Two Valley restaurants expanding

I’ve written a lot this week about the central San Joaquin Valley’s new restaurants. But those aren’t the only changes on the local dining scene. Two restaurants also are expanding.

Faced with customers asking for tables, Tower Dogs is taking over the Tower Bike Shop next door.

Tower Dogs only has two indoor tables in its current space. The expansion, which could be completed by mid-February, would add about 40 seats, says co-owner Steve Duquette.

“I want to have an air-conditioned space” for the summer, he says.

Other plans include more vegan items, more hot dogs created by customers, and a bar. But don’t expect beer and wine immediately. Duquette says he hopes to have his liquor license by the summer.

For more information, call Tower Dogs at (559) 445-1585.

Guadalajara at Willow and Nees avenues in Clovis also is taking over retail space next door.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls for big parties,” says Guadalajara co-owner Richard Garcia. He plans to use it as a banquet room. It also will provide seating on Friday and Saturday nights, when there’s a wait of at least 45 minutes.

The expansion would add at least 80 seats and a patio, almost doubling the size of the restaurant. A stage will provide performance space for a salsa band. On Fridays and Saturdays, they would have salsa lessons.

Don’t expect a club scene, though. The Garcias want to maintain a family atmosphere. They want you to “get up and dance with your little daughter or little son,” he says.

The Garcia family also wants to remodel the original Guadalajara at Weber and Shields avenues. The plans still need city approval; they would add an extra dining room, two patios, more lighting and changes to the parking lot.

Fresno architect Art Dyson is handling the designs, Garcia says.

The original Guadalajara “has given us everything that we have,” he says. “And now we want to give something back.”

By Joan Obra / The Fresno Bee