Bee readers love this new Fresno restaurant’s food. ‘Oh, that’s gonna be good’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chop Cheese Bodega ranked second in The Fresno Bee poll with nearly 6,000 votes.
- Menu centers on chopped cheese sandwiches, fries, bowls and a mushroom vegetarian option.
- Operation uses walk-up window, outdoor seating and busy DoorDash orders.
Hot ground beef. Gooey cheese. Buttered bread. All of it served from a window at a former Enterprise Rent-A-Car on Blackstone Avenue in Fresno.
These are the ingredients that make up one of the most popular new restaurants in town.
Chop Cheese Bodega at Blackstone and Bullard avenues, came in second in The Fresno’s Bee’s poll of locally owned restaurants that opened last year, with nearly 6,000 votes. It ranked behind Indian restaurant The Yellow Chilli and ahead of Chinese restaurant Dragon Wok.
What’s chopped cheese? It’s a sandwich commonly sold in New York City bodegas. It’s a ground Angus beef patty, chopped up with cheese, and served on a hoagie roll — usually with peppers and onions, mayo and ketcup, sometimes with jalapeños or mushrooms.
Some hacks? You can ask for jalapeños on anything. And you don’t have to get peppers and onions if you don’t want them.
Chop Cheese Bodega
This is no high-brow restaurant, to be sure. It’s painted in bright red and yellow colors.
“I wanted to stick out, to be different,” said owner David Boursalyan.
There’s a couple of inflatable dancing air men out front. And occasionally, there’s a human, Brian Thomas, who calls himself “The Big Cheese,” and slaps a cheese headpiece on and tries to lure people into the restaurant with his antics.
Much of the seating is outdoors and you order at a walk-up window. DoorDash orders are hopping.
There’s indoor seating, with the walls painted with clouds in the style of The Simpsons.
And quirkiness aside, this place is getting good reviews.
Reviews
Chop Cheese Bodega has a 4.6 rating out of 5 stars on both Yelp.com and Google Reviews.
It’s been reviewed by local Mikey the Foodie Guy, who tried the chopped cheese fries (“Man, these are so good,” he said.) And by Antidote, an Instagram food reviewer with 121,000 followers who drove up from Los Angeles. He screams and gyrates his head over the sandwiches.
Of course, no mention of chopped cheese in Fresno would be complete without bringing up the My Guy Market. It operates out of downtown Fresno and first brought the concept to town (and won The Fresno Bee’s poll of most underrated restaurant).
Chop Cheese Bodega’s menu is simple. In addition to three sandwiches, there’s a vegetarian version made with mushrooms. And you can get the steaming mess of meat and cheese over fries, lettuce or Doritos.
Customer Jason Ellis of Fresno ordered that Monday, driving on his lunch hour from his job near Ashlan Avenue and Highway 99 for the Chopped Cheese Bowl — which has everything but the bread.
The finished product was piled so high, the ingredients smothered in so much sauce, it stood several inches above the lip of the bowl. The worker showed it off to him before smashing it all down with the lid.
“Oh, that’s gonna be good,” Ellis said.
Details: Chop Cheese Bodega is at 6031 N Blackstone Ave. Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
