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This is the 10-day forecast I just pulled up on my phone. Man, is it grim. Not a day under 105 in sight. It’s the kind of forecast that makes a person ask, “Why do I live here again?” Or, if you were born and raised here, “What were my parents/grandparents/great-grandparents thinking?”
In a food newsletter like FAT City, this is the kind of weather that raises the obvious question: What’s your favorite food to beat the heat?
The first things that come to mind are cold salads, like watermelon/feta/mint (or the one with ricotta ice cream I had at Bulle). Maybe a nice gazpacho. The one upside of nightmarish heat is that it usually coincides with peak tomato season. Or, obviously, a sweet treat, like a snowball from Sno Cafe. I took my son there the other day and forgot how good flavored ice with a dash of ice cream can taste. I even gave myself brain freeze. Did you know you can still get brain freeze when you’re approaching middle age? Wild.
Then there are the non-intuitive answers. My grandfather, an Italian raised in San Francisco, used to drink piping hot coffee when it was hot out. And plenty of hot weather cultures swear by hot and/or spicy foods to cool down.
In Vietnam, it’s a bowl of pho. On the Korean Peninsula, the cure for heat is any number of piping hot broths. In Mexico, hot and spicy dishes like tamales are the answer to hunger pangs even if there’s a blazing sun outside. And in China, “refreshing” means a cup of hot water. [Serious Eats]
It turns out, there’s some obvious science backing this up. The gist of it is, hot and spicy foods make you sweat, and sweat cools you down. That makes sense enough, though it is a tough mental hill to climb when you’re already feeling gross and sticky to think, “You know what this day could use? Being sweatier.”
I can’t make that decision for you, but if pho is good for the heat, I have to imagine that bun bo hue, pho’s spicier, central Vietnamese cousin, is even better. Your favorite pho place (of which Fresno has so many that we haven’t even attempted a guide — yet) probably already has it. It might just be recency/novelty bias, but I think I might prefer it.
So now that the dog days are fully upon us, give it a try some time. Maybe just bring a change of clothes.
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
This week’s local food news
Fried chicken and Lao food? Sounds good to me. “Sticky Chix,” a new small restaurant downtown, serves fried chicken “with Lao-inspired sauces and sides such as egg rolls, fried rice, garlic noodles, papaya salad.” Fried chicken really goes with everything, in my experience. [Fresno Bee]
Hummus Republic has indeed closed its Fresno locations. The quick-service Middle Eastern chain had locations downtown and along the Palm corridor that had been closed for a while, but now it’s confirmed that they won’t be coming back any time soon. In the meantime, Mayd Modern does a similar thing better. [KMPH]
Got a favorite happy hour? You can vote on it in the Bee’s latest reader poll. I have kids under 5, so I pretty much only eat dinner during happy hour. I call it “complaining hour.” [Fresno Bee]
Dosan Social Eatery on Shaw is pivoting. The restaurant, on Shaw in Clovis, previously had dreams of a big salad bar, a la Sweet Tomatoes, and a carving station, a la Silver Dollar Hofbrau. The buffet concept didn’t work, so now they’re serving a regular menu with “steaks, pasta, salads and more.” I’ve driven past this place countless times but could never tell what it was from the name. [Fresno Bee]
Shots fired at Mariscos Y Sushi. “Officials say a physical altercation broke out in the restaurant, and the person who appeared to be losing the fight pulled out a gun and fired one round into the ground. Officers say no one was hit by the bullet.” Sounds like a wild time! Mariscos and a show. [KSEE]
Habibi Hawt Chicken in Madera clarifies that they are not affiliated with Donald Trump. I was not aware of the original allegations, but I am something of a connoisseur of posts refuting allegations I was unaware of to begin with. [Instagram]
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
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