Fahrenheit 5104 [Fresno]
A couple of weeks ago LadyPB and I went for dinner at 5104 as a last minute decision on a Monday night. We were a tad hesitant since they hadn't been open for very long. I had the Rock Shrimp Hash (18), prawns sauteed w/ tomatoes, chile, parsley, basil, olive oil and scallions in a tomato wine garlic sauce. Great flavors and the shrimp perfectly cooked, would definitely order again. She had the Southern Fried Chicken (10) w/ Chef Ken's special seasoning, fried in a cast iron skillet. This is the best deal on the menu, nicely seasoned, crispy skin and moist meat, oh yeah, it was half a chicken. Since the entrees come with soup and salad she had plenty for lunch the next day. I'm blanking on the soup which was very good as was the salad of mixed greens, dried cranberries, and some other nice touches. To add to the experience we were comped a couple of glasses of wine since they're waiting for their license to be approved.
This past Wednesday I scheduled our staff meeting here for 11 people. A couple of us had the Shrimp Po'Boy (8.95) grilled or fried (we both had grilled), w/ cajun tartar sauce, lettuce, tomato and grilled onions on a French roll. Again shrimp cooked perfectly, nicely seasoned, but thought the bread a bit too heavy. All sands come with choice of pilaf, fries, onion rings or side salad. Pilaf was excellent. I had a taste of the Southern Style Catfish (8.95-L/ 13-D) dusted with seasoned cornmeal and fried in a cast iron skillet. Large piece of fish, moist and again nicely seasoned. Another raved about their Cajun Smothered Chicken (7.95) breast sauteed with onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic an rosemary then topped with a cajun red gravy. The other hit was the Cajun Chicken Salad (8.95) dusted w/ spices and grilled with onions, peppers, tomatoes, roasted garlic and spinach in a red dressing. The only glitch was the onion rings that I ordered, very greasy, have a feeling the oil wasn't hot enough. I checked with a co-worker that had the burger with fries and he said they were just fine. All worked out since I exchanged them for the pilaf. Service was very efficient and friendly.
Having said that I should note that two of our favorite dining companions recently had a pretty bad experience with the service with the wait persons non-attentive and the owner too busy socializing with friends to take care of the front of the house. Hopefully it was a one time slip or part of the opening pains. They'd previously had a good meal and service, but now don't know if they'll even return.
5104 N. West Ave. (NE at Shaw)
559-440-9202
PolarBear
Apr 25, 2007 11:42AM
PB, thanks for your speedy report! Hubby and I have been waiting for this place to open since there are so very few Cajun-y places around. How does the food stack up to Bon Temps in SLO? Does it have the traditional menu items found in many Cajun places like jambalya, alligator, etouffee? Sorry for the questions, but I am very curious. Hubby and I have a hard time with the idea that they are serving tapas, Armenian, Cajun and American cuisines. Seems like you can't do all of those well, but we would love to be proven wrong!
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gbg, unfortunately I haven't had a chance to sample enough of the menu, like you and Alan, I was very skeptical seeing such a wide spectrum of cuisines and dishes. I met the owner, Raffy, and the chef (Ken, iirc) when I set up the luncheon, he explained they had been wanting to do something like this for some time but the lack of a kitchen (not to mention parking) at the old location made it impossible.
A return vist(s) is/are definitely in order, to answer your question, in addition to their Creole specialties, some of the standards include Cajun Dirty Rice (7.95/12,00), Gulfport Jambalaya (8.95/18.00) and the chicken or shrimp po'boys (lunch only?), and Creole Style Gumbo (13.00), Cajun Seafood Bisque (13.00) as two of the soup offerings, Cajun Mussels (5.00), Fried Green Tomatoes (6.00), Blackened Chicken Wings (7.00), and Gulfport Crab Cakes (9.00) as Tapas for dinner. There's at least one Creole style dish in each of the chicken, beef, pork & lamb, and fish portions of the dinner menu, but I think I'd try the aforementioned first.
On a related note, did you catch today's Bee's feature on Mama Lo's and the other Soul Food places that have appeared in the past year?
http://www.fresnobee.com/226/story/43...
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Thanks for the info, PB. We look forward to giving this place a try. It would be great to have a Cajun/Creole place around here. Hubby will be very happy to hear about the jambalaya and gumbo options. I would love to try the fried chicken, shrimp po'boys (a particular weakness of mine), and fried green tomatos.
I did read the article on the Soul Food places featured in the Bee. There does seem to be a little soul food revolution going on! Hubby and I had a great time at Mama Lo's and look forward to returning. A few of those other spots sounded very promising. I do love soul food, but hubby and I probably lean a little more toward cajun/creole as a favorite. We would like to see more cajun/creole action here in the Valley.
