Downtown Fresno’s La Jacka to close after 11 years

La Jacka’s downtown Fresno dining room will close June 30 after 11 years, ending a run that helped make the plant-based Mexican restaurant one of the city’s better-known vegan stops. Owner Miriam Martinez said rising costs, slumping foot traffic and worries about being near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office all weighed on the decision.

The business began as a mobile food truck in 2014 before expanding into a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 700 Van Ness Avenue, near Mono Street, where it opened with a soft launch on Sept. 17, 2023. Built around jackfruit-based tacos, burritos and quesadillas, La Jacka drew a loyal following that helped it stand out in downtown Fresno’s small but visible plant-based dining scene.

Martinez said the pressure has been building for months. Cooking oil climbed from $16 before the pandemic to $47, she said, while beans rose from $18 to $20 up to $40 and rice jumped from $15 to $35. She also said sales fell after a June 2025 anti-ICE protest, and that concerns about safety, homelessness and the proximity of ICE offices made it harder to keep the restaurant viable.

The lease ends June 30, and the last day of service was moved up to Sunday so staff could begin packing. Will Dyck, chief executive of Summa Properties, said he offered a $1,000 rent discount to help keep the restaurant open. Martinez said the brand will continue in other forms, including packaged jackfruit products, weekly pre-order sales and direct sales of pre-packaged jackfruit.

La Jacka’s closure lands at a sensitive moment for downtown Fresno. City leaders have said the core is supposed to grow to 10,000 residents, about 7,000 more than the area had in 2024, and the city has already received close to $50 million of nearly $300 million in state support for downtown infrastructure. That plan includes new parking structures, trash compactors and facade-improvement money, but the restaurant’s exit shows how uneven the recovery still is for independent operators on the street level.

The gap will be felt most on Van Ness Avenue, where La Jacka gave downtown a distinct food identity built on an unusual concept and a steady customer base. The Park at South Stadium Apartments, a 174-unit project near Fulton and Inyo streets, is expected to begin construction in August and open around summer 2028, but that kind of long-range development will not solve the immediate problem facing small businesses today.