TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

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1. PETE TITTL: Fine restaurant not so fine this time

   BY PETE TITTL Contributing columnist pftittl

   Sunday, Jun 16 2013 03:09 PM

   If there's one high-end restaurant we thought we could count on for consistency, it was The Bistro, which for years has turned out exquisite meals from its inventive kitchen on California Avenue.

   For that reason, I thought it would be the perfect place to take the most interesting couple in Bakersfield (and, no, their pictures are not plastered on billboards hawking beer).

   Graham is an oil guy who, like many, has lived in Bakersfield off and on for decades, in between stints in the Mideast, Europe and South America. Lily has worked in international finance. Sitting down with them, you hear tales of learning as a child to fish on the Red Sea, driving on the French Riviera in a brother's custom-made Porsche, birthday parties in Oman or...

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2. The Dish: Restaurants have specials for Dad

   Today being Father's Day, many restaurants will be running specials to help you honor dear old dad. BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse not only will be giving a limited-edition Father's Day pint glass to every dad all weekend, but you can enter...

3. Chili and classic cars: You're welcome, dad

   Although there are plenty of activities vying for your attention this Father's Day weekend, Tehachapi makes its case with red-hot chili, cool weather and even cooler cars at the sixth annual Tehachapi Chili Cookoff & Car Show. If last year...
4. 

   Chefs to make magic out of nuts

   If the weather forecast can be believed, providence is already smiling on the first-ever Kern County Nut Festival this Saturday at the Kern County Museum. Temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s and low 90s, good news for the team...

5. In a nutshell: Your guide to festival food

   There will be so many things to do at the Kern County Nut Festival (games! shopping! family fun!) that it might be easy to forget the main theme of the day: food. And that's where The Californian's handy-dandy guide to the edible -- and...
6. 

   PETE TITTL: Bill Lee's still our mein squeeze after 75 years

   I recently ran across a fantastic book, "Steal the Menu: A Memoir of Forty Years in Food" by Raymond Sokolov, who became restaurant critic for the New York Times in 1973. The title was drawn from the advice his predecessor gave him on how...

7. THE DISH: Summer dining offers some cool options

   The heat is coming soon and as all Kern County residents must do, we find clever ways to cope. This can be a challenge when you're packing cool beverages and want to keep them refreshing, but we found some amazing products that are very...
9. 

   PETE TITTL: Best new restaurant since the Padre

   Like a tone-deaf man who can't appreciate anything about Mozart, I confess to being mystified by the persistent lines outside our local Applebee's and Chili's restaurants. Sure, I could see stopping in if I was in a strange town and didn't...
10. 

    Just stew it: Menudo looking for new fans

    If chicken soup is known as "Jewish penicillin," then surely Menudo earns its billing as "Mexican medicine." But whatever you call it or use it for, there will be pots and pots of the spicy soup to sample at the 15th annual Latin Food...

11. PETE TITTL: Like a fine wine, eatery has matured

    New restaurants change as the years go by, ideally for the better. Steak & Grape is one of those restaurants. I wasn't that impressed during my first visit after it opened two years ago, but I felt it had potential. It's improved in a lot...
12. 

    Not all the beers -- just the best ones -- at festival

    Although Budweiser bills itself as the "King of Beers," it's no match for a god. Coming down from the heavens (of Lengthwise Brewery), Zeus Imperial IPA will make its debut Saturday as part of the first-ever Bakersfield Craft Beer Festival...

13. Omelet cooked in a bag: Not as weird as it sounds

    If the phrase "hobo breakfast" has you thinking of a Chaplin-esque tramp boiling a shoe or drinking a hearty libation, well, you're not completely off. The Italian Heritage Dante Association's Sunday fundraiser will involve boiling food and...
14. 

    PETE TITTL: Getting to Coseree's Restaurant hard; staying there easy

    Some new restaurants open with all sorts of hype: spotlights scanning the skies outside, long lines, full parking lots, media attention. Coseree's Restaurant & Catering is not one of those places. In fact, one of the most valuable points...