New restaurant at busy corner in Fresno. Forget tacos, it’s all about BBQ
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- Papa Joe’s Spokesbelly BBQ signed a lease to take over 420 W. Shaw Ave.
- He hopes to open by July 1 and serve tri-tip, chicken, ribs and more.
- Avila said he is in the process of applying for permits, including a traffic study.
When a taco place drew big crowds to an old gas station at Maroa and Shaw avenues in Fig Garden, it proved the spot could be an eatery and the neighborhood would show up for it.
The taco spot didn’t work out.
But now a new restaurant is headed for the space at 420 W. Shaw Ave.: Papa Joe’s Spokesbelly BBQ.
The business run by Joe Avila has signed a lease to take over the building — including the inside for seating — in the coming months.
Spokesbelly is a barbecue trailer business that’s been doing catering and pop-ups for about two years.
That name?
“It’s an old saying,” Avila said. “Never trust a skinny cook. Trust a ‘spokesbelly.’”
Usually, he’s patting his belly while saying this. Meaning, he has a belly from eating his own food because it’s good food.
The trailer even features a silhouette of a man with a little belly.
It will be a few months before Spokesbelly opens. He’s hoping to open by July 1.
Avila already serves chicken, tri-tip and ribs. When it opens, he plans to add brisket and pulled pork. There will be sides such as chili, rice pilaf, potato salad, mac ‘n’ cheese, Frito corn salad and giant chocolate chip cookies.
The food will be available as sandwiches, on plates or by the pound.
A 2000 graduate of Bullard High School, Avila currently does concession sales at Bullard football games and at various community events, including a fundraiser for Bullard’s band program.
A gas station, tacos and the Orange Store
Most recently, Tacos El Cabezon called the spot at the northwest corner of Shaw and Maroa avenues home.
Its Mexicali-style tacos made a splash starting last fall. The taco trailer parked on the spot drew crowds of people.
But in February, owner Armando Arias Jr. received a cease-and-desist letter ordering him to stop operating at the location. He was not operating with the proper permit that included a traffic study of the area, according to a county representative.
Arias went on to open a location on Fulton Street in downtown Fresno. (It closed briefly while he was the subject of a missing persons report, though he was found, saying he was in the hospital. It’s since reopened.)
Avila, of Papa Joe’s Spokesbelly, lives in the neighborhood near the Shaw and Maroa spot.
“I’ve been driving by it for years,” he said. “I’m like: That could be a really good barbecue spot.”
He’s in the process of applying for the appropriate permits, including the one with a traffic study.
“Now I’m trying to get all the permits I can and trying to do everything by the book,” he said.
If all goes as planned, he will park his smokers in a caged-off area out back. Customers can sit inside or outside the building.
The building Spokesbelly is taking over has been home to several businesses over the decades.
It started as a gas station in the 1970s and 1980s. Then it was the Orange Store, with crates of fresh fruit for sale out front. After that, it was home to The Elegant Orchid, which sold orchids at the store and for events such as weddings. Late last year, Tacos El Cabezon launched an eatery at the site.
This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 2:35 PM with the headline "New restaurant at busy corner in Fresno. Forget tacos, it’s all about BBQ."
