From Erna’s takeout to full-service gas, these Fresno-area businesses are staying active
Do you remember when my stories mostly told you about new restaurants and stores opening in Fresno?
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Obviously, times have changed. The coronavirus instead has me writing about closures and all the different ways restaurants and retailers are adjusting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since there’s so many new services and different ways to get food and other supplies lately, I thought I’d round up some of the more useful and interesting news out there and put it one place.
The Annex Market
The Annex Kitchen restaurant is transforming into a market to sell goods it has access to, that shoppers are having a hard time finding.
The restaurant at 2257 W. Shaw Ave. will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Four people will be allowed in at a time and people are asked not to bring in their reusable shopping bags to cut down on the transfer of germs.
It will be selling items from other suppliers like fresh produce, meat, dairy, wine and grocery items like soap.
It will also sell items made by Annex Kitchen staff, including dried pasta, sauces, bread and cocktails.
The restaurant continues to be open for takeout orders.
Details: 559-248-8512.
Elbow Room
Elbow Room Bar & Grill is doing something similar, allowing customers to pre-order vacuum-sealed, freezer-ready steaks and salmon.
They’re also taking orders for produce packs for $30 that include lots of vegetables, like lettuce, tomatoes, garlic, Brussels sprouts – even a roll of toilet paper.
Dairy packs are also available for $30 and include milk, butter, eggs, cheese, a baguette, focaccia, and yes, a roll of toilet paper.
Details: Call 559-227-1234.
Curbside cocktails
Modernist, the cocktail bar that opened in downtown Fresno in January with a ton of fanfare, is reopen for curbside service.
How is that possible since bars have been ordered closed by the City of Fresno, you ask? Well, the state of California relaxed liquor rules so that places selling food can sell cocktails to go, as long as they’re in secured containers with lids and sold with food.
So the Modernist folks are selling cocktails, along with a $5 hors d’oeuvre/meal package that you must buy to get the drinks.
Details are on its website and Facebook, but you can essentially choose from seven cocktails like its house margarita or an Old Fashioned for two or four people. They’re available in regular cocktail size or 750 milliliter bottles.
Prices range from $18 to $50 for regular sizes. Curbside cocktails are available from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays.
Order via Instagram, Facebook, by emailing team@modernistfresno.com or by calling 559-492-3585 between noon and 9 p.m. on the days they’re open.
Full-service gas
This one is heartwarming: Maroa Shell is offering full-service gas for customers age 65 and over or people with health risks.
Pull up to the pump and honk twice and they’ll pump the gas for you.
This is the Shell station at Maroa and Shields avenues that also has a “beer cave” selling all sorts of craft beer.
Erna’s curbside
File this one in the “now we’ve seen it all” category: The Valley’s only restaurant with a four-star Forbes rating is doing curbside takeout.
Erna’s Elderberry House in Oakhurst has a takeout menu online that includes entrees for two, like seared salmon and herb-roasted chicken.
You can also get dessert and the kind of appetizers that you only find at places like Erna’s, including a carrot ginger soup and crisp risotto cake with Dungeness crab.
Prices are more affordable than Erna’s typical menu, too, with entrees selling for $25 and appetizers between $6 and $14. Wines on its online wine menu are 50% off.
Erna’s also has a market with high-demand items like milk, butter, flour, rice, pasta, fruit, veggies – even half a pound of brie cheese. The full menu is online.
The services are available daily from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and orders can be placed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. by calling 559-683-6800.
Grocery stores
The checkout at your local supermarket is going to start looking a little different – if it hasn’t already.
Grocery store employees are essential workers and while many of us are hiding at home, they’re kind enough to go to work to make sure we have enough to eat. They’re potentially exposing themselves to COVID-19 every day and dealing with a massive increase in customers.
Stores are starting to make changes to protect them and to prevent customers from spreading the disease.
Stores like Grocery Outlet downtown have taped marks on the floor so customers know how to stand 6 feet apart while in line.
Stores like Vons, Save Mart and Foods Co. have installed plexiglass barriers – or will soon – to act as sneeze guards between customers and cashiers. Many cashiers are also wiping down surfaces, including the machine where customers pay with their cards, between customers.
Best Buy
Best Buy is offering curbside service. The store itself is closed, but customers can shop and pay for their items online and pick them up in the parking lot.
The retailer was doing brisk business lately. That’s probably because a whole bunch of people, like me, are suddenly working from home and missing their ergonomic chairs and keyboards.
Same-day pickup is available if you order early enough. The parking lot has signs telling you where to park. Employees stay 6 feet away from your car, and are wearing gloves and vests.
You don’t have to sign or touch anything to pick up your items and they’ll even put them in your trunk for you.
Oh, yeah
As grocery and big-box stores are increasingly selling out of high-demand supplies, people are turning to other retailers to find them. Often, it’s the ones you didn’t think about at first that still have this stuff in stock.
Like Fresno Ag, for example, selling toilet paper and cleaning supplies. The store is doing curbside pickup and delivery.
Big Lots stores are selling food, cleaning supplies and cough and cold medicine. The stores also offer curbside pickup for people who shop online and call the store when they arrive.
Walgreens stores are selling essential items through drive-thrus normally reserved for pharmacies. Pull up and ask for a special menu of items like household goods, baby formula, cough and cold medications, groceries and medical supplies. Pay and they’ll put your order together for you.
Simonian Farms at Jensen and Clovis avenues is selling milk, eggs and produce. They also offer curbside service.
Gibson Wine Company at 1720 Academy Ave. in Sanger is selling denatured alcohol for people interested in making their own hand sanitizer. The line was long Friday, but the winery was expected to have more for sale Monday.
And although services like grocery delivery service Instacart are slammed these days, people often forget about Postmates.com. It’s an online delivery service for restaurants, but it also delivers non-edible items from 7-Eleven, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid.
It has nowhere near the offerings of a grocery store app, but if you’re like me and struggling to get toilet paper delivered to your senior relatives in another city, it can come in handy.
Got questions on where to get something? Suggestions? Email me at bclough@fresnobee.com.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 4:51 PM.
