The Noriega Hotel, Memorial Day Part II

Dining room before we were seated.

A Basque gentleman

The bar at the Noriega Hotel

Talk about doing something completely new.

Bakersfield, for some reason, has a big Basque population. With that, there are some note-worthy Basque restaurants in town, some of which are located inside of a hotel or hostel type places.

The Noriega Hotel is one such place. Our friends made a reservation for our group to join hundreds of other diners for a Basque-meal, community style.

It was my first time, and I did not know what to expect. I took a peek at the 'restaurant' where tables and chairs were neatly set; where plates and silverware were waiting for some action.

Each group was called into the dining room at 7pm. As soon as you sit down, plates of food start to arrive. First there were salads, a simple peasant soup, bread and cheese, potato salad and beans... Then came the oxtail stew, and pasta, and fried chicken with french fries. Then there was a sweet ending of ice cream. I probably forgot a few things in between there (ah yes, the pickled tongue!), but you get the idea. There was food a plenty. And all the red wine you can drink!

The best thing about our dining experience that evening, however, was the fact that we got to sit next to some real Basque gentlemen. I could tell just by the way they held themselves...and the way they interacted with each other (which was very minimal). They reminded me of the Corsicans (one of our favorite places on earth): rugged, hard-working men, with few words.

Towards the end of the meal, we learned that the one gentleman (in the beret hat pictured above) who sat next to us, had immigrated to the US since the 1950s after he had served in the war. He works in Bakersfield now, and actually lives in the Noriega hotel (after a long marriage with his wife who kicked him out, for no apparent reason). That meal we had just shared with him, was his regular dinner. We joined him in his daily dinning room. Some days there is no one else, he says, and other days, hundreds (like the day we went).

It was a meal to remember.