Decades-old Fresno eatery shares secret for gaining lifelong customers. Take a look

Uniquely is a Fresno Bee series that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in the Fresno area so special.

On a Thursday morning in late June, Pete Gonzalez propped his road bike against the red brick wall of Adrian’s Mexican Food, walked up to the service window and asked for his go-to order: a chile verde burrito and a shredded beef taco.

Gonzalez, a Fresno native who grew up a few blocks from the eatery near Romain Park, biked more than four miles from his current home near Fashion Fair mall to grab lunch at Adrian’s, where he’s been a regular for 30 to 40 years.

After all, he said, it serves the “closest thing to home cooking around town.”

Wedged between a tire shop and a smoke shop, Adrian’s is a no-frills business. There’s no place to sit. The walk-up counter is shielded with wrought-iron window guards.

But Adrian’s is a Fresno institution. The 44-year-old family-owned business is famous for its handmade flour tortillas, breakfast burritos and its simple-yet-addicting red salsa.

“A lot of people have been coming here for years,” Gonzalez said.

On any given afternoon, day laborers, families and passersby crowd around the Adrian’s parking lot, scarfing down burritos on the countertop or sipping horchata as they wait for their orders. Others eat in their cars.

Today, Yolanda (Ruiz) Diaz runs the restaurant with her family — a business that’s been in the Ruiz family ever since her father bought it from the original owners in the early 1990s.

“Just seeing regular customers everyday — it makes me happy,” Diaz said. “And just (having the) family together, working together.”

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One of these regulars is Sanger resident Luis Medina, who on a Thursday in late June stood near the sidewalk on Belmont with his coworker as he waited for his asada burrito — the same burrito he’s been ordering for 20 years. (His coworker ordered a chimichanga.)

Aside from his go-to order, Medina likes Adrian’s because the horchata isn’t too sweet. “It’s just right,” he said.

When did Adrian’s in Fresno open?

The original owners estimate Adrian’s opened in 1979.

Before that, it was a walk-up burger business called Western Burger, recalled former Adrian’s owner Tomasa Bonilla. Her cousin operated the burger business and her mom, Felicitas (Phyllis), helped run it.

After a few years, her cousin got tired of running the burger spot. That’s when Bonilla decided to take it over and open a business that focused on serving her mother’s Mexican recipes.

In a phone interview, Bonilla, 78, told The Bee that they initially opened the business with Mexican and American dishes under a new name, Adrian’s — pronounced Ah-dree-ahns, in Spanish — after her youngest brother.

When it first opened, Adrian’s sold bean burritos for 99 cents, while combination burritos with meat sold for $1.25.

Bonilla remembers her uncle use to arrive early to prepare the fresh flour tortillas they would need for the day.

Migrant farmworker experience inspired flour tortilla focus

Bonilla said the decision to focus on handmade flour tortillas was inspired by her family’s experience as migrant farmworkers following the crops across California in the late 1930s.

Before settling in Fresno. the family worked in the Central Coast areas of Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo and then made their way to the central San Joaquin Valley areas of Coalinga and Huron, followed by Santa Rosa and Salinas to the north.

“All the mothers and grandmothers would get up early and make all the tortillas and make the tacos (and burritos) for work,” Bonilla recalled. “Corn tortilla wasn’t practical.”

Over the years, Bonilla opened about four different eateries around town with mixed success. She eventually sold another Adrian’s located on Marks and Shaw avenues to another employee, who renamed the business Marian’s Méxican Restaurant. It’s still open today.

During her years operating Adrian’s, Bonilla recalls fieldworkers coming in early to pick up lunch for the day, patrons from local businesses, pedestrians and large orders from Community Regional Medical Hospital.

“A lot of doctors,” she said. “They were there all the time.”

In the early 90s, Bonilla and her sister, Gloria, sold the business to one of their employees, Gabriel Javier Ruiz.

Adrian’s in Fresno is still a family affair

On a hot Monday afternoon in late June, Diaz, 43, works alongside her family in Adrian’s busy kitchen.

Three sisters are handling orders, her brother-in-law Rene Gallegos is preparing asada burritos and her aunt, Eneida Mendez, is using a small wooden rolling pin to shape the flour tortillas before placing them on the grill. Other cousins, nieces and nephews help with the family business, too, when they’re not busy with their studies at Fresno State, Diaz said.

“It’s just family,” she said.

Adrian’s has been in her family for about three decades, when her dad, Ruiz, bought the business.

The menu has mostly stayed the same over the years, Diaz said. Today, some of the top-sellers are the carne asada burritos, chile verde and breakfast burritos with chorizo and bacon. Adrian’s sells its tortillas and salsa à la carte, too.

Diaz isn’t sure yet if any of the kids in the next generation want to take over Adrian’s one day.

“We’ll see,” she said with a laugh.

For now, the Ruiz family is committed to delivering the same quality customers have come to love over the past 40-plus years.

“We’re here to serve great customer service... and great food,” Diaz said.

As for Bonilla, she credits the business’s success to the long-standing reputation of its flour tortillas and home-style cooking: No canned beans, no canned sauces.

“I think that started it all.”