echoing the father-son Everk story<\/a> that made headlines at the 2024 ceremony.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Best of the Valley is one of my favorite events because it highlights one of California\u2019s most dynamic and diverse restaurant communities,\u201d said Jot Condie, president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association.<\/p>\n
The ceremony recognized Sam Toledo with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Hall of Fame inductees Bob Farrar and Franco and Virginia Paolilli.<\/p>\n
Toledo opened his namesake restaurant in Fresno in 1991, and currently operates three Toledo\u2019s Mexican Restaurant locations in Fresno. He began working professionally in restaurants not long after traveling alone from Mexico to the United States at age 14. Three generations of Toledos now work in the family restaurant business.<\/p>\n
Hall of Fame inductee Farrar works as a Realtor, and is also a former multi-unit restaurant operator of more than 28 branded restaurant concepts. He also designed more than 300 commercial kitchens and is a former director of food services at Fresno State.<\/p>\n
Franco and Virginia Paolilli opened Ovidio\u2019s Ristorante Italiano in Fresno in 1979. Virginia comes from the restaurant family behind DiCicco\u2019s, where Franco worked at the First Street and Shaw Avenue location after immigrating from Italy. Their son Rocco Paolilli owns and operates Ovidio\u2019s, which recently celebrated its 45th anniversary.<\/p>\n
For more than 30 years, the Best of the Valley Restaurant Awards has showcased the region\u2019s dining scene by recognizing outstanding restaurants in various categories, according to a news release. Nominations for the 2026 awards, selected by fellow restaurateurs and the dining community, opened on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n
Below are the winners in more than two dozen categories:<\/p>\n
Best Fast Casual: Butterfish
Best Family Dining: Sal\u2019s Mexican Restaurant
Best Fine Dining: Saizon
Best Watering Hole: Mad Duck Craft Brewery
Best Food Truck: Harry\u2019s Mexican Grill
Best Banquet\/Catering Services: Table Mountain Casino Resort
Best Hotel\/Casino Dining: Table Mountain Casino Resort
Best Outdoor Dining: Saizon
Best Breakfast: The Train Depot
Best Pizza: The Annex Kitchen
Best Sushi: Tamari Robatayaki & Whisky Bar
Best Steak: 13 Prime Steak
Best Burger: In-N-Out
Best Deli: MOTO Delicatessen & Bodega
Best BBQ: Mega Texas BBQ
Best Bakery: YAVA Bakery
Best Seafood: Wassabi On Fire
Best Appetizers: Heirloom
Best Dessert: La Boulangerie
Best Local Winery: Toca Madera Winery
Best Local Coffee Shop: Otherside Cafe
Best Craft Cocktail: The Red Room
Best Local Brewery: Crow & Wolf Brewing Co. Taproom
Best Chinese: Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant
Best Japanese: Sakura Chaya
Best Italian: The Annex Kitchen
Best Mediterranean: Phoenician Garden Mediterranean Bar and Grill
Best Mexican: Toledo\u2019s Mexican Restaurant
Best Indian: Indian Kebab Palace
Best American: Heirloom
Date Night (Most Romantic): School House Restaurant & Tavern
Best Hospitality: Ampersand Ice Cream
New on the Scene (Best Newcomer): Willow Osteria
Best Night Life: The Standard Restaurant & Nightclub
Beverage Supplier of the Year: High Desert Distributing
Supplier of the Year: US Foods
Chef of the Year: Mauricio Arizola (Se\u00f1or Aj\u00ed Peruvian Kitchen)
Restaurateur of the Year: David Wong
Rising Star: Lilian Arizola (Se\u00f1or Aj\u00ed)
People\u2019s Choice Award: Heirloom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heirloom is still the people\u2019s restaurant. Saizon is back. And In-N-Out keeps beating everybody\u2019s local burger. The Fresno…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[107493,107494,112,114,113,107495,412,107496],"class_list":{"0":"post-238579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-butterfish","9":"tag-cra","10":"tag-fresno","11":"tag-fresno-headlines","12":"tag-fresno-news","13":"tag-heirloom","14":"tag-restaurants","15":"tag-saizon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}