Yosemite Ranch, Fresno

A few friends and I ate at the bar recently on a Thursday night. Prime time at 7pm, busy as can be. In terms of service, I have no complaints. The bar staff hustled like crazy to keep up with our orders and the other patrons.

"When the bartending staff spoke to our party in particular, they were never rushed, never hurried in their conversation. Kudos for the level of training the bar staff receives in handling its customers."

For dinner, I started with their heavily pushed, ahi tuna appetizer. I’m generally a fan of ahi and a simple seared piece of quality ahi is a nice way to start. Simple is far from what was delivered. There was a lot of stuff on the plate.

Generally Asian themed, the plate was awash with sauces and sides. This generally worries me. Fish, when seasoned and seared properly, should taste wonderfully and with a minimum of accompaniments. Sides of wasabi cream, ginger, drizzles of this and that, just overwrought. I expect this level of dazzle at some sushi restaurants in mini-malls, but not here. Generally, steak houses will treat ahi the way they treat steak, with some reverence. I say, skip the flourishes and give me a well prepared ahi steak. Yes, I finished the ahi, but tried to avoid the flourishes.

So I decided to be difficult for the next round. I asked, in a Nicholson Five Easy Pieces sort of way, for just the USDA Prime Rib-Eye they were featuring. No sides, no starter salad, no nonsense, just the meat on a plate, cooked medium rare, of course. The bartender spoke to the floor manager and promptly returned to say, “Yes” and they’d charge me simply for the price of the steak, not the full meal. Even better. Let’s see what they deliver.

As requested, a beautiful Prime rib-eye on a large white plate. Nothing else. No garnish even. The steak was well-seasoned and well-rested. The steak was cooked exactly right, evenly medium-rare from end to end. Not a single scorch mark or burnt area. The wood fire grill they use certainly is additive to the flavor of the steak. This steak was exactly right.

I’m happy to eat at the bar again at Yosemite Ranch. I will probably stick with simple dishes, like steak on a plate and salad. I have a feeling that the flourishes and "bedazzled" nonsense don’t stop with the ahi.

More Tri-Tip Sandwich Updates for Fresno

Mike’s Grill has the best tri-tip and ribs in Fresno that I've had to date. (Although, Fresno Bites insists on Keith’s Box Car) I’ve reviewed Mike’s plenty of times and have eaten my fair share of sandwiches and ribs in their parking lot. I like the consistency of the wood smoke, moist meat, the grilled, seasoned and buttered roll and the house-made barbeque sauce; all combine to make a delicious sandwich. I’ve eaten the tri-tip sandwich probably 6 times and their pork ribs, 3 times. I give the highest marks for tri-tip and ribs at Mike’s. The downside, you’re in a parking lot or the front seat of your car eating, rather than in a restaurant. Oh well, the price one pays for good tri-tip and roadside tacos is exposure to the elements.

The Doghouse Grill is very close second to Mike’s. The tri–tip is identifiable with large slices of beef and a good crust of seasoning. The bread is toasted, seasoned and has texture, unlike B&L or Meat Market. The meat is moist. Doghouse tri-tip is the most expensive of all the sandwiches (between Mike’s, B&L, and Meat Market) at $8.49.

As a side note, Dog House ‘bucket o’fries’ has a big punch of seasoning salt, but are fresh, crispy, delicious and $3.49.

If I had to take atmosphere into account, rather than just the sandwich, Dog House is the only restaurant with an indoor seating area and atmosphere. The other three aforementioned places are simply take-out style restaurants or delis with seating situated in parking lots.

B&L Quality Meats, Fresno

B&L Quality Meats serves their tri-tip on a hoagie style roll of below average quality with no real density. The bread roll was real wet, soggy at the seam. The thinly sliced meat, a.k.a tri-tip, could have been served at any catered wedding or as a day old left-over at my house (the pink in the pic below is BBQ smoke on the meat).

The only advantage this sandwich has IS the thinly sliced meat and lots of it. The meat tastes as though it were pre-sliced, left in the warming tray with broth prior to placing on sandwiches, hence the wet bread. There is some flavor from the grill, but not much. Their barbecue sauce was good (which is why it's all over the sandwich) and served on the side. If I’m on this side of town, I might think about getting a sandwich as long as I can get two or three BBQ sauces to go with it, but I'd probably check in at a Pho place instead. One thing I do know, B&L's sandwich is better than the Meat Market.

Another note, I cannot speak to the quality or selection of the actual butcher shop itself. I'm strictly speaking about their take-out tri-tip sandwich. The market itself could be quite good. I just want to be fair in seperating the tri tip sandwich review from the actual meat market.

The Meat Market, Fresno

The Meat Market should be ashamed of itself for serving Heinz BBQ sauce in a tear open packet. In order to be called “the best tri-tip” in Fresno, I don’t want to eat a commercial BBQ sauce. And if I am eating commercial sauce, I don’t want to know about it.

Absolutely Shameful.

The bread was of average quality and served naked, no sauce, no butter, no grilling. The meat was dry and basically un-seasoned, save for the flavor of the wood in the BBQ.

 

Fresno has a tradition of sticking with restaurants that have a tendency to be mediocre, simply because the restaurant has been around the longest, not because they’re the best. The Meat Market is the default Fresno choice for tri-tip because it was here before the others. Fresno deserves better.

I see no reason to ever return to the Meat Market for a tri-tip sandwich. Go to Mike's Grill on Herndon and Chestnut or Dog House Grill for a tri-tip sandwich.

Backyard to Table

The picture below is that of a tree widely grown in California and Florida; it's called an Orange Tree and it grows fruit that can be turned into delicious juice, called Orange Juice. Orange Juice in Central California is only available during the winter months, not July. Oranges are to Winter, as tomatoes are to Summer. 

Here's the magical process of picking real fruit in your backyard and turning it into juice. 

Find Tree and Pick your Oranges (that filthy Pine Tree and its needles!):

Slice Oranges in Half (organic oranges have been known to scream, backyard oranges are silent when cut):

Juice Orange in old school juicer (the orange, seen here, was washed in Municipal Tap Water, which is actually safe to drink here in the United States. Water comes from a local source, not New Zealand or France):

Drink Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice!

(Warning: Orange juice may contain pulp, which is ok. This juice is not pasturized, but I'll play the odds and say I'm not going to die from E. Coli today):

Thank you Grandma for planting this fruit bearing and productive tree.

(Besides, what's a box fern ever done for you?)