Dine and Dish: Elbow Room in northwest Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Elbow Room in northwest Fresno's Fig Garden Village is a bar and grill that also offers fine dining options.

Mike Shirinian has owned the place for three decades.

"My feeling is this and I've been here, like you, a long time. Look, the people in the valley know good food, they know when it tastes great," explained Shirinian.

Customers love the 1855 New York and Ribeye steaks, which are dry-aged in a refrigerated unit for 28 days.

"It's not going to get more tender after 28 days," said Shirinian.

"So in the stages, it locks in a lot of flavors, a lot of nutmeg flavor," added Eric Rodriguez, Chef De Cuisine.

The purple portion outside is trimmed off.

"Which locks in the flavor inside, which holds a nice pearl pink inside," said Rodriguez.

The dry-aged ribeye was served with green beans and fondant potatoes.

"We take baby red potatoes. we peel them, we sear them and then we braise them with red wine, sherry wine, demi glaze, a little shallot, and garlic

and fresh herbs," explained Rodriguez.

Crab stuffed salmon is among the featured fresh seafood selections.

We take blue crab, sun-dried tomatoes, brie cheese, lemon zest, orange zest and we're going to make a roulade out of this. We butterfly it length-wise," said Rodriguez.

Locally grown portabello mushrooms have long been the number one appetizer.

The harvest salad is also popular.

"So we're using a heritage blend on mixed greens, shaved radish, pomegranate seeds, steamed butternut squash.

our mixture on the nuts is shaved almonds and toasted pepita, pumpkin seeds," Rodriguez said.

Weekend brunch has something for everyone.

The eatery has expanded twice over the years to give customers even more elbow room but an old mural remains.

"It's kind of a who's who because you've got Jim Sweeney, Jerry Tarkanian, and a whole slew of famous Fresno people," said Shrinian.

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