‘Brunch after dark.’ This new Clovis restaurant has it and seven kinds of mimosas
The newest brunch spot in Clovis has the type of vibe where you half expect Holly Golightly from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” to walk in the door and sit down for mimosas with the gals from “Sex and the City.”
The Brunch Bar has a pink neon sign that says “Call for champagne,” above a pink vintage phone.
Chandeliers are everywhere and there’s a cocktail made with sweet rosé Champagne and topped with cotton candy.
The business opened for the first time at 10 a.m. Friday. It’s at Herndon and Willow avenues, in the former Chronic Tacos spot in the Target shopping center.
After its grand opening weekend, it will be open regularly from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
“Brunch after dark,” co-owner Mary Boursalyan calls it.
A late riser, she wanted someplace that served breakfast and brunch all day — with seven kinds of mimosas.
“We’ve always dreamt of going to a place like this and it never opened, so we just reached a point where we’re like well, we’ll just do it ourselves,” she said.
She and sister Anna Salmanyan own the restaurant with their husbands, Noubar Boursalyan and Armen Salmanyan. The sisters come from a family of restaurateurs and have spent years working in the industry.
Clovis seems to be waiting for The Brunch Bar to open. Opening weekend (which will have a live violinist) is completely booked, including Mother’s Day.
It’s not the only restaurant to serve brunch on weekdays. The Woodward American Grill at Friant and Fort Washington roads in Fresno serves brunch until 2 p.m. six days a week.
The food
The Brunch Bar’s menu has traditional breakfast food, such as pancakes, waffles, eggs and heartier items like a burger, chicken and waffles, and an aged New York steak with eggs and potatoes.
But much of the food has some extra flair.
There’s a crabcake Benedict, served on a hash brown instead of an English muffin, with a Sriracha hollandaise sauce.
“We were looking to do a fine-dining experience in the brunch world,” Boursalyan said.
A red trout almondine is on the menu, served with rice and dried cranberries.
Some dishes expected to be favorites include the churro French toast, made with a crust of crumbled corn flakes and cut into bars and served in a stack with cinnamon whipped cream and chocolate ganache.
They also expect the patatas bravas to be popular. It’s a large bowl of potatoes with chipotle Kewpie mayo and garlic aioli, topped with two sunnyside up eggs and chives.
Most dishes run between $15 and $35.
The drinks
And of course, a brunch place wouldn’t be a brunch place without mimosas, that traditional combination of Champagne and orange juice.
There are seven kinds of mimosas here, with juices squeezed on site. They include options like passion fruit, pomegranate, lavender and rose mimosas.
There’s also a “man-mosa” made with beer.
The coffee comes from locally owned Kuppa Joy.
Earlier this week, the sisters were taste-testing lattes, deciding which three specialty drinks to put on the menu. They had a collection of mugs in front of them, all with perfect latte art hearts and leaves poured by Kuppa Joy founder and former NFL football player Zack Follett.
They decided upon a lavender-vanilla latte, a salted caramel mocha and a cinnamon maple latte.
The Brunch Bar also has a machine that allows customers to upload an image — say, of a pet dog — that it can “print” atop a latte in a coffee powder.
As for Follett, he doesn’t consider The Brunch Bar competition. His businesses aren’t breakfast restaurants, he said. But he’s noticed people will wait over an hour to have breakfast or brunch at some Fresno area restaurants.
“I think Fresno has been missing this,” he said. “I think breakfast in general is underserved in the Valley.”
Details: The Brunch Bar is at 785 W. Herndon Ave. Starting Sunday, it will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Reservations are recommended and can be made via its website, Instagram, or by calling 559-940-7002.
