Fresno's Best

In 2019 three of us sat in Tommy Adlard’s living room downtown with a bottle of wine, a few microphones, and no plan, and talked with Aaron Foster for two hours. Seven years and 220 episodes later, this is the last episode of Fresno’s Best.

My friend Dustin Maddox sat across from me in my living room on East Harvard to talk it through. I could have recorded this alone like a journal entry, but I don’t always trust myself to be honest without someone asking the questions.

We talk about:

Thank you to every guest and every listener. It’s been a joy. Go be a good neighbor, and maybe read a book instead of a podcast.

Chapters
00:00 Where it all started
02:00 From three hosts to one
04:45 The format: where to eat, overrated vs. underrated, books
07:30 What I learned about Fresno
10:00 Getting sidelined in Pasadena vs. thrown in the deep end in Fresno
12:00 Being a connector
13:00 Why it’s ending: burnout and the algorithm
17:00 The tree fight and mission creep
18:30 The pull of the History of California Podcast
20:00 When you start seeing yourself as a brand
22:30 What I hope listeners take away
26:30 Leave the party early
28:00 Coffee in the front yard
29:30 Where to find me next
31:00 Tables turned: where I’m eating
33:30 Me-N-Ed’s: overrated or underrated?
35:00 What I’m reading

Mentioned in this episode

How do you change the way a community talks about immigration? Elizabeth Camarena and Linda Renland think one answer is a great documentary with a side of pupusas.

In this episode of Fresno’s Best, Jordan talks with two founders of the People On The Move Film Series. It’s a volunteer-run series that screens films about migration in Fresno and pairs each one with a panel and food. Elizabeth is a longtime immigration attorney who represented asylum seekers. Linda is a Norwegian-born migrant who has worked with refugees and immigrants across the Central Valley. They share:

Next screening: Mujer Mariposa, a documentary about three daughters of refugees and immigrants caught between cultures, languages, and generations. It’s on Wednesday, October 22, at Fresno City College. Doors open at 5:30 PM with food (pupusas, lumpia, and samosas), and the film starts at 6:00 PM. Afterward there’s a panel with the director, the cinematographer, and one of the women in the film, moderated by Dr. Kat Fortier of Fresno State. The event is free, with free parking, and all ages are welcome. Reserve tickets on Eventbrite and follow @peopleonthemovefilmseries on Instagram.

Alexa Teal Green grew up in Fresno, left for UC Irvine, and spent nearly a decade in Los Angeles and the Bay Area working in comedy, tech marketing, and corporate events before COVID brought her home. Now she leads events and engagement at KVPR. She and Jordan talk about:

KVPR is holding an open house on Tuesday, October 6, from 5 to 7 PM at its Clovis broadcast center, celebrating 10 years in a building funded entirely by supporter donations. Admission is free, and there will be food trucks, studio tours, and the chance to meet the on-air voices.

Vince Mancini is back on Fresno's Best to talk about food. 

Vince has been covering food for Fresnoland, and his reporting on Bulle, the city's buzzy new fine-dining spot, set off one of the more heated local food fights in recent memory. He went in to write a review, liked the food, and then started hearing from employees about bounced paychecks and unpaid vendors. The pushback that followed raises the question at the center of this episode: does "backing Fresno" mean staying quiet when a local business goes wrong? We dig into a widely shared post arguing that critics should give struggling businesses room to make things right, and ask who's left out of that argument, starting with the workers.

We also get into:

Judicial elections are some of the hardest races to vote in — nonpartisan, low-information, and easy to skip. In this episode, Jordan Mattox sits down with Jeff Hammerschmidt, a candidate for Fresno County Superior Court judge, to cut through that and get at how he actually thinks.

A former Fresno DA prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney, Jeff brings experience from nearly every seat in the courtroom. Jordan and Jeff dig into what really separates a superior court judge from the law-making justices we see on TV, why a consistent temperament matters more than any single courtroom style, and what "following the law" means in the fact-specific, human moments where a judge still has real discretion.

Along the way: judicial and mental health diversion, juvenile justice and Prop 57, court backlogs and respecting people's time, the judges who shaped his sense of the craft, and a few stories from the DA's office that reveal how he weighs a close call. Plus the usual — his favorite Fresno spots and a couple of book recommendations to send you off.

This is also a companion to our conversation with Jeff's opponent, Jose Salazar — listen to both to hear how the two candidates approach the same questions and decide for yourself which one fits the bench you want.

To learn more about the candidate, search "Jeff Hammerschmidt for Judge."

There's no tiki bar in Fresno — yet — but there's a thriving tiki community, and Wayne Stonecipher was instrumental in building it. Wayne is the founder of Central California Tiki, the group he started around 2018 that has grown from four friends making drinks out of the Smuggler's Cove book into a community of well over a thousand members celebrating "tiki escapism" across Central California, from the Grapevine to the Delta. The group hosts meetups throughout the valley and puts on the Central California Tiki Marketplace beside Bakersfield's Tiki-Ko and The Sinking Ship, drawing dozens of carvers, artists, and vendors from all over California.

