Three new restaurants open in Fresno area with pizza, pho and Mediterranean food
Three new restaurants have opened in Fresno and Clovis – four if you count the boba tea shop attached to one of them.
Like multi-cultured Fresno, the restaurants’ cuisines are diverse, including Mediterranean, Italian pizza and pho, the Vietnamese soup that is so popular here.
One has a boba tea shop attached.
Here’s a look at who’s opening, what they serve and a few extra interesting details about the businesses.
Petra’s Mediterranean
People who regularly drive Blackstone Avenue know this restaurant has been in the works for a long time, though it was delayed by COVID-19. Petra Mediterranean Grill is in a newly constructed building south of Barstow Avenue, in front of Furniture City.
It’s open now.
Inside is an elegant quick-service restaurant featuring Mediterranean food, including shawarma and kebabs, sandwiches and salads.
The menu includes plates served with a protein – like chicken, lamb and beef kebabs, or lamb chops – with rice, salad, hummus and pita bread. A vegetarian plate is also available with falafel.
Sandwiches are made from skewers of ground meat or shawarma (slices of chicken or beef stacked on a vertical rotisserie, cooking from the outside in as they rotate).
Most entrees cost between $10.99 and $16.99, and there are plates available that serve five or 10 people.
Six kinds of salads are on the menu, along with appetizers like hummus.
The cuisine is Jordanian. The name Petra refers to a city in Jordan, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and its red sandstone cliffs introduced to many Americans in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
This is the first restaurant for owner Murad Alrawashdeh. He opened Petra because he said he couldn’t find a Mediterranean eatery to his liking and the location is close to his other business, Elegant Furniture.
Details: Petra Mediterranean Grill is at 5353 N. Blackstone Ave. Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. 559-449-3037.
Lime N Basil/TeaZona
These two sister businesses have moved into the former MaRoo restaurant In the Pavilion West shopping center at Bullard and West avenues. They’re still in the early stages of opening.
Lime N Basil is all about pho. Literally. It’s the only thing on the menu and there’s 19 kinds to choose from, plus a build-your-own option.
The name refers to the toppings you put on the pho.
There are at least eight types of the soup with steak, from Wagyu to the traditional house pho and pho with steak paired with meatballs or brisket.
Other options include chicken, shrimp and a vegetarian/vegan pho, all served with a fried bread stick.
There is also a sour and spicy soup section of the menu made with chicken broth.
Attached to the restaurant is TeaZona, a boba or bubble tea counter.
It’s got all the traditional boba teas with the chewy little balls of tapioca in them. The milk teas here are made with a nondairy creamer, in flavors like Earl Grey, peach and lychee, a small fruit with a floral taste.
The fruit teas are ideal for hot Fresno summers, many of them with chunks of fruit in the drinks.
And there’s a ton of blended drinks, some with coffee and some without, including tiger latte drinks made with Taiwanese brown sugar.
One thing to try even though it may be outside some people’s comfort zone? Cheese foam atop your tea.
We’re not talking about a slice of Velveeta in your drink, far from it. Cheese foam is a creamy topping (here made from heavy cream, whole milk and cheddar cheese powder) that adds a mild richness to the drink, similar to the taste milk adds to a latte. You can sip the cheese foam from the top or mix it into the entire drink.
Details: Lime N Basil and TeaZona are at 2075 W. Bullard Ave., near the Fresno Breakfast House. Lime N Basil is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. TeaZona is open daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
La Pizza Nostra
In Italian, La Pizza Nostra means “Our Pizza.” This new pizza shop is at Willow and Gettysburg avenues in Clovis, though some may know the spot better as the former Double Play Pizza or Wild Wolf Pizza.
But a new owner bought the equipment and took over the space in March. Daniel Mucino has 28 years in the pizza industry, most of it as a manager. He and partner Francisco Garcia opened the restaurant in March.
Get him talking about pizza and he’ll wax poetic about the thick-yet-airy crust recipe he developed, and everything else on the pizza.
“Pizza is pizza, but I think pizza has a tendency to have something magical,” he said. “It’s an experience.”
In addition to the traditional cheese, pepperoni, meat lovers and vegetarian options, La Pizza Nostra is experimenting with some unique options.
One is essentially elote, the Mexican corn, turned into a pizza topped with butter, cotija cheese, chile powder and mayo.
Another is a chile verde pizza with housemade tomatillo sauce, pork, cilantro, jalapenos, cotija and a sour cream and cilantro sauce.
Also on the menu: Chicken wings, calzone, salads and cookies made by Mucino’s wife.
The business is waiting on its liquor license to offer beer and wine, and will likely expand its hours once it does. La Pizza Nostra delivers pizza via DoorDash.
Details: La Pizza Nostra is at 2794 Willow Ave., suite 109 in Clovis, 559-294-5952. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and until 8:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
