After a recommendation from friends, Steve & Karen and the sign, “Tacos, Tequila and Whiskey”, I had to give this place a try. They had me with “tacos”. As soon as we walked in the door, my friend Lisa and I enjoyed the “Bakersfield” style rockabilly music, Clint Eastwood movies on the TV and the patrons seemed happy. We were promptly seated at a table in a prime location of the restaurant. It was on the street level next to the open windows overlooking bustling Mass Ave. The barrel tables are a bit unconventional. Because the table top doesn’t extend past the barrel base I felt awkward leaning far forward over the table to eat.
Everything on the menu looked great. I like restaurants that specialize in a few items and prepare them well. Christen, our waitress, after finding out this was our first time at Bakersfield, gave in-depth descriptions of the items. I’m not going to go into detail about the menu because you can check it out for yourself at www.bakersfieldmassave.com. Christen’s “spot-on” descriptions made our decisions more difficult. She asked if we wanted to try the guacamole and chips or the queso. Lisa said “yes”. So we had both. That was easy.
The chips were warm, crisp and strong enough to hold plenty of the hearty guacamole and queso. The guacamole was fresh with big chunks of avocado, just as the perfect guacamole should be. The queso arrived in a small cast iron dish and was hot and bubbly with bits of yummy, caramelized crusty cheese on top. It’s not the runny, white cheese you get at many Mexican restaurants that barely coat the chip. At Bakersfield, I liked to get a big scoop of the cheese on my chip then squirt a bunch of the table red sauce on top. I forgot to mention, on the table are two squeeze bottles of sauce – one green and one red. I preferred the smoky red sauce and Lisa liked the green cilantro based sauce. By the time we were finished with the meal, the once full bottles were now only ½ full. They should sell that stuff.
I chose the Pollo Verde – tomatillo braised chicken, pickled red onion, queso fresco, crema and radish. Christen said this chicken taco went well with the same smoky red sauce that was on the table. Ok, I’m in. Lisa ordered the Mole – Oaxacan style braised chicken, queso fresco, and cilantro (of course she topped it off with the green table sauce). Both arrived quickly and although we weren’t that hungry after the guacamole and queso, we had no problem cleaning our plates.
Lisa and I left with full tummies and an eagerness to return. Next time we’ll bring our husbands and enjoy the tequila. Because of the efficient service we had a few minutes to shop at Silver in the City before our afternoon of pampering with a massage at our friend’s spa, Studio 2000.
