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Still a Garden of eatin' despite subtle changes
| Friday, Jul 11 2003 2:50 AM
Last Updated: Friday, Feb 10 2006 10:24 AM
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"If you didn't have the job you have, we'd be regulars at this place."
That was my companion's enthusiastic reaction to a recent visit to The Garden Spot, a local restaurant that we haven't written about in this column recently despite some significant tinkerings and changes. And she's right. For the price ($6.95 for soups and fixings, $7.25 for salad and $7.95 for everything in the house), you can't beat the value. Everything is so good, it's hard not to overeat. We all walked out stuffed, content and happy.
The changes since our last visit may seem minor to some, but they are worth noting. In the past, staff walked around offering hot chocolate chip cookies. Now the cookies are extra, but the dessert area has been bolstered by items like peanut butter cake.
Beer and wine is no longer served. I guess it would seem out of place at a buffet touting healthful food, but it's hard to imagine any restaurant being able to resist the easy, inflated profits alcoholic beverages bring.
Garden Spot also offers hot pasta, added some time ago, some new sweet muffins on the bread station and even roasted chicken chunks on the salad bar and a cobb salad. There was a time when meat was more scarce at The Garden Spot. Not anymore.
The quality of the fare we sampled was better than ever. The salad bar is a delight, with so many choices to tempt you. Even fresh asparagus, in long spears. The vegetables tasted as if they were field-fresh. The Caesar salad was perfect. There were many greens to choose from, including spinach and Romaine.
On the night we visited, there were the usual six soups -- including turkey chili, chicken noodle, Basque bean, linguini with clams and chilled berry soup. The latter was an incredible delight -- something like a light, thin yogurt with strawberry and blueberry hints. It would have been a perfect appetizer to the dining experience.
The pastas could be topped with an alfredo sauce or a marinara heavy with celery and fresh mushrooms. I skipped past it after a short sample to get the turkey chili, an old standby the staff has perfected over the years.
From the bread station, the jalapeno cornbread had potential, but there were way too many jalapeno slices in each mini-loaf. The gingerbread muffin tasted great but was far too dry. More impressive to me was the Hawaiian bread, a sweet pina colada creation with a drizzled cream frosting and the red velvet muffins. That station also offered baked yams, honey butter, baked potatoes, breadsticks and various other breads. You can carb up big time at this restaurant.
I couldn't help think of Elaine Bennis from "Seinfeld" when I got to the dessert station. There was an assortment of "red muffin tops" with a daub of white frosting on it.
This is just the ultimate grazing restaurant in Bakersfield. You can sample, talk for a while, then go back for whatever strikes your fancy. On days when you don't particularly want an organized meal, this is the place to go.
The Garden Spot has its own monthly newsletter, complete with inspirational sayings, testimonials from customers who wish they had such a place in Fargo, N.D., and even a crossword puzzle. It seems the current owners are trying to make it a homey place.
One odd note. The restaurant is not open on Saturdays anymore, and has short hours on Sunday. Those are also brave financial moves for a restaurant.
The Garden Spot can be recommended for a fine dining experience.