Eric V.
Yelp
I've been interested in Bakersfield lately. When relevant to the conversation, I have extolled the virtues of Bakersfield to my interlocutors. "The Bakersfield sound, man! Buck and Merle, how cool were they? And that's where they're from. Nashville gets all this hype, but the cooler stuff came from California."
To that, I might get a nod of the head. "And they have a bunch of Basque restaurants! Apparently, Basque shepherds immigrated at some point, stuck around, but held on to their identity." Still, no one's interested in going with me to Bakersfield.
People from LA and San Fran see Bakersfield as a place filled with backward hicks. For all the snobs with a low opinion of the jewel of Kern County, you need to step into the dining room at Wool Growers. People from L.A. and the Bay Area comport themselves like an upturned garbage can compared to the tidy manner of the Wool Growers' staff and clientele. I went on a Thursday for lunch and everyone looked like they might just as well be at an Easter celebration.
Having already been to my local Basque restaurant, I was familiar with the heartwarming effect the food can have. It's not fancy. In fact, you can probably make it at home, but that's kind of the point. In this charming dining room, attached to a charming banquet room and bar, with a charming sign out front, you feel like you are being treated to a feast by your aunt or grandmother. Or, perhaps, the aunt or grandmother of your Basque friend.
The tomato/ piperade type salad was tremendous with local tomatoes and bell peppers in season. I assume they're local since I kept passing trucks on both the 5 and 99 freeways hauling massive loads of tomatoes.
The soups were honest and delicious. The clam chowder is not the typical heavily creamed affair. Most of the thickening is done with the starch from potato, and is enriched with milk. Much lighter and perfect for the July heat of the valley. The beans are tasty and become even better with the spicey tomatoey salsa. You also receive bread, a lettuce based salad, and a vegetable soup. All this is complimentary with your meal.
My meal was the pickled tongue sandwich (tongue of beef). I realized later that it would have been more appropriate had I ordered a lamb dish, seeing as how I was in a place for shepherds. But the pickled tongue sandwich proved to be a phenom nonetheless.
The tongue meat isn't pickled in the way of a jarred preserve. At least that was not my impression. It seemed to me that it was prepared in a sort of escabeche: cooked in a boiling mixture of water and vinegar. It was certainly acidic. Yet the offaly tongue savor was still noticeable. And the sandwich's condiment was a very decadent compound butter with garlic and parsley.
The staff was exceptionally attentive and polite. I had a couple of restless toddlers with me. The staff may have been annoyed with the children's behavior, but if that was the case, they masked it entirely. Very warm welcoming people.