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Knowing the owners personally, they have expressed to me some of the mishaps that have taken place. They have worked very hard these last two weeks to resolve the issues. I would strongly recommend everyone try them out; it hasn't been two months since opening and being a new restaurant there will be some growing pains.
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Had dinner Thursday night with SO and Mother-n-law.
I arrived earlier then the other two and was promptly seated at a very nice table. Immediately water glasses were filled and bread was brought to the table with a side of olive oil (with garlic, salt, and pepper in it-very good!!). The server arrived right after to offer a pre-dinner drink. I was in the mood for a chilled Ketel, but they only have a wine and beer license. The server politely offered a selection of "martinis" (apple, blueberry, pomegranate, made with wine based cordials I believe) but I declined and ordered Champagne instead. The server left then came back and said that they had run out of that Champagne and only had another one available by the bottle. I moved onto a Pinot Grigio, they did have that. The server explained that the wine list is a work in progress and was changing that week. No problem to me-just wanted something cold after a long day!! The wine did come luke warm, I didn't say anything. I think I was just really in need of a libation!!
SO and m-n-law arrived. Ordered drinks. Perused the menu (m-n-law had been there before for lunch and was excited to try dinner). Server was very attentive and gave us enough time look over the menu, bussers were always in circulation checking bread and water. I ordered the Carribean Risotto (shrimp, salmon, mangoes, and tomatoes for $18), SO ordered the Shortribs ($13, I think, served w/ mashed potatoes and veggies), and m-n-law ordered the Fried Chicken ($10, served also with mashed potatoes and veggies), a recommondation from earlier post. The chicken was the best of all!! Crispy, moist, and very flavorful. All entrees came with soup (cheese tortallini, red potatoes in a basil, pepper broth) and salad (we all had the mango vinaigrette, it was automatically served on the side and very good-not too sweet with a hint of tang). The salmon and shrimp in my risotto were perfectly cooked but the risotto itself was way too spicy. So spicy I couldn't really eat much. Not sure if it supposed to be this way, but I couldn't even taste anything over the intense heat. SO shortribs came with bell peppers and onions and were very moist, falling right off the bone. Unfortunetly it was slightly too salty. We ended with a "Heaven and Hell" cake (just as server described!!) that was layered with angel food cake, chocolate ganache, peanut butter, and chocolate cake. Completely saturated my sweet tooth!! Yumm...
Service was wonderfull, food was about a B-. I will go back to try other items, and the lunch menu. The tapas menu looks intriguing and good. Has anyone else been since this post began?
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You confirm my need to return soon for further exploration of their menu. Apparently things have changed since my last visit when they had abandoned the lunch program (exc. for a guaranteed group of 15-20?, there was a previous post) and there wasn't a spicy dish on the menu. Yes, Vache just recently obtained his beer-wine license and is working on the offerings, don't expect to find Ketel One (my choice for pre-dinner as well), or any other spirits. Still waiting to hear of more hounds' assessments of this new creative addition to our city's culinary montage.
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Oops! Sorry cocktailqueen, for some reason I had the Cracked Pepper Bistro in my head and responded accordingly (it's been that kind of week). I do need to get back to F 5104 however to try more of the menu.
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I am anxious to try CBP, sadly there isn't much feedback yet. I saw that glazebrookgirl had invited all Fresno chowhounds to try the restaurant-do you know if anyone has yet? The menu looks stellar.
F5104 will be a lunch adventure for SO and I one of these days. Dinner wasn't bad, just a few mishaps here and there. I'm sure they still have a few kinks to work out, being only a few months old. I was amazed that the restaurant was 3/4 full on the Thursday that we went. It's good to see people supporting the "locals" and not those corporate monstrosities.
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cocktailqueen...you should try CPB. I find it to be so relaxing, the food wonderful and the wait staff very kind. Chef comes out to meet folks which is a nice touch. I hope they're doing well!
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We will soon!! I met the chef before, really nice guy.
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They have just reopened for lunch and have an incredible reasonably priced menu. They have such items at Open Faced Sandwiches, an INCREDIBLE Muffalata, which is salami, ham, provolone, topped with an olive spread! Yummy!
They also have such items as Pollo Marsala topped with juicy mushrooms, New York Steak Sandwich and a variety of Salads (about 5 or 6 diff ones).
You get so much food and it's ONLY between $8-$13.... You can't beat that!
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Thank you all. Any of you have a standing invitation at my place in Cali, Colombia.
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