Both the boyfriend and I were having a bad day yesterday, or as we refer to them, "the usual". Actually, it was worse than usual, so when he came home from work, we decided to go out for dinner. Normally, the idea of going out to eat can be even more stressful, since our choices here are so limited. But this time, we had a destination already in mind...
Desi's.
When we'd gathered with our neighbors last Sunday, the topic of restaurants came up and they all came with a ringing endorsement for Desi's. It was the best, they said, and reasonable too. The best Indian restaurant in town. And since we were craving some food with some flavor, off we went.
To Desi's.
We drove clear cross town, through abandoned subdivisions and newly sprouted cornfields until finally we arrived at the appropriate strip mall. Everything here is in a strip mall. And with much anticipation we drove up to the restaurant and discovered...
It was closed.
Actually, it was more than closed.
It had been evicted.
At least, that's what the notice on the door said.
So, like almost every outing here, it was time for Plan B, which in reality wasn't so much a "plan" as meandering around trying to figure out what to do. As we were cruising back to our part of town, something caught the boyfriend's eye and he abruptly turned into what looked like an industrial park. And it was there that we found Lengthwise Brewing, Bakersfield's only micro-brewery and pub.
I'm actually a little surprised this would be the only one. This strikes me as a beer town. Then again, the big sellers in the grocery store appear to be Schlitz and Pabst, so I'm guessing the subtleties of a micro-brew would be a little lost on the locals.
As soon as we walked in the door, a scream went up from the bar, and seated there was our dinner couple from two weeks ago. It turns out this is their regular hangout because the atmosphere is fun, the food is good and it's off a back road so you can drive home drunk. All qualities you look for in fine dining in Bako.
I can't vouch for the last one, but I will say the atmosphere and food was good. Basic pub food and burgers, but done really well.
"The tri-tip sandwich is good, but it comes on funny bread" said the husband.
I ordered it and it came on focaccia.
We had a great time and will definitely go back. The boyfriend finally got his heartfelt thanks for the lavish meal he had prepared and we got another invite to come over for "beer chicken" - this chicken better be fucking incredible for all the build up it's getting.
So what started as a bit of a bummer of an evening actually turned out not so bad. We definitely returned home in better spirits than we left. Can't ask for much more than that I suppose.
