This new restaurant is farm-to-table on steroids, with some familiar Fresno talent behind it
Fresno’s newest restaurant has a tandoori cauliflower entree on the menu.
There’s steak on the menu too, and there’s certainly a lot more exciting food than cauliflower available, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s an example of how Heirloom is something different.
The restaurant opened Jan. 31 at Park Crossing, the shopping center with the new Trader Joe’s at Friant Road and Fresno Street. It’s got some power players behind it – one of Fresno’s top chefs and the owners of some successful restaurants – and a neon beet on the wall.
It’s a farm-to-table restaurant, a term that gets bounced around so much lately it doesn’t mean much. Chef Justin Shannon calls Heirloom a “farm-driven restaurant,” though perhaps calling it a farm-to-table restaurant on steroids is an easy way to put it.
The menu features as much local produce and fruit as possible. That means there’s not just a Buffalo cauliflower appetizer made with locally grown cauliflower on the menu (though that is actually on the menu) but the roasted cauliflower gets to shine as a full entree with Fresno chiles, spices, tahini and a slaw made with cilantro, almonds and mint.
You can also get a strip steak, butternut squash agnolotti pasta, a fennel-crusted salmon, along with various salads (like the hipster Caesar, which has kale in it) and sandwiches. A build-your-ownoption lets customers pick a grilled protein (like ancho chile-crusted tri-tip, or shrimp with garlic butter) and two sides.
“We try to take all of the stuff we have here in the Valley and put it in the food,” Shannon said.
That sounds like a no-brainer, as Fresno County grows food that feeds the world. But Brandon Smittcamp, one of the owners of Heirloom, will tell you that some of the top-quality items grown here – like the unusual varieties of fruits grown in small quantities, for example – get sold to customers outside in the central San Joaquin Valley.
“The majority of the high-quality stuff goes out of Fresno,” he said. “All the awesome varieties of peaches, plums and nectarines, they’re not really getting sold here, they’re going out of town.”
To get around that, Heirloom does some of its buying directly from farms, in addition to using a supplier. And since what’s in season can change by the week, even the day, that means Heirloom’s menu will change frequently.
The owners bought a commercial printer so they can print new menus frequently. On a recent morning, an employee trimming the menus on a paper cutter was as much a part of kitchen prep as grilling meat.
The market bites section of the menu is where the chef really gets to play with seasonal food. The plates are designed to be shared. They include options like its “malawach bread,” a sort of cross between a flaky croissant and Indian naan that can be topped with various sauces. This week, it came with whipped brie, a port-honey reduction sauce and roasted pear.
Although this place might sound like a high-end restaurant, it’s not. It’s designed to be a quick experience. Customers order at the counter and the food is brought to their tables, which servers find using a pager. Most of the food is between $7 and $20.
Smittcamp, part of a longtime farming family, also owns The Lime Lite restaurant and is a partner in the three Butterfish restaurants serving poke bowls and other food. The other partners in Butterfish, Kevin and Rema Koligian, also own Heirloom, and are part of another longtime farming family.
You may also recognize the man spearheading the restaurant’s extensive drink menu. Luke Fisher of Garden Cocktails, who debuted in The Bee nearly three years ago, is known for his pop-up cocktail events at The Lime Lite and other locations.
Fisher uses the Valley’s fruit and veggies the way chefs do, except the end product is a cocktail. It’s not unusual for him to muddle a whole mandarin orange in a drink or use a giant handful of dill as a garnish, all with a local flair.
The tropic thunder cocktail is made with locally grown white guavas, vodka, strawberries from Watsonville and English cucumbers. There’s also a Moscow Mule made with gin, infused with mandarin oranges,cherry, lemon, mint, ginger and cucumber flavors.
Infused spirits are also available, like gin infused with Meyer lemons or vodka infused with Buddha’s hand, the unusual hand-shaped citrus fruit. You can order them on the rocks, or mixed with juice club soda or tonic.
Beer, wine and kombucha (a fermented tea) are also on the menu.
And for the nondrinkers, Fisher applied his drink-making method to shaken teas without alcohol. There’s the green-coconut passion tea, for example, made with green tea, coconut water, passion fruit and aloe vera.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Details: 8398 N. Fresno St. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram. (559) 228-9735.
This story was originally published February 6, 2019 at 11:26 AM.
