You should try these favorite Fresno foods, readers say. We asked. You answered.
Fresno sure loves to talk about food.
So what dishes are we as a city known for?
The Bee recently told you about the five foods we consider “Fresno famous”: tacos, tri-tip, Fresno State corn, Cracked Pepper Bistro’s bread pudding and the Stockholm Royale cocktail.
We gave you all the details about where to get them in a story in late May.
Knowing readers would have plenty to say on the topic, we asked what foods you thought were left off the list. What is Fresno known for? What’s delicious but needs more attention?
Through a Google form and social media, you responded with plenty of your favorites. Five categories were mentioned by multiple people, which we’ve listed here.
Delicious Fresno foods
1. Armenian food. This one is a no-brainer with our Armenian population and the quality Armenian restaurants and food we have in Fresno.
Restaurants including AJ’s Armenian Cuisine, Alla’s Mediterranean Armenian Restaurant, The Phoenician Garden and lots of bakeries are local favorites. And the 103-year-old Valley Lahvosh is still baking and selling its Armenian crackers nationwide.
Armenian food favorites include lamb shanks, kebabs, lahmahjoun (aka “Armenian pizza,” flatbread with ground beef), cheese borek pastry, baklava and more.
2. Bierocks. Or berrocks. However you spell it, it’s the dough filled with ground beef, cabbage and onions that we’re talking about.
The recipe is of German and Russian descent, and immigrants appear to have brought it to Fresno, where it stuck.
The Berrock Shop at Bullard and West avenues is the obvious place to get them, though you can find them at other bakeries and donut shops in town.
3. Max’s sweet potato fries. Max’s Bistro & Bar at Bullard and West avenues has its signature french fries on the menu, including truffle and eggplant, but it’s the sweet potato fries that people rave about.
Thick and crispy, the sweet potato fries are served with jalapeño-arugula aioli.
4. Local produce. Our Valley is known for all the fruit and vegetables it grows, so of course we would have some of the freshest and best around.
Readers suggested finding it at farmers markets (the Vineyard Farmers Market at Blackstone and Shaw avenues was once praised by famous chef Alice Waters).
Strawberry stands were another favorite, especially the local Hmong family-owned roadside stands The Bee profiled this spring.
And there are the “u-pick” and similar farms where you get fruit straight from the grower.
Sumner Peck Ranch on Friant Road in Fresno starts its open-to-the-public blueberry-picking season soon (keep tabs on its website for exact dates). And the Masumoto Family Farm sells “ugly” fruit through its drive-thru (order online ahead of time) in Del Rey southeast of Fresno.
5. Peruvian food from Señor Ají Peruvian Kitchen. This restaurant in the shopping center at the southwest corner of Milburn and Herndon avenues in northwest Fresno showed up in readers’ answers several times (which smells of an organized effort, but this restaurant gets great reviews online so we’re running with it).
Fresno doesn’t have a big Peruvian population, but diners seem to love the food. Fresnans mentioned liking Señor Ají’s lomo saltado — sirloin beef sauteed with onions, tomatoes and soy sauce, and served with potatoes and rice.
Also mentioned on the menu: salchipapas (french fries with hot dogs and Peruvian sauces) and the Peruvian cocktail the pisco sour.
This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM.