In this episode, host and Wayne cover the origins of tiki culture (Don the Beachcomber, Trader Vic, and the secret numbered rum recipes), the difference between celebration and appropriation, what actually defines a tiki cocktail, the great Mai Tai and Painkiller debates, how to design a transporting home bar, and a fast round of tiki "overrated vs. underrated." They also dig into what a distinctly Central Valley tiki scene could look like — think "tree to glass" cocktails built on the region's incredible citrus and agriculture — plus Wayne's essential book recommendations and a tease about the tiki bar finally coming to Fresno.

Find Central California Tiki at centralcaliforniatiki.com and on Instagram and Facebook @centralcaliforniatiki.

Jordan Mattox sits down with Jose Salazar, a senior defense attorney on the major crimes team at the Fresno County Public Defender's Office and a candidate for Fresno County Superior Court judge. Born and raised in Sanger in a family of immigrants, Jose traces his path from Central Valley high school football and debate to Berkeley, UC Hastings law school, and over a decade defending some of the most serious cases in Fresno Superior Court.

The conversation ranges widely: why people are drawn to public defense, what voters should actually look for in a judicial candidate, and how a trial judge balances applying the law, exercising discretion, and managing a courtroom. Jordan and Jose dig into the mechanics of California's elected judiciary, court backlogs and the resources problem behind them, continuances and plea deals, juvenile justice and adolescent brain development, homelessness, and judicial temperament. Jose also lays out the one issue he says sets him apart — his public-policy stance on ICE agents in the courthouse — framing it as a matter of public safety, court access, and fairness for the underserved communities that built the Central Valley.

The episode closes with Jose's case for why he's the right candidate, a nod to fatherhood and family (including the story behind his youngest son's middle name), and his book recommendations: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

Jose's campaign fundraiser is Wednesday, September 9th, from 5:30 to 7:30 at Sumner Fox Brewery in the Tower District — all ages welcome. You can find him on Instagram and Facebook at JoseSalazarForJudge, or at joseSalazarForJudge.com. Election Day is November 3rd.

Meaghan McCready spends half her life suspended in the air and the other half at the front of a psychology classroom — and on this episode she makes the case that the two aren't as far apart as they seem.

Host Jordan Mattox talks with Meaghan about her path into aerial arts, from a spur-of-the-moment sign-up at Fulton 55 to a decade of teaching silks, sling, and lyra at her downtown studio. They dig into the mechanics and myths of the "art sport": just how much you can trust a strip of nylon, why the muscles that matter most aren't the ones you'd guess, the burns and bruises that come with the territory, and how social media and body-type expectations have reshaped the craft. Meaghan also opens up about how aerial — and the trust it demands — helped carry her through her own struggles with depression.

On the psychology side, they get into the messy state of the field today: wellness influencers, self-diagnosis, ChatGPT as a stand-in therapist, and the grind of adjunct life across three Valley colleges. Plus a round of Overrated or Underrated, a detour through downtown Fresno and the Tower District, and a couple of closing book recommendations.

Curious about trying aerial yourself? Meaghan teaches at the Sun Stereo Warehouse in downtown Fresno and performs with Central Valley Cirque.

Books mentioned:

Organist, conductor, and educator Cactus Harris joins Jordan to make the case that the pipe organ is anything but boring. From teaching himself accordion out of his mother's closet to commanding the 1928 Robert Morton theater organ at Warnors, Cactus traces a winding path through saxophone, keyboards, and a master's in conducting. He and Jordan dig into the instrument's unexpected origins, the misconceptions that keep people away, and why he believes there's a far bigger audience for the organ in Fresno than most people assume.

In this episode

Cactus and Jordan open with the best hole-in-the-wall food out by Fresno State before getting into the accordion's underrated versatility, the surprisingly rowdy battlefield origins of the pipe organ, and how it migrated into churches and later silent-film theaters. They cover organ technique and the notorious "octopus" coordination it demands, the terraced versus swell dynamics of different instruments, and a spirited round of overrated versus underrated (harpsichord, Wayne Newton, Me-n-Ed's crust, and more). From there the conversation turns to the Robert Morton organ at Warnors — what makes it special, what a museum-quality restoration would cost, and Cactus's vision for bringing new audiences in — before closing on arts funding, Measure P, and the challenge of defining what art is worth funding in Fresno.

Book recommendations

District 7 City Council candidate Nav Gurm joins Jordan to make his case ahead of the June 2nd election. A UCLA and UC Davis Law grad who returned home to Fresno against the brain drain trend, Nav lays out his vision for housing, homelessness, public safety, economic development, and city hall culture.

The conversation covers his all-of-the-above approach to the housing crisis and what revitalizing the Blackstone Corridor and Manchester Mall would actually take, his plan to launch a District 7 project review committee in his first 100 days, why he supports the anti-camping ordinance but wants major reforms and stronger county collaboration, how to bring down 911 response times and invest in preventative public safety tools, and why small businesses deserve the same red-carpet treatment from City Hall that big employers get. Nav also explains why he opposes taxpayer-funded soccer stadiums, points to Los Angeles and San Jose as models for budget transparency and policy outcome tracking, and addresses head-on the critique that at 26, he's too young for the job.

Plus, his favorite vegetarian spots around town, why he recommends Ezra Klein's Abundance, and a final get-out-the-vote push with voting center locations across Fresno.

Election Day: Tuesday, June 2nd. Learn more at @NavForFresno.

Book Recommendation: 

Abundance Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson