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| Bacon Burger w/ Onion Rings @ Kocky's |
This afternoon, I had an opportunity to treat a friend to lunch for her birthday and she asked "where should we go?" I took this opportunity to try a new bar & grill in Downtown Fresno that has just opened up taking the place of Steakhouse Bar & Grill at 1231 Van Ness. I was already put on guard because of the lack of information from their
facebook event page where I first found out about it (no specials, why it's a "grand" opening, what will be the food served, ect.) and not having an available website to see a menu made it even worse. Either way, my curiosity still got me in the doors. It was hard to choose what to eat at first seeing that most if not all were items that could be ordered anywhere else in town, but this was Downtown so I moved on and chose the bacon burger to be my litmus test. It wasn't that long of a wait (about 15mins) before I got my burger and my friend got their salad. When I first looked at the burger, I said, "it's a little guy." Then I looked at the pretty fat patty and moved on. The first bite was actually satisfying and had a lot of flavor to it. The juices were flowing, the bacon was crispy and the taste of pickle gave it the perfect balance. One thing I did notice after my first couple of bites, was the meat was a little rare (as you can see in the picture). Though, I'm a savage and have an iron-clad stomach, so I finished without complaining. Other notes, I asked for ranch for my onion rings, which had a good batter and were served hot, but after I asked for ranch and before I was given any, the server actually asked me if I needed anything. That was a rookie mistake but people are people and we make mistakes. All and all, it was a satisfying meal at a reasonable cost but nothing really grabbed me wanting them to know my name as I walked through the door. They have a bar area to the left that is a little more inviting than the high ceiling dining area to the right. I might visit though if I'm in the mood for a burger or some chicken fingers just because I live Downtown and I like walking to my places. Also, Kocky's opened up in the wake of the closure of Iron Bird Cafe which was loved by many people in the Downtown area and had great little events to give the customers an inviting environment. Still, with everything that seemed to be in the Iron Bird Cafe's favor, they had to close their doors due to the personal problems within the investors. I'm no restaurateur, so it would be hard for me to predict the future of Kocky's, but I do know that an underlining issue for the future of these businesses is the stability and regaining of jobs in the area (besides server/bar tending). In my opinion, disposable income is still at a historic low so the idea of value in any consumer spending is still at the forethought of most. In this type of economy, Kocky's is going to have to learn to be very adaptive and take any recommendation into careful considerations. I wish them the best of luck.
