California Fish Grill is opening in the former Marie Callender's location in the Universal Park shopping center in Fresno. It offer sustainable fish options.

New restaurants in various stages of opening are planned in high-profile locations around the Fresno area, offering a variety of cuisines described as “responsible” in one example or requiring a waiver for another.

California Fish Grill’s responsible choice

The former Marie Callender’s on Blackstone Avenue in the Universal Park Shopping Center will soon have a new tenant, with California Fish Grill filing paperwork to the city’s planning department in January.

The Marie Callender’s location closed in 2019.

A call placed to the company’s Irvine-based corporate office Monday morning was not answered.

First opened in 1998, California Fish Grill has nearly 50 locations throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. The chain prides itself on serving responsibly sourced seafood that is rated “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.

California Fish Grill offers a variety of traditional seafood plates including wild salmon, rockfish and sea bass as well as a variety of fish and chicken sandwiches.

Sichuan Hot Pot

Sichuan Hot Pot opened its doors last week, drawing excitement on social media for authentic Chinese hot pot meat, seafood and vegetarian options.

Located in the former Jade Garden location at 3050 W. Shaw Ave., Suite 104, Sichuan Hot Pot offers classic hot pot specials for groups as well as combo plates and individual soups.

Guests can choose from classic hot pot styles including spicy tofu, Korean kimchi and shiitake mushroom chicken, or select their own bases and ingredients with up to four different broths to build their own hot pot.

Sichuan Hot Pot is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and currently offers dine-in orders only.

Doll’s Kitchen

Doll’s Kitchen will host its grand opening on Saturday, April 1, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., bringing home-cooked soul food to a high-profile Fresno intersection.

Ribbon cutting ceremonies are planned to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the grand opening held shortly thereafter.

Located at the corner of Blackstone and Shaw avenues at 4925 N. Blackstone Ave, Doll’s Kitchen offers two, three and four-piece chicken combos as well as fried fish, shrimp, ribs and sides.

Chef Gloria Hall has operated Doll’s Kitchen out of her food truck, sharing her mother’s (Arkansas) and father’s (Texas) traditionally rooted cooking techniques, including her own line of barbecue sauces, which will be available for purchase soon.

She has also been involved in other brick-and-mortar restaurant ventures.

Doll’s Kitchen is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.

Raising Canes

Raising Cane’s continues creating a significant footprint in the Central Valley with plans to open its third location in the Fresno/Clovis area.

The store has submitted proposals to secure a location at 4993 E. Kings Canyon Rd., near the corner of Kings Canyon Road and Clovis Avenue.

Raising Cane’s opened its first local store in Clovis in 2021 to much anticipation, with customers waiting overnight for the store’s opening and continued long wait times the first few weeks after opening its doors.

A second Raising Cane’s location opened in Fresno last spring in the former Logan’s Roadhouse near River Park.

Al’s Hot Chicken

Al’s Hot Chicken opened its doors this Saturday, bringing fried chicken breasts, sandwiches, strips, wings and more to the Central Valley.

Located at 6460 N. Blackstone Ave., Suite 105, Al’s serves a variety of flavors ranging from country flavor original fried chicken, to “LA’s Hottest 2.2 Million SHU,” a flavor that requires customers to sign a waiver prior to purchasing.

Fresno’s store, a franchised location, is the Los Angeles-based company’s first Central Valley location and only the second outside of Southern California. Al’s Hot Chicken also has one location in Washington.

Al’s Hot Chicken serves all-natural, never-frozen, halal, hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken.

Customers can order online through the website.