Pardini’s, Annex owners have opened a new bar. Here’s why it may be familiar
A new bar has opened in Fresno – and it may be familiar if you’re a longtime Fresnan.
Al’s Bar opened Thursday serving drinks created by the bartenders at Annex Kitchen. The bar is next door to the restaurant at 2257 W. Shaw Ave. It’s inside Pardini’s Catering’s banquet facility that typically is rented out for events.
It used to be the bar inside the restaurant called Pardini’s, and was later bar and night club Knock Three Times.
The catering business is on hold as it could be a while before large gatherings with hundreds of people are allowed in California because of the coronavirus pandemic. So the Pardini family decided to open Al’s Bar.
Al is Al Pardini, a longtime restaurateur who was grandfather to Jimmy (who runs Annex) and Jeff (who runs the concessions side of the business) and father to Jim, who owns Pardini’s Banquets and Catering.
Just how long Al’s Bar will stick around isn’t clear, said Jimmy Pardini.
“I see it definitely lasting the rest of the year, depending upon how things go,” he said. “We’re just going to have to see where it goes.”
Al’s is a cocktail lounge with a 1950s and ‘60s vibe.
“It’s an homage to his restaurants and that traditional bar scene,” Pardini said. “Classic cocktails but with all the same attention to detail that we like to pay … at the Annex.”
The Pardinis brought in a piano for live music on Fridays and Saturdays.
The menu includes drinks like a Hemingway daiquiri – an Ernest Hemingway twist on the drink with no sugar and double the rum – and Boston sours, a whiskey sour with egg white.
The bar also serves food, including snacks and more substantial food.
Like other bars in Fresno, customers must practice social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, with seats six feet apart.
Since the bar at Annex Kitchen is under the same requirements, it is down to four seats instead of the usual 10. When it fills up, the restaurant can direct people to Al’s Bar, Pardini noted.
Al’s Bar will be open 4 p.m. to close Tuesdays through Saturdays.
