A highly anticipated Fresno cocktail bar is opening. Here are five things to know about it
Modernist cocktail bar is opening in downtown Fresno.
After several special events and social media posts teasing its opening, the bar officially opens to the public at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
It’s a business that Fresnans have been watching and waiting for, ever since its owners announced last summer that they were taking over a space in a newly renovated 1920 building at 719 Fulton Street.
Here are five things you need to know about Modernist.
1. It’s in Fresno’s Brewery District. It’s in the same building that literally has “Brewery District” painted on the side, just one building south of Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Co’s beer garden. Zack’s Brewing Co. is across the street and a craft beer tasting room is scheduled to open in the same building as Modernist.
So now when people hit up breweries in the area, dubbed the Downtown Fresno Ale Trail, their non beer-drinking friends have an option, said bar director and partner in the business, Ryan Metcalf. Of course, customers who aren’t brewery-hopping are welcome, too.
“Now, there’s something for everyone down here as far as drinking goes,” he said. “I want downtown to be people’s first choice.”
The recent changes on the street, along with Tioga-Sequoia being so close, were a “huge factor” in choosing the location, said Modernist owner Carmen Serrato.
The closeness to the beer scene is also why Modernist will serve beer and always have one cocktail with beer in it on the menu. To start, it’s the strawberry blonde, a sweet and fruity drink made with bourbon, lemon, strawberries and a strawberry blonde ale from Tioga-Sequoia.
Modernist doesn’t have a sign on the building yet, so look for that mural. And you may need to park at a meter, so bring quarters.
2. It’s all about the cocktails here. There are the classics on the menu: An old fashioned, a daiquiri, a Pisco sour.
But it’s the creative cocktails where Modernist really revs things up.
Fresno already has places getting creative with craft cocktails (13 Prime Steak, Lucy’s Lounge and The Annex Kitchen, to name a few) but innovation is front and center here. Its menu will change quarterly and all its bartenders are expected to pitch new ideas for cocktails, Serrato said.
One creative option: A drink called Barry Naught’s farm (Like Knott’s Berry Farm but “naught” because it’s trademarked). The drink is a nod to the cookies sold at the theme park’s gift shop and the boysenberries the business once farmed.
It’s made with vodka, boysenberry jam and a simple syrup made from cookies. Each pink drink is topped with a shortbread cookie.
There’s also the bar’s take on a cloak and dagger, a cocktail made with gin and lemon. Absinthe is combined with agar agar (made from algae) to create a layer of foam on top with a heady licorice scent.
A menu describes each cocktail – including who created it – and what it tastes like. It also has a glossary of cocktail terms and a visual map of the cocktails ranging from light to boozy that customers can use to explain to bartenders what they want to try.
“Tell us your favorite spirit. Tell us what mood you’re in and we’ll help steer you in the right direction,” said Metcalf, who opened the bar at 13 Prime Steak and also worked at The Annex Kitchen.
3. Modernist floats dried lemons and limes as garnishes in drinks instead of fresh slices. Sustainability is driving that, with dried fruits lasting longer and making less waste at the end of the night, Metcalf said.
4. One of the owners is from Fresno. Serrato is a 2009 Edison High School grad. Her partner Po Tsai is from Dallas.
Serrato grew up in the Roosevelt High area, and has watched the changes in downtown happen over the years. But she is no small-town gal. She lived in New York City for seven years, along with the Bay Area and San Francisco.
She and Tsai have traveled to London, Shanghai and other cities worldwide.
“We love to travel and we base our travel on where the top cocktail bars are,” she said. “A lot of the techniques (in making cocktails) are informed by things that we see when we travel.”
She added: “We want to put Fresno on the map in the cocktail world.”
5. Although it’s in the Brewery District, Modernist doesn’t share that warehouse feel common in a lot of breweries. Quite the opposite: It has modern feel with lots of gold, plush navy stools and couches, exposed brick and a quartz bar top.
It was designed by Fresno-based DESVGN studio.
The bar also got some help from other local businesses when it won the 2019 Create Here Business Plan Competition created by the Downtown Fresno Partnership.
Details: Modernist is at 719 Fulton St. Hours: From 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesdays through Thursdays, from 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays, from noon to 1:30 a.m. Saturdays, and from noon to midnight Sundays.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
