{"id":354995,"date":"2026-06-10T18:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/354995\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T18:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:02:11","slug":"fresno-eatery-named-best-tri-tip-sandwich-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/354995\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno eatery named best tri-tip sandwich winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

We asked Bee readers in a poll<\/a> to pick the restaurant that had the best tri-tip sandwich in the Fresno area.<\/p>\n

And though plenty of people expected it to be one of the big boys that\u2019s dominated the tri-tip game here for years \u2014 Dog House Grill<\/a> or Mike\u2019s Grill<\/a>, for example \u2014 it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

MEGA Texas Barbeque<\/a> ran away with this competition.<\/p>\n

The restaurant that got its start at a gas station in 2018 got 41% of the vote. MEGA Texas has since moved up to its own space at 3598 E. Butler Ave., near Orange Avenue, where people often line up for its food.<\/p>\n

The Meat Up came in second place at 21%, with its two locations (at Herndon and Marks avenues and Willow and Shepherd avenues).<\/p>\n

Another thing that makes the MEGA Texas win unexpected?<\/p>\n

Tri-tip is a California food, most notably Santa Maria tri-tip that is grilled and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not really a thing in Texas barbecue (and it\u2019s the brisket at MEGA Texas that a lot of people get excited about). But tri-tip is increasingly showing up on menus in Texas with Texans putting their own spin on it.<\/p>\n

The tri-tip at MEGA Texas is not made the traditional way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually smoke the tri-tip to medium as opposed to grilling it,\u201d said Anthony Vallejo, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Tasha Hellman.<\/p>\n

Many people cook their tri-tip closer to well done, he said.<\/p>\n

MEGA Texas tri-tip is still seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. Vallejo, who grew up in the area, said his food is \u201cTexas inspired, California fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tri-tip sandwich<\/p>\n

The meat is hand sliced when a customer orders and cut against the grain for optimum tenderness, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing a lot of people don\u2019t realize is that tri-tip has two very distinct grain directions,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not paying attention to that, you can actually ruin the texture of it.<\/p>\n

The $22 sandwich is made with a half pound of meat \u2014 no sauce \u2014 served on a potato roll made locally by Max\u2019s Bakery<\/a> brushed with garlic butter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s served with a side of the customer\u2019s choice. The most popular is the green chile mac and cheese.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pricey for a sandwich, Vallejo acknowledges, but worth it, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re looking at over a pound worth of food,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2024, MEGA Texas was named one of the Top 50 Texas-style barbecue restaurants outside of Texas by TexasMonthly. The author included a mention of the tri-tip as \u201csome of the best smoked tri-tip I\u2019ve ever eaten<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the sandwiches at MEGA, tri-tip or not, come with a half pound of meat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s purposely too much,\u201d Vallejo said. \u201cNobody\u2019s leaving hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n

MEGA Texas is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. or until it sells out (though it rarely sells out before 2 p.m.) Wednesdays through Saturdays.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno Fresno Bee poll results. \"Before Before Mega Texas Barbeque established its own brick and mortar near the intersection of Butler and Orange avenues, the popular barbecue joint operated inside an Arco gas station. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com \"The The tri-tip sandwich at MEGA Texas Barbeque in Fresno won a Fresno Bee readers poll for the best tri-tip sandwich in town. MEGA TEXAS BARBEQUE
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Bethany Clough<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers\u2019 questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We asked Bee readers in a poll to pick the restaurant that had the best tri-tip sandwich in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-354995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354995","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=354995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}