Last night

I took my friend to The Wine Seller last night for her birthday. She had never been there and she is not from Bako so I was excited to show her one of the cool spots to go. Unfortunately, it was not the same place I had to been before. The décor was different and the wall that used to separate the dining room from the wine bar was gone. The waitress who had served me many times was nowhere to be seen.

The menu was not exactly the same, but very similar. We ordered brie with fruit for an appetizer and the black and blue flat iron steak for dinner. The appetizer arrived shortly but with out any bread or crackers to spread the cheese on. When we requested some from the waitress she seemed confused. A little while later she delivered several pieces of stale pita bread cut in half. I decided to pass on the pita.

Not long after the appetizer, dinner was served. Our waitress was conscientious enough to ask the chef to split the steak and cook half medium rare and half well done. The meal looked nice, but I immediately noticed something was different. The vegetables were small and unimpressive and the salad was all iceberg. The steak was okay, my friend liked hers better than I did. Overall, I was disappointed. Our waitress was prompt and polite, but she made a faux pas that was so egregious it was clear she had no idea what she was doing. After talking up The Wine Seller to my friend and hoping to prove Bakersfield is not a hick town to a skeptical newcomer, I was totally embarrassed.

After dinner we went to Kosmos to see The Filthies. There wasn’t much of a crowd, but once the band started playing, people were into it.


Camera in hand, I went to the front to take a picture of the band, and immediately ran into Noveltown.


I have never met him before but I just knew it was him and he said he thought I was Bake Town because he had seen me at the Crawdaddy shows.

Typical Bakersfield – everybody knows everybody.