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Pacific Fried Chicken – Now Open!

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Natali Carrera
Natali Carrera is a devoted coffee addict who also loves her teenage son, her husband of 19 years and shopping small & local. She is the founder & CEO of parent support non-profit Success Together, Inc. and has been a freelance content creator for FresYes.com for 7 years. Natali is an unrelenting cheerleader for and lifelong resident of Fresno, as well as a Fresno State grad.
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South East Fresno has a new restaurant you will want to try.

Are you one of the many people in pursuit of the perfect crispy chicken sandwich? Or, maybe you are a wing lover, like my 14-year-old son? Pacific Fried Chicken is the perfect place to satisfy your chicken cravings and they just opened near Fresno Pacific University.

Pacific Fried Chicken is located at 4821 E. Butler in the same shopping center as the Vallarta Grocery Store on the northeast corner of Butler and Chestnut – it can be slightly tricky to find, as they are brand new and don’t have permanent signage in place just yet – but if you look for the Izi Deli sign, you’re there.

Pacific Fried Chicken is located in the former Izi Deli spot near Vallarta on Butler and Chestnut

Pacific Fried Chicken’s menu consists of a variety of crispy chicken options including double-fried Asian style wings and boneless wings, Pacific fried chicken, crispy and spicy chicken sandwiches, and their Pacific Herb chicken. All menu items from their sauces to their sides are homemade. Some of our favorites are their garlic scallion rice, four-cheese mac-n-cheese, and homemade cornbread.

Regardless of which type of chicken you want to try, there are several well-priced meal options that include your chicken dish of choice plus sides and a drink, all are $13 or less. Homemade sauce and spice selections for wings and boneless wings include Honey-Mandarin, Sticky, Korean, Pepper Dip, and Togarashi (dry seasoning). Sticky is the chef’s favorite – and it’s a rich, umami-flavored sauce with sweetness and a bit of a spicy kick.

Asian style double-fried wings with Sticky sauce

My family and I visited last weekend, and I had the Rice Bowl with Boneless Wings with Honey Mandarin sauce, and my husband had wings with Sticky Sauce. My son had Korean-style wings and his friend tried the Spicy Chicken sandwich. All of our food was made to order and served piping hot.

The gigantic Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Boneless Wings with Honey Mandarin sauce over Garlic Scallion Rice

The restaurant itself is really more for take-out, however, there are three tables if you want to eat there (we chose to). If South East Fresno isn’t easy for you to access, but I’m making your mouth water with this blog post and pictures – don’t worry, Pacific Fried Chicken has partnered with Door Dash, too, so you can have their delicious food brought right to your door!

If you love chicken and flavorful sauces, tasty sides, and great prices – you’ll definitely want to give Pacific Fried Chicken a try soon. Enjoy! (And don’t forget the napkins – you’ll need them!)

HoP PK is the love child of beer and Mediterranean food

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Craig Scharton
I’m a weirdo. I’m a downtown revitalization, old neighborhood, old houses weirdo.
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Chafic Dada and Tommy Caprelian met at a Visalia craft beer event in 2013. Chafic was part of a Visalia family that had opened three Mediterranean restaurants that all featured craft beer. Tommy was from Sanger and had just started making beer commercially—in fact, this was the first event he had brought his beer to.

The two entrepreneurs quickly decided that someday they would partner together on a venture that would combine both of their concepts.

HOP PK

HoP PK is located in downtown Fresno across from the Spiral Parking Garage. It’s a great place to grab some food before a Grizzlies or Fresno Football Club event.

HOP PK

HoP PK = House of Pendragon + Pita Kabob

The history

The Dada family had opened Pita Kabob in an old car mechanic shop in downtown Visalia. They were developing a style of Mediterranean food that was an incredible mash-up of traditional pub food with a Lebanese twist (or is it the other way around?). They’d come a long way from the original 1,000 square foot deli that Chafic’s parents had started. His mom began cooking authentic food at home and bringing it to the deli on Fridays. This became so popular they built a commercial kitchen and never looked back.

Tommy Caprelian and House of Pendragon are both products of Sanger. He started his path toward making beer in 2006 and expanded to a brew pub in Clovis, a tasting room at his brewery in Sanger, and now the partnership with HoP PK (this stands for House of Pendragon and Pita Kabob). Prior to opening his own brewery, he worked as the Assistant Brewmaster and was in charge of Quality Control for Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Co. Good breweries always produce great alumni, who continue to grow the craft beer scene. The folks at Tioga-Sequoia are proud of Tommy’s success and they partner together often.

