More than just smashburgers, a locally owned Fresno restaurant’s menu gets creative
How do you know when a restaurant is locally owned?
Maybe it’s the picture on the wall of the chef in his high school varsity jacket from the year his Madera Ranchos football team won the section championship. Or the other chef telling you he’s growing flowers at home to put in vases on each table.
Either way, Smash Bros Bistro is open at Bullard Avenue and Fresno Street, next to the 7-Eleven — and it’s got its own unique blend of food and friendship happening inside.
Yes, it serves smashburgers, but this is not one of those places with just four or five burger combos on the menu.
You’ll also find salads, fried chicken, deep-fried Brussels sprouts with a chili aioli, bucatini pasta with a tomato sauce and Fresno State ice cream sundaes.
On weekends, there’s breakfast. That includes a breakfast smashburger with a fried egg, and pancakes made with Greek yogurt and warmed maple syrup.
The bros in Smash Bros are chefs Jonathan Aviles and Matthew B. Simons.
They met while working at The Point Patio Bar & Bistro before Aviles left and became sous chef at Mad Duck Craft Brewing’s northwest Fresno restaurant.
The pair perfected their burger after a tour of the best smashburger spots in the Los Angeles area (eating only a bite or two, Simons said). They began doing pop-up smashburger events in Fresno and were successful enough they decided to launch a restaurant.
Their version of the trendy burgers smashed thin are served here with extra-slim onion slices placed atop the patty as it cooks.
“Then you smash it down so the onions get quite dark,” Simons said. “The onions get caramelized or beyond.”
There’s no lettuce or tomato, but the smashburgers are served with their own sauce and housemade pickles, which Simons learned to make during his time in Portland (“I feel like everybody in Portland makes pickles,” he said.)
A meatless smashburger is available, made with Beyond Burger patties (and they smash especially well, he said). You can get gluten-free buns, too.
But the pair are doing a lot more than smashburgers because they know a lot more than burgers — both have been cooking professionally for years. Most everything is locally sourced and made from scratch, including the blue cheese dressing.
Simons has a rock ‘n’ roll background, having traveled the world as the private chef for the Dandy Warhols. He’s a 1987 Clovis High grad. Aviles, the football star, graduated from Liberty High in Madera Ranchos in 2012.
Both have roots in the sports world — which is why athletic types seem to be gravitating to the restaurant as a hangout.
Aviles was a football player at Liberty High School when it won its first Central Section Division V title in 2012, defeating Corcoran 35-12.
You can see pictures — including one of a very young 57-pound Simons wrestling — of their glory days in the back of the restaurant.
Details: Smash Bros Bistro is at 424 E. Bullard Ave. Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
This story was originally published July 9, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
