Two restaurants open Saturday in central Fresno. One serves pho, the other mochi donuts
In the mood for a steaming hot bowl of pho? Or maybe you want to try a Korean hot dog or a chocolate donut made from chewy mochi?
All are available starting Saturday, when two new restaurants open at The Square at Campus Pointe, the shopping center next to Fresno State at Shaw and Chestnut avenues.
Wayside Noodles and Mochinut both open at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 2.
Regular readers of The Fresno Bee may remember when we told you back in February about Wayside Noodles’ plans to open just east of Maya Cinemas (along with a few other new restaurants coming to the center).
Wayside Noodles already has a location in Fig Garden Village. This will be a second location to start, but the restaurant plans to move out of the Fig Garden spot when its lease is up this fall.
The new restaurant, in the former Tofas Mediterranean spot, will have the same menu. That includes its best sellers pho (the Vietnamese soup), traditional spring rolls and sushi-inspired rice paper rolls, along with noodle and rice dishes.
Unlike the Fig Garden location, this location will eventually serve beer and wine.
Wayside Noodles will have several grand opening promotions. On Saturday, customers will be entered into a raffle for free T-shirts or a $25 gift card for every $25 they spend.
The restaurant is also selling appetizers at half price until Friday, April 9.
Details: Wayside Noodles is at 3108 East Campus Pointe Drive. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Mochinut
Regular readers may also remember when we told you back in September about Mochinut planning to open its first location in Fresno.
Mochinut specializes in mochi donuts, a treat originating in Hawaii that combines an American donut and Japanese mochi. Mochi is typically a bun made from glutinous rice flour, but here it’s made into a ring-shaped donut dipped in glaze.
It comes in flavors like chocolate, purple taro, churro and coffee.
It’s not the only place in town to get mochi donuts. Clovis Donuts recently started selling them. And of course, the original mochi spot is the 106-year-old Kogetsu-Do Japanese bakery in downtown Fresno.
The Fresno Mochinut is a franchise owned by local nurse practitioner David Palecek. More than 20 locations are open nationwide with another 90 in the works.
Also on the menu at Mochinut are Korean hot dogs, which are growing in popularity in other cities but haven’t quite hit Fresno yet.
They come in the form of spicy sausage or mozzarella, or half of each, and are dipped in a rice flour batter. You can get toppings on them like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Details: Mochinut is at 3112 East Campus Pointe Drive. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 3:32 PM.
