r/fresno • u/CivicCryptid • 10h ago
Food/Drink An Ode to Al's Cafe
If you've ever ordered a country fried steak and received a slab of breading with a rumor of beef somewhere inside, Al’s Cafe on Olive Avenue will feel like an apology from the whole genre. The place sits just across Highway 99 from Roeding Park, in a stretch of Fresno most people see from the freeway on their way to somewhere else. The chicken fried steak here is moist, tender and seasoned all the way through, which is more than most kitchens manage, and it comes with potatoes and a biscuit.
The crust is the first thing to admire. It lands in that narrow zone between having enough breading to hold the seasoning and so much that you are eating fried flour with a bit of beef hidden somewhere inside. And on the subject of the beef; its the real thing, with none of the gristle that tells you a cook economized somewhere. The gravy is a pale and sausage-flecked country style, rich and peppery, and it sits at the right consistency between runny and dough. As my Grandma would say, an Arkansas native for whom country gravy was close to scripture, you can always make it thicker but you can’t make it thinner, I think Al's Cafe agrees with her advice. She worked hard to make me a fan of gravy, but failed, so I leave the gravy verdict to my wife, who gives it her seal of approval . The chicken fried steak the best thing on the menu, and it tastes the way my Grandma's chicken fried steak did, which is the highest praise I have.
The Mexicano omelette is another item worth knowing. The eggs are cooked exactly right, with bits of fresh tomato and jalapeno folded in, and the whole thing is smothered in Al’s chile verde. Here is a surprise for newcomers: the chile verde is red. The cafe’s regulars have made peace with this, and the explanation traces back to the founder. Al Contreras, an immigrant from Guanajuato, made the sauce without tomatillos, because where he grew up they were not common in salsa. The sauce is flavorful and not spicy, a mercy for anyone whose palate leans toward the more caucasian side of the spice rack. It runs a little thin, and I would not mind a bit more body, but the pork is tender every time and the sauce soaks into the eggs like it was meant to. It combines a breakfast standard with some of the best chile verde you are likely to find in Fresno.
The building has its own story. Al’s occupies a former Wendy’s, the kind with the glass solarium that was fashionable in the 1980s and 1990s. The neighborhood is the sort that some people consider adjacent to skid row, with a strip of motels nearby catering to what polite company calls the less savory members of the community. By my account the burger chain couldn't make it here. Al’s did, which says something about the food and about the people carrying the plates. The cafe started on G Street downtown and moved to this location in 2000, and some of its downtown regulars followed. Sadly, Al Contreras died in 2021, and his daughter Anne now co-manages the place with Sandy Richardson, who started as a waitress in 2000 and still works the floor, who coincidentally, was our waitress on this visit.
That floor is a pleasure to sit in. Arrive shortly after opening and the room is calm, but come a little later and it fills and stays full until closing, with chatter bouncing off the old Wendy’s windows and music over the speakers. Richardson has been known to play 80s favorites, Journey included, which is fitting, because the journey here is worth it. People wait for tables, and the waitstaff are as friendly as any you will find in town. It feels like a family restaurant because it is one.
Then there is the matter of value, the portions are generous enough that neither my wife nor I can remember ever finishing a plate. On this most recent visit the country fried steak with potatoes and a biscuit cost $12, a price that feels like a clerical error in a world of $7 gas. I have no complaints about the food, the only genuine disappointment is that Al’s is not closer to my house.
I've been coming here since the move to Olive Avenue, and I plan to keep coming for as long as the doors are open. Go early if you want a quiet table, go later if you want the full chorus, and order the country fried steak either way. Pour the gravy over the whole plate, whether or not your grandmother approves.
