New full-service eatery coming to west Modesto serving farm-to-fork meat and potatoes
Give the people what they want. And when it comes to food, it’s hard to go wrong with meat and potatoes.
That’s what is inspiring a new restaurant that plans to open on Modesto’s under-served west side of town. Burly’s California Bisto will be a full-service, sit-down eatery with a full bar on Carpenter Road. The team behind the new place has years of experience in some of the region’s most well-known restaurants.
Modesto residents Kimberly Gaynor and chef Mike Ortiz have worked at the old Mallard’s Restaurant in Modesto, Toscana’s in Turlock and Lola in Hilmar. And, for the last two years, Gaynor has run her own catering business, Burly’s Catering & Events. She catered while working for years at the other restaurants as well, serving clients like Save Mart and Costco for company events — which continued when she started her own company.
Now the two have decided to put their combined skills together to open Burly’s, a bistro offering traditional meals with a farm-to-fork spin.
“My old boss Dan Costa (who founded Mallard’s) said fads come and go, but if you give them meat and potatoes they always come back,” Gaynor said.
She worked at Mallard’s for some 15 years, and after that was at Toscana’s for another 9 years. She is family friends with Ortiz, who after working at Mallard’s, Toscana’s and Lola wanted to strike out on his own. Gaynor plans to merge her catering into the restaurant and run it out of its kitchen.
Work is underway transforming the spot, which was formerly used as a church. Now the 4,400 square-foot space is being turned into a restaurant that melds industrial and rustic elements. So expect lots of wood and metal, including two sliding barn doors to set off a large storage space off the main dining room. There is also a peek-a-boo window into the kitchen and a full bar at the back wall.
Once complete, the space will fit about 60 to 70, including a private banquet room that can accommodate a dozen people.
A farm-to-fork menu
The food, meanwhile, will be California seasonal and take advantage of the abundance of great agricultural products from the region. Those include Ratto Farms for produce and Fiscalini and Nicolau Farms for cheese. Expect from-scratch soups, salads, sandwiches and steak and chicken entrees among others.
“The local products will drive the menu,” Ortiz said. “We have all this great stuff right here around us.”
Ortiz, 35, has been working in restaurants for more than 20 years. In 2003 he graduated from the prestigious California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, which is affiliated with Le Cordon Bleu. Along with Gaynor, partner John Curtis and General Manager Kevin Powell will serve as the management team for the new restaurant.
Burly’s will be open for lunch and dinner weekdays, and dinner on weekends. Thanks to its full bar, the restaurant will also have a late-night bar menu after regular dinner service ends.
Prices will hover in the teens for lunch and go from the teens to around $40 for dinner.
They hope to have the restaurant ready to open by late January. They’ve been working on the space for a few months. So far it has been gutted and new framing has gone up. Now it’s being prepped for plumbing.
The restaurant is tucked inside of a small retail strip just past the intersection of Carpenter and Woodland Avenue, near the El Captain Marisco Y Taqueria and Cycle Specialists. Because it’s not visible from the street, Gaynor said she wants to make Burly’s a destination stop on the west side, like how the former Farmer’s Catfish House brought people in from far and wide despite its rural setting.
Something for west Modesto
She was just as passionate about being in west Modesto. Gaynor was born in Oakdale, but she grew up in Modesto’s west side and went to Modesto High School. She still lives on the west side of town and wants to bring more dining options to the area.
“I wanted this to be something for west Modesto,” she said. “We want a nice restaurant that people in the neighborhood, farmers, anyone can come to. There’s nothing around here that will be like this.”
While a busy thoroughfare, North Carpenter Road is filled mostly with fast food and grab-and-go eateries, as well as a number of Mexican and Asian cuisine places. The west side has only a small handful of more upscale full-service restaurants, especially those with bars.
And about that name, Burly is Gaynor’s nickname. While her first name is Kimberly, her cousins used to call her “Burly” growing up and the moniker stuck. While she has a close to 30-year career in restaurants and food, don’t expect to see her cooking in the kitchen when they open. Gaynor jokes that she “can’t even boil water.” But don’t worry, that’s why they have Ortiz.
Burly’s California Bistro is at 1219 N. Carpenter Road, Suite 5. For more information visit www.facebook.com/Burlyscaliforniabistro.
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
