Long-vacant Fresno building finally has renter. When will Sierra Nut House open?
An empty building in northwest Fresno is about to get new life — from a very familiar local business.
The Sierra Nut House has signed a lease to take over the former High Sierra Grill and Tony Roma’s restaurant at Bullard and West avenues in the Pavilion West Shopping Center, according to a leasing report from Retail California.
The new location will replace the one with a bistro and wine bar that’s been in the Villaggio shopping center at Blackstone and Nees avenues since 2004. That spot is being taken over by Sam’s Italian Deli and Market for a second location of the popular eatery and deli.
Sierra Nut House needs to be out of the spot when its lease expires at the end of February, said operations manager Erin Backowski. They plan to be there at least through Valentine’s Day, she said, moving into the new space sometime after the end of February.
“Our hope is to move into that space without much downtime,” she said.
The eatery and wine bar will reopen in the space — along with the sales floor and brisk gift-basket-making business.
The empty High Sierra Grill
The building was once home to Tony Roma’s, a restaurant owned by local restaurateur Jim Pardini in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2013, High Sierra Grill opened in the spot, owned by the same partners who ran the Yosemite Falls Cafe restaurants.
It closed temporarily in spring of 2020, during the dining room shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. It eventually closed permanently, a turning point that spurred owner Manny Perales to hold a rally for small businesses in the parking lot of the Yosemite Falls Cafe at Shaw and Blackstone avenues.
The building at Bullard and West would sit empty for the next five years. At 6,679 square feet, it was a large space in an era when restaurants were trending smaller.
Sierra Nut House is doing some remodeling on the building before moving. It’s a bigger space than its current Fresno location.
“We’ll get to expand on some of the things that we love,” including having a bigger sales floor, Backowski said.
Sierra Nut House history
The longtime local business focused on Valley-grown products has been in business since it opened on the family almond farm in 1969. For decades, it was at Sierra and Chestnut avenues in Clovis. Owner Joann Sorrenti sold off the land and closed the shop in 2024.
It reopened shortly after in a new space in Clovis at 756 Pollasky Ave. That store will remain open.
Over the decades, Sierra Nut House also had a location at Palm and Bullard avenues in Fresno for 28 years before it moved to Villaggio. It also had a location downtown at one point.
Until the move to the new Fresno home, Backowski said they will keep their regular customers — “who we absolutely adore and love” — informed of changes with signage at the Villaggio store and via social media.
“We’ll miss the location over there, but we’re looking forward to this,” she said of the new spot. “It’s going to be great.”