HOP PK

The interior of HoP PK features the downtown Fresno skyline.

The restaurant

HoP PK is located at 820 Van Ness Ave., across from the Spiral Parking Garage. The interior of the restaurant is completely renovated. There is a wonderful wood sculpture of many of downtown Fresno’s iconic buildings. There are comfortable booths, or you can sit at the bar or one of the long community tables. They also have a second floor that can accommodate up to 100 people for private events and parties.

Although HoP PK features House of Pendragon beer, they also have other local beers as well as interesting beers from throughout the west coast. They have specialty beers like sours and saisons, alongside dark beers, lighter pilsners, and lagers. There are 32 taps and you can order a flight of House of Pendragon beer to find the one that you love.

HOP Pk

You can get a flight featuring House of Pendragon beers.

HOP PK

Hoppy Hour specials!

The food

The food is incredible. Chafic has a great way of designing a menu to match the wide variety of craft beers. He spends much of his time in the kitchen to make sure that the quality stays high.

The Shawarma Fries are a huge hit. I’m a big fan of the Jerusalem Falafel Pita Wrap. The Mediterranean Flatbread is so good you’ll finish the whole thing in one sitting. And their Pita Chips with either Cilantro-Jalapeño Hummus or Garlic Dip are fresh and delicious, and will be perfect for a casual time sitting at the bar. Finish the night with some baklava—I love the pistachio option.

HoP PK

Along with the traditional choices of lamb, beef and chicken, they also feature vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. They have wine, too!

Hours

HoP PK is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (later on ArtHop nights—which is this Thursday!), and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight (kitchen closes at 10 p.m.). They are now open on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Visit their website here, and make sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

More Than Pizza opens a second location in Fresno

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Natali Carrera
Natali Carrera is a devoted coffee addict who also loves her teenage son, her husband of 19 years and shopping small & local. She is the founder & CEO of parent support non-profit Success Together, Inc. and has been a freelance content creator for FresYes.com for 7 years. Natali is an unrelenting cheerleader for and lifelong resident of Fresno, as well as a Fresno State grad.
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This February, the Pavilion West Shopping Center at Bullard and West in northwest Fresno welcomed its newest restaurant, More Than Pizza, which took over the former Panini’s/Quizno’s location, next door to G’s Creamery.

More Than Pizza Fresno

More Than Pizza’s Bullard & West storefront

More Than Pizza’s menu offerings include pizza, Eastern-style sub sandwiches, wings, calzones, salads, and their “famous cheesy bread.” This new location is the family-owned and -operated second location to open its doors in the Fresno-Clovis area. The family’s first More Than Pizza is located in Clovis on Shaw and Armstrong.

The restaurant has garnered a loyal following of customers at its initial location, with Yelp reviewers singing praises of their excellent pizza quality, customer service, fun atmosphere, and support of local schools. The cheesy bread does seem to be famous among frequent customers, and most like that the pizza is traditionally cut into squares, making it easy to serve a crowd and children. With this kind of positive reputation, my family decided we must pay a visit to the new location, which happens to be very close to home for us.

More Than Pizza Fresno

An interior shot of the new More Than Pizza location

More Than Pizza Fresno

My husband has been following the ketogenic diet recently, which focuses on limiting carbs, so he enjoyed Claire’s Lettuce Wrap—seasoned chicken breast, fresh avocado, and crumbled bacon served on romaine lettuce. My son and I each ordered a “Big Slice,” which is a single (ginormous) slice of pizza with your choice of toppings (single topping included, each additional topping is just .25) and a soda for a very reasonable $6.50.

Our Big Slices were definitely that! My son enjoyed half of his for lunch, and the other half for dinner. I polished mine off (after having refrained from pizza since the start of the year, trying to shed a few pounds myself) and was full for the remainder of the day. Such a great price for such a filling amount of food!

More Than Pizza Fresno

My son was thrilled with his Big Slice

More Than Pizza Fresno

My “Big Slice”

More Than Pizza Fresno

Claire’s lettuce wrap

More Than Pizza’s crust is doughy, but not too thick, and tender. Their cheese quantity is quite generous, without needing to ask for extra, and the toppings were applied in a satisfying portion. The sauce is bright and flavorful, and ranch, jalapeños, Parmesan, and crushed chili are all available at no additional charge. (The ranch is garlicky and delicious, too!)

