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Everyone loves a great sandwich, right? At least, that was the thinking behind my search for the best sandwich in Fresno. Of course, that’s a big category, the kind of list that could start a few arguments, maybe even end a marriage.
And so we’re starting slow before we start making any definitive pronouncements, highlighting what we think are a few good sandwiches every week or two. That way, you don’t have to wait eight months for us to try every sandwich in Fresno. (And I’ll do it, by God, just try me).
Moving from the mainstream to the niche, we’ve also got a showdown of Lao gas station food. Did you know that was a thing? You better believe it. We started FAT City and Fresnoland Food partly out of having lived other places and seen what good local food coverage can accomplish elsewhere. The corollary to that is that Fresno has some cool stuff too, the kinds of things that you don’t find just anywhere else. Being able to find interesting Lao food in a gas station is a perfect example of that. We certainly don’t put on airs, but, I would argue, Fresno does DIY better than just about everywhere, serving great food out of an autoshop, an old Wienerschnitzel, or, yes, a gas station.
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
This week’s local food news
Want to hear yours truly on KVPR? Kerry Klein interviewed me about FAT City and Fresnoland Food for Central Valley Daily. I don’t know that I told the story as well as I could have (I did write a hopefully very coherent version of our mission statement here), but we’re all just doing our best, aren’t we? [KVPR]
New Korean fried chicken (yay!) coming to (ugh) River Park. Jesse Boy, born in the farmer’s markets of Hollywood, is coming to a River Park location opposite Barrel House. They’ll serve Korean fried chicken wings, tenders, and cauliflower, plus some bowls. [Fresno Bee]
Fresno State team places top 15 at national soil-judging contest. I had never heard of “soil-judging” before, but apparently Will Dowling and the Fresno State team are very good at it. As my favorite soil judge Judy Sheindlin likes to say, “don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.” [Fresno State]
Yava Bakery is showing off their sandwiches. Damn, even more sandwiches to add to the list. Yava’s baked goods, pancakes, and breakfast are sublime (that Recovery 40 is possibly my perfect breakfast) so I have to imagine their sammies and sangers are pretty good too. [Instagram]
Fresnoland is kicking ass lately. Not strictly food, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight Omar’s investigation into Fresno’s closed-door budgeting process that triggered a pivotal court ruling, Gregory Weaver winning a public service award for his investigation into California’s Williamson act, and Juliana Morano winning best writing for her July 2025 profile of the art and artists behind the city’s murals below the 180 freeway. [Fresnoland]
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
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