Newest restaurant by Annex Kitchen is opening in Fresno — and it’s all about pizza
A good old fashioned pepperoni pizza. A pizza slathered in pesto and cheese. And pineapple pizza topped with smoked prosciutto and Fresno chiles.
These pizzas are a sample of what’s on the menu at Annesso Pizzeria, which opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 28, in the northeast corner of the shopping center at Friant Road and Fresno Street, near Trader Joe’s.
But to call this a pizza place is just wrong. This is not your neighborhood pizza joint with a salad bar and a claw machine where your kid can try to win a stuffed animal.
Annesso Pizzeria is by the same people behind the Annex Kitchen — Jimmy Pardini and his family. (If you’ve been living under a rock, Annex is easily one of the city’s best restaurants, where weekend reservations book up weeks in advance.)
Italian-inspired Annex has pizza on the menu and a brick pizza oven, but Annesso is different. (Annesso is Italian for annex.)
“Here we have a little more fun with the pizza,” Pardini said. “You would never find a pineapple pizza at Annex. You would never find ranch dressing at Annex. We’re being a little more playful here.”
On the menu
All the pizzas are 12 inches here and range from $16 to $19. They’re designed to be shared – get one or two for the table – along with appetizers and salads on the menu. The cocktail menu is something you’ll want to check out here too.
You can get that ranch dressing, made in-house of course, to dip your pizza in. It’s also on the Americano pizza, which comes with ranch, vodka sauce, pepperoncini, onions, sausage and fontina and mozzarella cheese.
Other pizza options include barbecue chicken with Sanger-based Mary’s Free Range Chicken, and cacio e pepe, a version of the classic cheese and pepper dish in pizza form.
Annesso is a full-service, sit-down restaurant with a bar.
It has a similar vibe to Annex in that there’s lots of wood, big round booths and interesting light fixtures.
But it’s more family friendly than Annex, Pardini said.
“It doesn’t have to be an occasion,” he said. “It can be, ‘Hey, I feel like having a cocktail and pizza.’”
The whole place has a mix of casual, down-to-earth dining with gourmet vibes. For example, soft serve ice cream is on the menu, but you can get it with toppings like toasted pistachios, olive oil and sea salt.
Also on the menu are appetizers like Brussels sprouts with bacon, and Buffalo mozzarella with cherry tomatoes and basil. Workers were already raving about the braised meatballs during a test run last week.
Four large salads are on the menu. The kale salad is quickly getting a reputation. (And this version is not the same as the popular kale salad at Annex. This one has seeds and grains in it, along with avocado and a firm, salty ricotta cheese.)
The restaurant has a takeout window with a neon takeout sign. Takeout will start about a month after the restaurant opens. Delivery options are still in the decision-making stage.
Cocktails and the bar
Annesso also has a bar that seats at least 17 people, a change the staff is excited about when compared to the tiny bar at Annex Kitchen. It has a full menu of cocktails, including spritzes and Negronis, along with beer and wine.
They’ll bring over some of the drinks popular at Annex, but also new ones.
One thing to check out: Cocktails on tap.
The restaurant has small kegs of certain cocktails, like the firecracker, made with vodka and habanero simple syrup, and the poolside punch cocktail, with pisco, and watermelon and lemon flavors.
Having it on tap makes it easy to prepare a pitcher of the cocktails for a table.
How does that work, especially since cocktail ingredients are different weights and can separate? The kegs, stored in the same refrigerated room as the beer kegs, have pumps that push the drink up through plastic tubes and back into the keg, constantly circulating so it’s like the drink was just made, explained general manager Tom Medrano.
“The first drink is exactly the same as the last the drink,” he said.
The restaurant also has several beers on top, including locally brewed Full Circle Juicy IPA.
And the wine selection includes both Italian and California wines.
Details: Annesso is at 8484 N. Friant Road. Reservations can be made by calling 559-981-8995 or online at www.annessopizzeria.com.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Closed Sundays.
This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
