This classic Fresno breakfast restaurant closed. A new owner is reopening it. Here’s when

The original BJ’s Kountry Kitchen is a Fresno classic.

For more than 40 years, the restaurant has churned out biscuits drowning in gravy and other American breakfast and lunch food, all served in a down-home setting that hasn’t changed much in years.

Now at Ashlan Avenue near Cedar Avenue and Save Mart, it was the first BJ’s Kountry Kitchen and would be followed by several other locations with the same name.

But it closed in early October.

Already, it has a new owner and plans to reopen Nov. 1. And regular customers may see some familiar faces slinging hashbrowns.

Tough times

The changes come after the restaurant was beaten bloody the last few years by challenges facing the industry.

Owner Lynda Wiens, (who couldn’t be reached comment for this story) described some of the problems faced by the business to The Bee back in 2020: Business plummeted during COVID-19, especially since the restaurant didn’t have much space for outdoor dining.

A vandal smashed a front door that cost $650 to fix. A jar with $1,000 dollars in donations to help them stay afloat was stolen. At one point, their landlord tried to evict them. Wiens started a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to keep the restaurant alive.

And even though today more customers are coming in than the dark days of COVID, things still aren’t easy. There are still bills to pay. The business couldn’t recover.

So Wiens closed the restaurant in early October.

New owner buys business

BJ’s as a concept wasn’t gone, however. The other location at Cedar and Herndon avenues is still open. It has a similar menu, but different ownership.

All the other recent locations have had different owners. The Clovis restaurant at Shaw and Villa closed in 2017 and was replaced by Triangle Burgers Drive In. The Blackstone Avenue BJ’s closed in 2020 and has since been torn down.

And the very first BJ’s, the one Wiens’ mother Judy Kerr founded and Wiens hoped to pass down to her own daughter — that also had to close.

Michelle Ortiz has worked as a server on and off at that location for seven years.

“To be part of something that’s going for that long, it’s hard to see it close down,” she said.

She knew all the regular customers, and knew they would be sad about it.

“Lynda is a good family friend of mine,” she said. “I know how important this family legacy to her is. ... And honestly, I wanted Lynda to keep her job.”

After much discussion between Wiens and Ortiz, they decided Ortiz would buy it. She’s got a full-time job on top of this, as an asset manager for a solar company, and will hire someone to run it full time.

Wiens isn’t going anywhere. She will stay on as a cook.

Churros, menudo and vegans

Ortiz wants to keep the restaurant mostly the same.

The menu will still feature breakfast and lunch. That includes popular dishes such as those biscuits and gravy, and the popular BJ’s Special omelet with linguica, ham, sausage, ortega chiles and cheese.

She plans a few changes, with plans to bring in menudo on the weekends in the future. They’ll also close one day a week, Wednesdays, instead of being open daily.

Ortiz also wants to add a few vegan and healthy options to the menu.

“We will definitely be adding some healthier salads and healthier choices and trying to move forward,” she said, “changing it a little but not too much.

Perhaps the biggest change will be the addition of Rubia’s Churro Parties.

The owner of that business and Ortiz are best friends, and the mobile churro seller will start operating out of BJ’s Kitchen. Her churros will also be available to eat at the restaurant.

Ortiz also wants to grow BJ’s informal pay-it-forward program.

“One my favorite things about working at the restaurant is when people say, ‘Hey, Michelle, I want to pay that table’s bill,” she said. “It just makes me so happy.”

It will still be informal, but Ortiz wants to see more people doing that. Ideally, they’d pick out who they want to feed, and it can be done anonymously, she said.

“It makes people feel happy,” she said.

Details: BJ’s Kountry Kitchen is at 4109 E. Ashlan Ave. It is scheduled to reopen at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1. Regular hours will be from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Closed Wednesdays. 559-222-5206.