Two new diverse restaurants and a coffee shop coming to downtown Fresno. Here’s where
Another wave of eateries is coming to downtown Fresno, this time with a couple of diverse options.
A Vietnamese restaurant, an Ethiopian restaurant and a coffee shop that may be familiar are slated to open before the end of the year.
This burst of activity is in addition to several businesses already working to open in downtown Fresno. Regular Fresno Bee readers may know about Fig & Honey Lavish Grazing and its plans to open a wine and cheese bar with a specialty market in the historic T.W. Patterson Building on Fulton Street.
Natural wine bar St. Joaquin (by the same people who own the Quail State rooftop bar) is also getting closer to opening in the Peerless Building, the big 1935 brick building at the corner of Broadway and Amador streets. South of Shaw Beer is also planning to open in that building.
Famous Ray’s Northside Deli is still planning to open a second location at Fresno and P streets.
And the Brewery District continues its progress, with work continuing on food truck Dab Tacos’ brick-and-mortar restaurant next to Modernist cocktail bar on Fulton Street near Mono Street. Next door, a tasting room by downtown brewer/distiller 411 Broadway Ales & Spirits is also in the works.
But back to the latest news. Here’s who’s coming
Huong Lan
Asian restaurant Huong Lan has put up signs teasing its newest location in the former Coney Island restaurant space at 1920 Tulare St., near Chukchansi Park.
Huong Lan has three other locations in town serving pho (the Vietnamese soup with steak and noodles), banh mi sandwiches made with French bread, boba tea and other dishes.
This location is quite a bit smaller than its other restaurants, so it’s not clear yet if it will have the full menu.
The owner is aiming for an August opening.
In the meantime, he’s gutting the space, which recently has been home to Twentieth Century Grill and The Pizza Pit.
Fasika
Fasika Ethiopian restaurant has signed a lease to open a location in the Helm building downtown, according to the building’s owner, Sevak Khatchadourian.
The 1914 building, at the northwest corner of Fulton and Mariposa streets, is across the street from the clock tower. That same corner is home to a growing restaurant scene, with Chicken Shack and several other restaurants on one corner, and La Boulangerie bakery’s walk-up window and Quail State on another corner.
Khatchadourian has been remodeling the ground floor of the Helm building.
“It looks completely different,” he said, adding that 90% of the columns on the ground floor had to be replaced.
When it’s finished, a big swath of the sidewalk will be inside a railing (similar to La Boulangerie across the intersection at his other property, the Pacific Southwest Building) for outdoor dining, he said.
Remodeling is almost done and Khatchadourian said he hopes Fasika will open by the end of the year.
The restaurant’s current location on Blackstone Avenue serves Ethiopian and Kenyan food. It’s known for its big shared family-style dishes served with spongy injera bread and eaten with your fingers.
Little Bean
The Little Bean Cafe has also signed a lease to take over a corner of the building.
The coffee shop may be familiar to some. It was open in the same spot, serving coffee and crepes, until it closed about six years ago due an electrical problem with the building.
The coffee shop will eventually return with the same owner, Khatchadourian.
And yet another place to eat and drink may be in the works. Khatchadourian said he’s looking to sign a wine bar on the other corner of the building.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 11:02 AM.
