Uricchio's and Highland cafe

Uricchio’s Tratoria:

Uricchio’s Trattoria consistently gets top ratings for a good reason.  The food is great.  Although it’s a trattoria atmosphere with tables and chairs, it is fancy enough for a business dinner or anniversary and casual enough for Bakersfield summer attire.  I have taken business colleagues there numerous times.  First time diners ask me, “What do you recommend?” and I always say, “The chicken picata and ravioli alfredo”.   Because that is what I usually get.

One colleague came to Bakersfield from rural New Mexico.  He’s a real cowboy and kind of simple, in a good way.  I ordered a Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon from Wild horse.  It’s not too expensive and I know it will be good.  In the middle of his chicken picata and ravioli alfredo, he said, “I can’t think of any words to describe how good this is”.  He clearly was not used to such fine Italian food. 

The chicken picata is a thin breaded half of a chicken breast and pan fried.  What makes it so incredible is the lemon caper butter sauce.  And the ravioli’s are plump full of ricotta cheese and smothered in a rich alfredo sauce.  It is great with the fresh Italian bread and the fresh grated cheese on the table.  Although the alfredo and picata sauces are white, they are rich enough to stand up to the red wine, in my opinion.  In fact, on my last visit, I brought a bottle of Le Cuvier 2005 Zinfandel.  You can’t find much richer wine than that.  And it was great with the dish.  Uricchio’s charges a $15 corkage fee, FYI.

http://uricchios-trattoria.com/menus/

Highland Café:

I went at the highland Café in Oildale this week.  Remember the highland?  I do, with the coldest beer in town, the BBQ, the line of booths down the middle of the dining room, having lunch at the bar because the tables are full.  Yeah, that was years ago.  My favorite dish was the diet plate, a nice fresh salad with lots of blue cheese on the plate with a pile of sliced tri-tip or chicken.  I always got the tri-tip.  And the barbeque sauce was so good on the tri-tip and the salad.  It mixed well with the blue cheese dressing too.  Too bad it closed years ago.  It was very popular for lunch with people working at the Kern River field.  I usually saw someone I knew there.  I remember the waitresses were true Oildale born and bred.  They were meaner than the oilfield workers and had a sharper tongue.  They were nice and we all had fun eating there.  I thought it was funny when the older waitress and I were talking about our kids and she had a kid going to Cal Tech studying aerodynamics.  He was going to be a rocket scientist.  From Oildale?  Is that great or what?  She was really proud of him. 

That gem has been closed for years and stood empty for a while until it was re-opened as an upscale diner and bar.  There are new booths and tables and the menu is new.  No more BBQ like the old days.  But the food is fine.  And the service is still great.  I had the cheddar jalapeno burger.  And I got the sweet potato chips on the side.  The burger is about as gourmet as you will get in Bakersfield.  The patty is nice and thick and still juicy.  The bun was big and fresh and the cheddar and jalapeno’s added lots of flavor.  I really liked the sweet potato chips. 

They were thin, crispy and made fresh.  They were great with extra salt and not as filling as French fries.  The burger was on special that day and was $10.95.  That is a lot for a burger in Bakersfield, but the value was there.  The other sandwiches looked great also.  I can recommend the Highland Café if you are in the Kern River area.  Google the Highland Café Bakersfield and you’ll see other great reviews.

Goose Loonies

Goose Loonies Tavern & Grill

Betty was downtown hosting a laughter yoga class so I invited her to meet me after class at Goose Loonies for dinner.  I needed to get out also and Wednesday night is wing night at the Goose again.  The wings are $1.99 for an order of 6 wings. 

I have fond memories of Goose Loonies when it was in 19^th and H Streets in the mid 90’s.  I remember parking my Harley out from and sitting on the patio with a friend smoking a cigar, watching a game and enjoying an ice cold draft beer and eating peanuts and hot wings.   The peanuts are back and the wing special is back.  However, unfortunately it’s just not very good.

Like the last time I was there, on this visit Wednesday night, I didn’t get one of the frosty cold mugs for my beer.   A frosty mug really increases the pleasure of drinking a beer when I go out.  And when the wings arrived, (I had ordered honey garlic and hot ones) they were unusually small and between Betty and me almost half the wings had broken and splintered bones.  I mean one in 12 might be acceptable.  But what is with 5 in 12 broken bones?  Where do they get these wings, at the Batting Practice Chicken Ranch?  I didn’t enjoy picking bone slivers out of my mouth.  The hot sauce was good and the honey garlic sauce was good.  They are served with a runny ranch dressing.  I remember when they were served with thick blue cheese dressing with chunks of blue cheese.   That’s what I was hoping for, big whole juicy wings with great sauce and thick chunky blue cheese dressing on the side. 

Betty ordered the Gyro sandwich.  I remember having that on previous occasions and the gyro meat was packaged.  I could tell because the slices are all the same rectangular shape, like it came out of a Spam can.  So I ordered the Loonies Burger and fries.  The Looines burger sounded really good, “a juicy patty topped with apple wood smoked bacon, fresh sliced avocado and cheddar cheese.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to tell you about the Loonies Burger. 

When our dinner arrived I noticed that the fries looked limp.  So I tasted one and advised the waitress that they are cold and limp, and I would appreciate hot fresh fries.  Betty concurred and the waitress asked, “So, what do you want, and extra plate of fries?”   I said, “No.  I would like you to take these back and bring hot fresh ones.”  When she returned with our plates, the fries were hot and fresh and very good.  But I noticed that my burger did not have the apple wood smoked bacon, avocado or cheddar cheese on it.  And I remember not accepting an incorrect order at B.J.’s Brew House when it was wrong twice and I never got a meal.  (See my first blog entry for details)  I think that would have been preferred.  Because the burger was not juicy like it says on the menu, but over cooked well done and completely dry. 

When the manager came around and asked how everything was, I let him know that we sent cold fries back and I got the wrong burger.  In a friendly way he said that the kitchen was overwhelmed with the party of 15 that was there just before us.  “We’ll EXCUUUUSE the hell out of me”.  I felt like I was at Fawlety Towers  and complained to Basil Fawlety about the bad service and bad food and he ended up complaining to me… “Don’t you think I know it?  I have to live with it here.” 

So I paid my $38 bill plus a 15% tip and wished we had gone the Noriega Hotel for the lamb stew and prime rib dinner they have every Wednesday night for about the same price, including wine.

The Goose was really a disappointment for the 3^rd time now.  Once I was there with some business colleagues and we ordered the flaming cheese.  I like to yell “OPA” when it’s lit on fire.  It was so salty, I could not eat it.  Hey, 3 strikes and you’re out.  It’s too bad because I’ve talked to the owner before and he’s a nice guy.  He’s from Edmonton and is a big hockey fan.  It’s one place in town I can go and see a NHL hockey game in Bakersfield, but I don’t think I go back.

http://www.gooselooniestavern.com/

Update on the avocado tree

See the “greatest Irony” blog.  The avocado tree is alive and thriving.  I transplanted it from the recovery pot and put it in the ground.  It gets plenty of water and should be sheltered from the frost in winter.  It  only has 6 feet to grow before it’s back to the size it was when I yanked it out.