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The Yard House, Fresno
We are The Yard House, Fresno
…you will be assimilated
Coors Light is irrelevant. Budweiser is irrelevant. Blue Moon is irrelevant....
Drink Racer 5 IPA. Drink Lagunitas Brewery. Drink seasonal brew. Drink Craft Beer.
Change is coming to Fresno. Choice. Selection. Rotation. CRAFT. Guess what Fresno? I love the Yard House and the beer it brings to Fresno (I’m still not in love with the food).
Buy local all you want. It’s ok to have a little love affair with Eureka Burger’s “cute” little beer wall or the local pub’s feel good “support” of Tioga Sequoia Brewery (which I like), or the eclectic pub The Body in the Bog. Here’s the reality of situation. It takes a big regional or national player like Yard House to open the Fresno market to products this town would NEVER see without big help and regular bulk buyers. Period. Now, Racer 5 from Healdsburg has the possibility of showing up around town because a local distributor is carrying it. Amen.
(While my foodie colleague Fresno Bites, has similar things to say about Yard House, I'm more of an IPA fan. Luckily, we can both be happy drinking here. EATING here may prove difficult for both of us.)
As for a commentary on The Yard House? It’s nothing more than TGI Friday’s on steroids.
I could care less about the Yard House in any community. It’s not my thing. I’m not a fan of corporate restaurants, franchises, and homogenous menus of structured crap and cliché’s (yes, even I’m nostalgic sometimes and eat McDonalds). The played food menu of staples such as ahi poke, coconut shrimp, spinach cheese dip, Southwestern Burgers, Pizza and penne with chicken are all there. 80’s music hits blaring overhead, quasi-Vegas-upscale closed circuit microphone security, wristbands for 21-and-over, well-researched atmospheric design features such as sculptured fire on an outside patio (distracting fire good, concrete parking lot in multiplex mall bad) all make for corporate restaurant hell and homogenous food menus. Even The Dreaded Yard O’Beer is a staple. Maybe they could serve my wine in a medieval goblet to complete my over indulgence.
Despite my foodie arrogance, if the Yard House can wean Fresno off crappy dish-water beer, like Coors Light and Budweiser, I’m a supporter of the Borg-like assimilation of the Fresno market. Even if the Yard House doesn’t make it, the Fresno beer market will change.
Besides, studies show craft beer is a gateway drug to finer things, like boutique wine and specialty spirits. How many places in Fresno make a barrel aged Manhattan or Negroni or offer high-end wine from the tap? Answer…none. But Fresno will get there someday. So just say “Yes” to better beer. Next thing you know you’ll be a Amaro junkie.
“Resistance is futile”. Go to The Yard House. Drink better Beer. I can care less if you eat there.
The Cured Ham
Reader Comments (6)
I agree with you...somewhat. We had a good beer place. True, it wasn't all on tap and it was before craft beer became "in", but it had well over 100 beers to choose from and fought to be anti-Bud. It had great British IPAs, EKU 28, and even the Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel that Fresno Bites wrote about. And, more importantly, they had great food. The problem? It was small and local. It wasn't in a strip mall. It wasn't "hip." People didn't go on a regular basis and then they showed up in droves on it's closing night. The Yardhouse will make it through tough times if they have to - they have corporate backup. Yes, it is great that we have (again) a place that promotes good beer, but I'm sad that it has to be a chain to get people to take notice.
I have always been a fan of gourmet macaroni and cheese and enjoy when it is done with class and style. The Yard House took their own spin on class and style by submerging the macaroni and cheese in so much truffle oil that the taste still lingers in my mouth weeks later. The large plates and decorative style tries to make the food like high class, while the food quality suffers. I agree that the beer is their distinguishing factor and the only reason to make a second appearance for second par food.
Would you concede that they have better food than most chains? That was my impression.
Can't stand the atmosphere and pretty much everything about the place is annoying, including the menu. But the burgers aren't bad (especially for Fresno) and we've already been there twice for beer. (Racer 5 is the first thing I ordered there. Love it.)
Fresno BItes, do they have better food than most (other chains)? Yes, probably. The corporate owned restaurant with some of the best food I've had is the Hillstone Restaurant Group (owner of Houston's). I'm a bit surprised Fresno hasn't captured one of these corporate owned chains. So, yes, on average better.
Pinchmysalt, bless you for drinking Racer 5. Would you rather have a paprika topped burger from Eureka (why do they put that stuff on there) or another Yard House burger? Most places in Fresno won't make my burger medium-rare anyway (think bloody), so if I do order a burger from Yard House, I'll let you know. I'm with you on the annoying factor.
Megan, I'll make you mac and cheese with truffle oil. Oh, wait, you had it New Year's Eve (although they were hand stuffed and cut ravioli topped with truffle oil).
Tari, you're just pointing out what any long-time resident of Fresno has seen, small and local is just that. But the longer term view has also weaned Fresno away from horrible $10 wines, thanks to both local and large chain restaurants like Fleming's. I could say the same with Fresno's penchant for Justin Cabernet and Rombauer Chardonnay (aka, Cougar Juice). It's what people love, albeit it neither wine is "craft", both wines opened up a market to better wines because of distributors.
I'm happy to get a snack with any of you at The Yard House and we can discuss it over a Racer 5.
Ive been to the Yardhouse once, in LA, and they have tasty, reasonably priced crab cakes, something Fresno lacks dearly. So when the crowds go down, you will find me enjoying crab cakes.
And I agree with the above comment that they have better food than other chains. TGIF it is not.