This new shopping center just north of Fresno has several restaurants. See what’s coming
A slew of new restaurants and other food businesses are gearing up to open at a newly built shopping center on Highway 41 just north of Fresno.
Riverwalk is at Avenue 12, three-tenths of a mile west of the highway, technically in Madera.
It’s got some familiar restaurants coming, but also businesses with a twist on what you’re used to seeing.
For example, there’s a “modern” convenience store with a drive-thru where you can pick up basics like eggs and milk. Me-N-Ed’s pizza and self-serve beer restaurant Blast & Brew will also have a rare side-by-side location there.
Riverwalk is part of Riverstone, a planned community with a school that has about 1,000 homes out of of 6,578 that will be built in the first round.
Dutch Bros Coffee was the first to open at the shopping center, in late November. The location has a drive-thru and an indoor seating section. Most Dutch Bros have only a drive-thru.
Restaurants, more
Also opening soon is Papi’s Mex Grill.
This is a second location of the Mexican restaurant at Champlain Drive and Shepherd Avenue.
The new location has a sizeable patio. It is expected to open in the coming weeks, probably in February.
Judy’s Donuts is also slated to open a location in the center. The donut shop has several locations in Fresno and Clovis.
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Partially open now is Fresh Fill, what owner Brian Rocha calls a fresh take on a convenience store.
It’s a store, selling basic food, including organic vegetables, snacks, and wine. It also has a craft beer cave.
It has a Juice It Up! inside serving smoothies, acai bowls, raw juices and ginger shots.
Drive-thru store
Something different? It has a drive-thru, which is open now.
It can only be used through an app, which can be downloaded by searching for “Fresh Fill” on your phone’s app store. You can order from the Juice It Up! menu, but also anything from the store, including ice cream, snacks, and eventually, fresh groceries.
“If you were driving home from work and needed to pick up milk and eggs, you drive through and they hand it to you,” said Riverstone owner/ developer Timothy Jones.
Order about 15 minutes ahead of time and purchases will be ready when you get to the drive-thru. The owner has a similar location in Los Banos.
The store isn’t open to walk-ins yet, but is expected to fully open in February.
Local pizza
On the north side of the shopping center will be a Me-n-Ed’s next to a Blast & Brew.
Me-n-Ed’s of course is the ubiquitous pizzeria. Blast & Brew is a restaurant that serves pizza and other food, and usually has a wall of self-serve beer taps. It has a location in Old Town Clovis.
Both are owned by the same Fresno-based parent company. They’re not normally side by side.
“It’s a little different,” Jones said. “It’s a Blast & Brew with a Me-n-Ed’s takeout.”
The setup allows people nearby to pick up a pizza to go, or sit and dine, he said.
At least two more businesses are negotiating over space in the same building as Dutch Bros. One of the remaining spaces has an outdoor patio that would be ideal for a restaurant, Jones said.
More construction is slated to happen just south of the current buildings, a mix of office and retail or apartments.
Riley’s Brew Pub is in the early stages of plans to build a restaurant and brewery in that area.
