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.

5 Nights in Bakersfield: Night #4

This was the toughest day of the week. D drove all the way out to spend time with me, take me to dinner, and I came back to the hotel from my training with feet like little footballs and my hair a veritable fright wig from all the dry heat. I was solely in the mood to lay on the bed and watch crap tv. Instead I rallied and he took good care of me. We started by taking a long drive through seedy downtown Bakersfield looking for a Thai massage place or a decent day spa. Do not do this.

I wanted to go to a wine bar/Thai restaurant I had read about online, but strangely, I needed to unwind by eating and drinking before I could enjoy my dinner. Don't ask. So we ended up here, at Prime Cut Meats & Eats and Butcher Shop. Best food I ate all week.



This is a New Orleans inspired restaurant, and it is not a chain. The decor is cohesive and professional looking enough that I thought surely this at least has aspirations on chainage. And maybe it will become one eventually. But for now it is one-off.



There is all kinds of amusing and thematic signage covering every usable wall space, but this Blues Brothers vinyl, taken good care of, impressed me.



We drank huge martinis and ate beautiful, fresh, cold, massive oysters on the half shell. I don't usually love the big ones, but these were not overly creamy nor were they too fishy.



We also shared a small bowl of gumbo. Best gumbo I have ever eaten, full stop. Spicy, savory, smokey, big chunks of fish, andouille sausage, and crayfish. I was wowed.



In retrospect, we should have stayed put. We were well tended and the food was wonderful.