I can see our family frequenting More Than Pizza now that it’s nearby, and I love the Big Slice menu option. It’s always great when each family member can get exactly the toppings they want without having to spend a lot. I can also see high school and college students frequenting the location as an after-school hangout and affordable lunch or night out stop.

More Than Pizza frequently holds giveaways on their Facebook page and offers home delivery and online specials (order online to save money), so be sure to like their Facebook page and bookmark their webpage. Currently, they’re running a special for an $11 extra-large pepperoni pizza, so if you’d like the night off from cooking… just saying. 

Chicago’s Pizza With a Twist combines pizza with traditional Indian food flavors

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Natali Carrera
Natali Carrera is a devoted coffee addict who also loves her teenage son, her husband of 19 years and shopping small & local. She is the founder & CEO of parent support non-profit Success Together, Inc. and has been a freelance content creator for FresYes.com for 7 years. Natali is an unrelenting cheerleader for and lifelong resident of Fresno, as well as a Fresno State grad.
Latest posts by Natali Carrera (see all)

Love pizza but in the mood to try something new? If you like flavor, fresh toppings, and a delicious, non-greasy, thick crust you should try Chicago’s Pizza with a Twist in northwest Fresno.

Chicago's Pizza

The exterior of the restaurant isn’t necessarily exciting, but the flavors in the pizza definitely are!

Chicago’s Pizza with a Twist is a newer-to-Fresno, fast casual-style pizza place located at 3050 W. Shaw (on Shaw and Marks just a few doors down from Edo-Ya in the Target shopping center).

Chicago-style pizza is known for its thick, doughy crust, but “what’s the twist?” you might be asking. The twist is the option to enjoy delicious Indian fusion-style pizzas in addition to traditional favorite topping combinations.

A portion of the menu at Chicago’s is comprised of mouth-watering, traditional Indian dishes that have been combined with the greatness that is deep dish pizza, and the end result is an absolute party for your taste buds. Local franchisee and Fresno native Tejinder “Teji” Padda says the restaurant is part of a growing chain of locally owned franchises originally from Sacramento (another location will soon open in Clovis).

How popular is the combination of pizza with traditional Indian food flavors? So popular, this isn’t the only pizza fusion place in the neighborhood. Located just across Shaw is the newly opened Curry Pizza Company. So clearly, Teji is on to something with his menu offerings.

The menu at Chicago’s Pizza with a Twist offers choices for everyone, and is a good option for vegetarians, too.

When I asked Teji what pizza he’d recommend to someone who hasn’t tried Indian food before, he recommended the Chicken Tikka Masala or the Butter Chicken pizza, which is his top seller. All pizzas are made to order, and you can ask for mild, medium or spicy, depending on your tastes.

My family decided to try out Chicago’s Pizza with a Twist recently, and in tow, we had a friend of my ten-year-old son’s. As is typical for kids, both boys weren’t feeling adventurous when it came to their pizza orders, so they each ordered their favorite traditional toppings (pepperoni and crispy bacon for my son, Canadian bacon and pineapple for his friend).

My husband and I wanted to try the Indian-style pizza, and though I was leaning toward Chicken Tikka Masala pizza based on a mouth-watering photo I’d seen in my Instagram feed, our server suggested we try both the Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken as a half-and-half. I’m so glad she did.

The Chicken Tikka Masala side was good. Very good. But the Butter Chicken side was amazing! I expected Butter Chicken to have a milder flavor than the other, but it was actually the opposite. The Butter Chicken pizza was extremely flavorful and the toppings on all of our pizzas were fresh and plentiful in quantity.

Chicago's Pizza

Our delicious half Chicken Tikka, half Butter Chicken pizza

The thick, pan crust was pillowy but not greasy, and it was baked perfectly with lightly crispy edges. The amount of cheese was generous, and the melt was great—bubbly and perfect.

The atmosphere at Chicago’s Pizza is very casual: somewhat plain, but clean and comfortable, and the dining area is perfect for a laid back meal. Take out seems to be a popular choice, too, if you don’t feel like dining in.

Service was friendly and it was clear the manager wanted us to be happy with our food. A chilled bottle of ranch dressing was provided without us having to ask for it, once we sat down. We also ordered a side of samosas, which came with two dipping sauces—they were superb. (I’m actually really wishing I had some right now as I write this.)

If you’re in the market for a fresh take on pizza, or simply love a good thick crust, I highly recommend giving Chicago’s Pizza With a Twist a try!