This steak was once one of the most popular dishes in Fresno. You can get it next month
Note: Due to overwhelming response, UCP has stopped taking orders for its stuffed steak fundraiser.
When longtime Fresnans reminisce about restaurants of years past, Nicola’s is almost always mentioned.
The restaurant on Maroa Avenue, just south of Shields Avenue, closed after 25 years in 1997, but people still talk about its signature dish: The stuffed steak.
It was a New York strip steak designed to serve two. It was stuffed with provolone cheese and Black Forest ham sliced paper thin, and topped with sauteed mushrooms.
When we published recipes from long-closed restaurants during shelter in place in April, many readers asked for this stuffed steak recipe.
We don’t have it, but we know how you can eat this dish once again.
Where to get stuffed steak
United Cerebral Palsy Central California is holding its annual fundraiser, called Pulling Strings, and is featuring the dish as part of a three-course meal.
The stuffed steak will be prepared by chef Keith Allen, who worked at Nicola’s in its heyday, and his wife, former ABC30 news anchor Liz Harrison.
The meal will be distributed via a drive-thru on Saturday, Oct. 3, with pick-up times between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the UCP Arts and Technology Center, 4224 N. Cedar Ave.
The meals cost $35 per person, or $60 for two. The deadline to order is Sept. 30. Order by calling 559-221-8272 or online at www.ucpcc.org/pulling-strings.
The full meal includes the steak, rosemary garlic potatoes in butter and olive oil, an Italian squash medley cooked with white wine and basil, and salad. Dessert is cannoli from Famous Ray’s Northside Deli, which opened earlier this year.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
