There is a new kind of restaurant in Clovis, mixing gastropub-quality meals with a café atmosphere and communal mindset.
The Third Place Global Eatery’s founder, Andrew Penn, hails from all over California and has plans to bring Southern California and Bay Area business style to the Central Valley.
Now serving brunch on Sundays in addition to their lunch and dinner menu Wednesday through Saturday, the restaurant labels itself a “micro food hall” complete with several walk-up counters for food and drinks.
Penn says the concept of a third place to go struck him as nostalgic. “Back in the day, people used to have block parties, they would see each other at the YMCA rec center, people could organize,” Penn said, “But now I feel like the only thing close to ‘third places’ are malls and Starbucks, and bars.”
“[The valley is] a giant mixing bowl of agriculture,” says Executive Chef Robert Vieira says, “We literally have everything here, and it hurts our heart when they pass right through us and go to San Francisco and L.A.… our mission is to let people know that we are here, we have everything available, and we have the chefs and the talent to make it all happen here.”
“The way we’re trying to approach this is a mixture of fast casual and fine dining,” Penn says, ”We have a menu that stays there all year with some seasonal rotations.”
Penn and Vieira plan to host a fine dining experience with themes inspired by the lcoal ecosystems, twice-monthly.
Vieira is known to drive all the way to Mariposa on short notice, just to pick up locally produced blue oyster mushrooms for his dishes.
The Third Place Global Eatery gets its name from the concept of a “third place”, coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. It’s somewhere to go that is separate from work or home, where people in a community will gather to meet and share ideas.
This food hall takes that concept and explodes the restaurant experience wide open, offering fast casual foods, boba, tea, coffee, and soft serve ice cream, and Crow & Wolf beer and seltzer, all in one building.
A variety of seating offers communal dining at large wooden benches, a small private patio for a few friends, a corner with booths for parties, and an outdoor oasis with misters and plenty of shade, complete with a waterfall feature.
“The best seats in the house are right there,” Vieira says, about the shaded bistro tables by the waterfall.
The concept and build are very different from what the historic Franco building used to be.
For 50 years, this standalone building was the Franco’s Mexican Restaurant, owned and operated by Seferina Franco so her children could get an education, instead of working in the fields.
The building has been entirely remodeled, but if you just look up, you’ll find a familiar sight– they kept the original rafters.
If you peek out onto the shady patio, through the tall portrait-style windows, you would be looking through the Franco building’s original front windows.
These small touches, Penn says, help show respect to the history and establish The Third Place as a Clovis legacy restaurant.
“It’s a lot of responsibility to inherit, especially in Old Town where there is so much history and culture,” Penn says, “When you’re bringing something new, you can’t just demolish and start over, you have to do something with integrity and legacy.”
True to their name and inspiration, The Third Place is making strides toward becoming a location for community events. Recently, the food hall hosted a free yoga night in their back lot, and there are more events planned for the near future.
The best place to keep up to date on what’s new and happening at The Third Place is through their Instagram page.