downtown fresno blog

Posted by DFP Staff

One of the signs of a healthy and revitalizing downtown is construction.  New stuff happening, work taking place, people and organizations putting their faith in the future of downtown- all that jazz.

We were really excited to attend the Groundbreaking for First 5 Fresno County’s new facility Lighthouse for Children this morning.  The site is on Tulare right by the library in that lot that was pretty forgettable.  It was so forgettable you probably can’t even picture it.  Not anymore, though!  Soon it will be a place that will help the next generation of Fresnans get off to a good start.

After standing and applauding and smiling in the brutal winter sun (seriously, sweating in January?  What gives, climate?!) we knew we needed to go somewhere cool.  So we headed to Joe’s Steakhouse.

Joe’s is kitschy, it has a country-western ambiance and when you walk in you’re hit with “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and “Save a Horse (ride a cowboy)”, but not obnoxiously so.  Okay, maybe obnoxiously when your co-worker sitting next to you starts singing along and she is no Kenny Chesney.  Not even close.  Kim, we’re talking to you.  Shut up.

So what did we order?  Well, no one got steak this time.  Joe’s is right around the corner from us and at least one of us visits the eatery every week.  Today’s lunch was peppered with talk of “Well, on Tuesday I had this, so I should probably try something else today.”  We’re kind of obsessed, which is why we had a hard time believing that we’d never blogged about them.  The owners are fabulous and friendly and they’re always down to let us take their space over for anything.  We need a place to talk to business owners about finding loans?  Sure, no problem.  We want somewhere awesome for cocktails and a mixer?  Yeah, what appetizers would you like with that?  They regularly do winemaker and beer-pairing dinners.  We’re huge fans.  Plus they’re totally sold on Downtown Fresno’s potential.

So, the food:

Kate ordered a grilled Salmon order with fruit.  And lots of the chipotle sauce.

She spoke so highly of the chipotle sauce that we all asked for it!

…and like sheep

…we all ordered

…the salmon burger.

Well, except Steve.  he got a chicken salad.  Or in his words “I felt sheepish ordering the only salad among an entire group of salad eaters.”

And Mitch.  He saw that their lunch special was for the blue cheese burger and his heart was set on it.  Yes, those are house-made chips.  Swoon.

Rocio also chose a different burger, however, her choice- the Southwest Burger was slathered in the yummy chipotle sauce that we were all excited about.

On our thoroughly stuffed and satisfied walk back to the office we passed even more construction- the apartments popping up at Van Ness and Inyo where the Droge Building used to stand.  On stilts.  Oh gosh, remember the stilts?  This is much better.  Downtown, we love the changes you’ve been making!  Lookin’ good!