COSMOPOLITAN TAVERN & ITALIAN GRILL
Cosmopolitan is undeniably Downtown Fresno’s original Italian-American watering hole and eatery and it has been that way since the turn of the 20th century. The establishment’s signage says that Cosmopolitan Tavern & Italian Grill was established in 1933, but its story, and the Lanfranco family, put down roots in the Central Valley much earlier than that. “It’s been a very, very rewarding family business,” says Joe Lanfranco, Executive Chef and third-generation owner of the Cosmo as it’s known today. The Cosmo may no longer stand on the same ground, but even now, after moving to its current location in 2016 due to the high-speed rail, this restaurant continues to foster a deeply engrained sense of community through both food and place.
“My family came from Italy in the early 1900s,” recounts Joe. “They settled in Kerman, California, and purchased a two-story boarding house and bar/restaurant, which was our old location on the corner of Fresno and G Street. … Basically, we catered to Italian immigrants.” The family would provide their newly arrived fellow countrymen with some money, clothes, and shoes in addition to a roof over their heads, repaid for via field or manufacturing jobs, in an effort to help them integrate into the Central Valley community. “We can trace our family back to that location with invoices, property tax, and stuff like that, since 1904.”
Today, the Cosmo stands at the western corner of Ventura Avenue and O Street and remains one of Downtown Fresno’s most bustling dining and bar establishments. “My grandfather started the business in the ‘30s,” Joe speaks of Edward Lanfranco. “And then my father, Gary, started working in the business when he was 21,” in the late ‘60s—he is now semi-retired. Joe joined the business in 1998, just out of high school while going to college, and graduated from culinary school in 2005, which is when the Cosmo started serving dinners again for the first time since the 1960s. “Lunch is still our number-one operation,” attests Joe.
“The Cosmo is known for being the oldest bar in Fresno,” Joe proudly shares. “We have the oldest liquor license in the same family,” in addition to “being probably the busiest downtown lunchtime operation.” Lunch is their bread and butter, and the tri-tip cheesesteaks and sandwiches are definitely their greatest sellers, which is unsurprising given that “We were one of the first to really do tri-tip in Fresno.” Also popular are the pan-roasted halibut with cherry tomato caper sauce, pan-roasted salmon with chardonnay pesto cream sauce, and the Rigatoni Bolognese with burrata, all of which will leave anyone drooling tableside. For a little something to wet your beak, the Brady Manhattan and Milano Margarita never disappoint.
Cosmo’s bar, built in 1937 when prohibition was repealed, is an integral part of its history. When the restaurant was forced to move in 2016, the stained-glass-adorned bar went with it. “We insisted on bringing that with us,” Joe reminisces. “It was very hard to find a craftsman that was able to take it apart and refinish it, and then store it and bring it here,” he speaks of Fresno Woodworking, which happened to be located within walking distance. Refinishing took two-and-a-half months. “When they brought it here, they were worried about putting it on a truck because of the vibrations, so they put it on hydraulic dollies and rolled it down Ventura to this location.” As for the part where you sit, a good portion of the original bar front is now upstairs at the Fresno County Historical Museum, along with an old sign from the building.
In many ways, Cosmopolitan Tavern & Italian Grill is returning home, albeit now down the street. “We’ve kind of returned to our beginnings, because originally we served Italian dinners,” Joe refers to its boarding-house origins. With the new location comes a vastly diverse clientele beyond locals and downtown businesspeople—many come from nearby hotels, convention center events, and ballpark happenings, even farmers and those making a trip to the Valley’s largest city. Yet the Cosmo’s ability to transcend is one of the things that has contributed to its centennial endurance. “Everybody in our family has left it a little better than they found it. So it’s a lot of stress,” admits Joe of what’s to come, “just to keep the legacy going—when I’m done with it, to have it in a better place than it was when I found it.”
www.cosmodowntown.com | 625 O Street, Fresno, CA 93721 | 559.266.8662
