Moses McQueen’s opens in historic Fresno home, boosts downtown

A restored house at 634 Van Ness Ave. has become more than a new place to eat and drink. With Moses McQueen’s now open steps from Highway 41 at Van Ness Avenue and Cesar Chavez Boulevard, downtown Fresno has another test case for whether a well-placed restaurant can pull people deeper into the city center and keep them coming back.

The ribbon-cutting on April 28 came three weeks after the venue’s formal grand opening on April 4, and the timing mattered. The business had already started serving customers before the public celebration, giving Fresno leaders and nearby visitors an early look at whether a highly anticipated opening can translate into steady activity on a corner that sits at the edge of downtown traffic.

The project is built inside the historic Elia Home, a 110-year-old Little Armenia residence that the owners say is the last remaining house on that corner. Brothers Diego Arambula and Miguel Arambula, along with partner Phillip Kliewer, bought the home from the Elia family, added it to the local historic registry and spent about seven to eight years developing the property. The work was delayed by COVID-19 until 2022, but the result is a 2,000-square-foot venue that keeps the old structure visible while giving it a new commercial life.

Inside, the concept is designed to feel playful without losing the building’s original character. Moses McQueen’s can host up to 180 guests indoors and outdoors, with two bars, a 1970s-themed space downstairs and a 1920s-inspired bar upstairs reached through a hidden bookcase passage. The former backyard is now an outdoor food courtyard with a raised-deck patio, and a permanently fixed food truck serves food in back.

Bar manager Alexa Leyva created the cocktail menu, including the Pink Kitten, while head chef Vance Edwards built a lineup that includes a Caribbean chicken sandwich, jerk chicken wings, vegan jackfruit tacos and vegan cheesecake. The grand opening also featured live music from the Ray Moore Band, adding to the push to make the spot feel like a destination rather than a stop-in.

The project also reached beyond hospitality. Duncan Polytechnical High School construction students spent about six hours a week on the site, helping pour concrete and do grading work through NexGeneral Construction. Kliewer said the company has already hired two recent graduates, linking the restaurant’s opening to workforce training in Fresno’s construction trades.

For city leaders, that mix of preservation, jobs and new activity is the point. Mayor Jerry Dyer said the venue is creating jobs and increasing the tax base, while downtown Fresno continues to pursue a larger goal of growing the residential population from about 3,000 to 10,000. If Moses McQueen’s keeps drawing repeat traffic on ordinary nights, not just opening week, it will look less like a ribbon-cutting and more like evidence that downtown investment is starting to reshape central Fresno.