. wake-up time.
He’s been a sommelier and a fromager (a wine expert and a cheese expert) at a Texas steakhouse and resort, and worked at a Chinese fine dining restaurant in France.
When he moved to Fresno to be closer to family, he took a job as a delivery driver for a meat-processing plant. When his boss discovered he could cook, he had Nouantanouvanh make samples of chicken cordon bleu and meatballs to send to casino restaurants in Las Vegas and elsewhere.
It resulted in a huge uptick in orders, he said.
That led to work at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold.
He told them his English wasn’t very good, but “they just say, ‘No problem, you just cook,’” he said.
The menu
All those experiences combined to form the international dinner menu at L’Apéritif.
L’Apéritif (pronounced La-pair-ee-teef) translates to aperitif in English, the pre-dinner drink designed to stimulate the appetite.
The restaurant is also a wine and sake bar, with 80 types of each. It also serves soju, which Nouantanouvanh describes as an Asian tequila.
There’s a tapas (small plates) menu that includes everything from spicy beef teriyaki bruschetta to escargot, snails in garlic truffle butter.
Most dishes on the main menu range from $15 to $38.
You see the blending of cuisines in dishes like the gnocchi served with grilled chicken and a miso cream sauce. Or the cioppino, an Italian-American dish with a chile broth.
“It’s a very unique flavor,” he said of the cioppino. “Fusion spice, Italian and Korean spice.”
Steamed sea snail was a recent special.
And you can still get a traditional steak.
“It’s not fancy. It’s not fast food,” Nouantanouvanh said. “You can have spaghetti with sake and it’s very good.”
You won’t find sushi on the menu, however, because he doesn’t want to compete with nearby restaurants.
COVID-19
Opening the restaurant during the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t been easy.
They put a few tables out front but don’t have a patio. Nouantanouvanh insists his food is better eaten there, instead of as takeout.
Opening the dining room up to 25% capacity has helped business. They hope to continue to serve customers at every other booth in their dining room, even as Fresno County’s COVID-19 cases are headed in the wrong direction.
Because they closed Tower Sushi, they were not eligible for PPP loans, federal money available to help restaurants stay afloat during the shutdowns spurred by COVID-19.
The restaurant is funded with their own money.
“When you become a restaurateur for 30 years, you just do what you have to do,” he said. “You open restaurants because you love the restaurant business.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "This Fresno chef once ran a Tower District sushi spot. His new restaurant is a new direction."
