Historic Mexican restaurant gets new life in Clovis. But what is a ‘micro food hall?’
At the newest restaurant on Pollasky Avenue in Clovis, you can order Mexican ceviche with a side of Korean hot wings.
The foods from opposite sides of the globe are representative of what’s going on here: a blending of the local and the international, the old and the new.
The Third Place Global Eatery is open at 836 Pollasky Ave., which longtime Clovis residents may remember as the former Franco’s Restaurant.
The restaurant is commonly regarded as the oldest Mexican restaurant in Clovis, starting in 1958 when Pollasky was a dirt road and tacos cost 25 cents, according to Bee archives. It closed after five decades in 2008.
It’s been home to several restaurants since, but has had a big glow up in recent months. Plans originally called for it to be a food hall with numerous vendors similar to the Anaheim Packing House. During the major renovation of the building, it morphed into a handful of places to get food or drink under one roof.
Micro food hall
Now it’s a “micro food hall,” with two restaurants and a Crow & Wolf bar under one roof.
“Our goal is to take the best dishes from every continent and put them on the same menu, so you can taste the world in Clovis,” said Andrew Penn, one of the partners behind the business.
Inside, diners will find:
- The main fast-casual dining spot where meals from around the world made with local ingredients can be ordered, including a teppanyaki bowl, a bolognese bucatini pasta, and a Peruvian empanada.
- Seconds, a drink and dessert shop that sells creative iced lattes, boba, and cold drinks such as a coconut-hibiscus horchata with a cloud of pink hibiscus cream on top. It also has soft serve ice cream, including Dole Whip.
- A bar run by Clovis-based Crow & Wolf Brewing Co., selling its beer on the patio with a large water fountain, plenty of shade and twinkle lights.
- Occasional fine dining events — both ticketed events open to the public and private events — with high-end cuisine in a portion of the dining room that can be blocked off. For example, there might be crab and caviar with edible activated charcoal rolled into a “cigar,” presented in a cigar box full of smoke.
“What we’re really trying to do is create a culinary destination,” said Penn, who was born and raised in Clovis.
The name The Third Place is a reference to the social space in addition to home and work — such as a coffee shop or other hangout. People are invited to stay a while, he said, including teens who might otherwise end up lingering in an In-N-Out parking lots because there’s no place else to go, he said.
“You can literally order one $5 tea and hang out and play some board games,” he said.
The food and the chef
Chef Rob — also known as Robert Vieira — is a partner in the business and the chef behind The Third Place.
The tattooed, skateboarding chef born and raised in Fresno got his start at age 15 at Palomino’s in the Tower District. He later worked at The Elderberry House and traveled around the country doing high-end catering. He has a passion for international food, especially from Peru.
That’s where his wife is from. He met her when he was 19 while they were working in the kitchen at China Peak. The couple spend a few months in Peru every year, where Vieira worked for free for a Peruvian chef to learn how to cook the food, stumbling through a language barrier.
That’s why you’ll see a dish like lomo saltado on the menu. It’s a traditional Peruvian dish made with flank steak, red onions and tomatoes and is served with a fried egg over rice. It’s cooked in a Japanese wok with plenty of flames. (That wok is the Asian influence seeping into Peru, as Chinese and Japanese people moved to the country for work in the early 1900s. Many Japanese were later forcibly relocated to internment camps in the United States during World War II, but the influence on the cuisine remained.)
“It’s very essential to this dish,” Vieira said of the flames and the wok. “If you don’t get the flame inside of it, it won’t taste the same,” he said.
Also on the menu: salads, sliders made with wagyu beef, a Latin bbq pulled pork sandwich, a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, ceviche and more.
As many ingredients as possible are locally sourced and the menu changes seasonally.
“If we’re doing the same thing as everybody else, what’s the point?” Vieira said. “I get bored quickly.”
Clovis history
While the restaurant is representing cuisines from around the world, it’s also paying homage to Clovis and the past.
The tables are made from ponderosa pines salvaged from the Creek Fire in the Shaver Lake area.
When the Penn family bought the Franco’s building, they promised to honor restaurant founder’s Seferina Franco’s legacy. She was inducted into the Clovis Hall of Fame.
Franco family members worked for the Smittcamp family in the fields. Seferina wanted a better life for her children, so she opened the restaurant selling tacos in her home. As sales grew, she added on to the house repeatedly to build the restaurant.
She was able to keep her children out of the fields and get them all an education.
Look up in the front dining room of The Third Place and you can see the original rafters from her building.
“We want to make sure we’re telling the Clovis story, the Central Valley story,” Penn said.
Details: The Third Place is at 836 Pollasky Ave. in Clovis. Hours: Brunch is served Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Regular menu horus are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
This story was originally published June 18, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
