Wednesday, August 6, 2008

5 More Nights in Bakerfield: Night #2



I have been in touch with Peter Tittl, the food critic for one of the local Bakersfield newspapers. It turns out that he has a website he refers people to (who doesn't?) that lists his top ten restaurants in several categories. I used the fine dining category to inform some of my eating this week, although fine dining is a questionable category, either due to his personal taste or due to a lack of fine establishments in Bakersfield. PF Changs is on the fine dining list.

This night we made two stops. We started at the oldest restaurant in town, TJ Maxwell's. I'll qualify that by adding that the space has been a restaurant for a very long time. Since just prior to the 1900's, if I remember correctly. It used to be a bar called The Office, where literature on the menu states that men could call home from and in a completely honest way say they were still at the office. Ha ha. Later, it became a locale for gambling, and in one raid the mayor and the police chief were both brought in during the round up. Ha ha (really, that time). The architecture of the bar is beautiful and supports the imagination in visualizing just such an event.



I love these bar stools. Unsure what era these arrived in the building, but they are almost too perfect.



The menu relied heavily on creamy sauces, beurre blancs, alfredos, brown butters and so on. So we drank lovely little martinis and shared a wonderful sesame seared ahi appetizer before we went on out merry way. This was truly one of the better seared ahi dishes I have eaten. Heavily crusted in roast sesame, cooked firmly on the outside with that bright pink on the inside. If I come to Bakersfield again, I wouldn't be against ordering that as an entree portion.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Contacting Pete Tittl was your first mistake. His reviews are meant to not alienate anyone and I don't think he gets out of town much.

Next time try:

Wool Growers
J's Place
Uricchio's
Luigi's
Mama Roomba

Also, some good honky tonks if you're into that.

Food, she thought. said...

thank you for that...i meant to get to Uricchio's while I was there this summer. I may be heading out there again some weekend this fall. if so, that will be my first stop!

Anonymous said...

This is pete tittl and I'll bet I get out of town a lot more than you. Not alienate people? Read the letters to the editor sometime. Also, all the restaurants you listed hAve been effusively praised by me, including the link I sent her to for this trip. Bon appetit!

Anonymous said...

Real nice. This is the deal pete tittl and I'll bet I'm out of town a lot more often than you. Your list is Ll mentioned on the website I sent her to.

Anonymous said...

This is pete tittl and I'll bet I get out of town a lot more than you. Not alienate people? Read the letters to the editor sometime. Also, all the restaurants you listed hAve been effusively praised by me, including the link I sent her to for this trip. Bon appetit!

Food, she thought. said...

Pete,
You replied to an anonymous commenter in a year old post 3 times? From our friendly email exchanges, your tone shocks me. Your amount of spare time is somewhat surprising as well, um, Pete?

Anonymous said...

Pete,
Its easy to be a food critic when you're just an unsuccessful high school teacher. I don't think you would eat out much if it wasn't for the Californian picking up the tab. What kind of food critic doesn't know what Thursday Thanksgiving lands on.
You're just another freeloader that'll never amount to anything.
A critic creates nothing just criticism.

Food, she thought. said...

Anonymous,
Pete's not coming back here to read these comments written on a blog from another city by someone who's NOT an edtablished food critic on a post TWO years old. Get a grip.