Allen Juarez and Anna Navarro have opened a second location of their restaurant, Las Mananitas, at a former Fosters Freeze in Clovis. Photo by Ben Hensley

After years of success in Downtown Fresno and a 2020 top-10 national ranking on Yelp, Las Mananitas has opened its long-awaited second location in Clovis — a dream come true for owners Allen Juarez and Anna Navarro.

The restaurant first opened in 2017 in a small space at 1329 Hazlewood Blvd., off of Butler Avenue just east of Highway 41. A few years later, the couple opened their second location on 747 R St. in Downtown Fresno, operating both restaurants for a period.

“That was our humble beginnings,” Juarez said. “One of our dreams was to always come to Clovis.”

Las Mananitas quickly built a following thanks to its made-from-scratch dishes. Known for its chilaquiles, the dish became the foundation of the menu.

“I went on a chilaquile craving for a month and Anna was making them for me every morning,” Juarez said. “The minute we started, the very first thing on the menu was chilaquiles.”

In the early days, the couple split time between the restaurants and their full-time jobs; Juarez as a manager for a maintenance company, and Navarro as a subcontractor for PG&E.

Their schedule — pivoting from their obligations at the restaurants until closing at 2:30 to their full-time jobs — changed after a year and a half, when, with the help of their children, the duo decided to go all-in on their restaurant.

Juarez credited their decision to a friend who said as long as they can make $100 a day, they will earn $3,000 a month — enough to pay the rent.

“I just kept that in mind: $100 a day; $100 a day,” Juarez said. “Then it was $140. Then it was $170. And little by little it just progressed.”

 

Navarro credits the success of the restaurant to their made-from-scratch traditions, taking family recipes and influence from Mexico to inspire their dishes.

With the new location offering longer hours, the restaurant has expanded its menu, including new dinner options like mole, molcajete and other signature dishes.

Like their original menu, their new menu will feature not only made-from-scratch food with fresh ingredients, but another ingredient that Navarro says makes a lot of the difference: love.

“You just make everything from scratch,” she said. “People can taste the food – when you really make it with love people can taste it.”

The space — formerly home to Fosters Freeze — is owned by 902 Clovis Ave LLC. Developers Tyler Shegerian, Aharon Davoyan and Adam Mortanian’s relationship with the duo helped the restaurant expand its footprint.

During the developer’s original search, they came across several interested tenants, including national brands, but the connection to the Central Valley and what Las Mananitas means to the area was the selling point of the new tenant.

“I don’t see them as your ‘cookie cutter’ new-construction building operator,” Davoyan said. “I see them as something unique, organic — a little more ‘homey.’ It feels like home to me.”