Dining out: Plumberry's pizza, pasta and pie please, but ...
| Tuesday, May 06 2008 05:05 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 08:24 PM
13001 Stockdale Highway, 589-8889
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.Friday and Saturday.
Prices: Sandwiches $5.50-$7.50, pastas $7.25-$11.75, salads $2.25-$8, cheese pizzas $5.95-$17.50, specialty pizzas (large) $18.75-$22.25. No child’s plate.
Payment: MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover accepted. Does not accept personal checks orThe Californian’sPress Pass.
Dress: Casual.
Amenities: Wheelchair accessible; beer and wine served; some vegetarian options.
Food:3 stars
Atmosphere:21⁄2 stars
Service: 2 stars
Next week: Thai Taste
I had enjoyed the pizzas from Plumberry’s over the years, especially the shrimp with alfredo sauce pizza, but it occurred to me it had been a long time since I visited just to have a pasta.
In addition, late last year new owners John and Jennifer Thomas took over. I realize that between delivery and takeout, the southwest Bakersfield restaurant located just west of Liberty High and Bakersfield Christian High School really needed an in-person visit.
One of the odd things you notice in the dining room (expanded with an adjacent room with booths some time ago) is that most of the tables have those vaguely uncomfortable molded plastic chairs that you usually find on someone’s patio. Odd, but I was in the mood for some good Italian food, so I forgave that. That air of forgiveness would come in handy a lot later.
The dining room near the order counter where we were seated was sort of a narrow place, with a small bar area to the right and a few other customers. It seemed very relaxing, and with the temperate weather and the fountain outside, some of the customers were dining al fresco.
My companion swooped in and ordered the most tempting of the pastas, the farfalle primavera with chicken ($11.50), while I almost went for the cheese tortellini with vegetable primavera sauce ($11.75). Instead, I began to wonder if I had ever actually tried the barbecue chicken pizza ($13.55 for a small). It seemed like something different, adding pepperoncinis, bell peppers and pineapple chunks to the usual red onion/chicken/barbecue sauce/cheese mix. I went for that.
What was attractive to us about my companion’s pasta was the great variety of steamed vegetables (Plumberry’s is not afraid of good greens), including broccoli, carrots, zucchini and fresh tomatoes worth eating. Throw in garlic, artichoke hearts and you had a meal worth ordering again. Oddly, though, the garlic bread on the side looked like French bread brushed with some garlic butter and never toasted, not made in the least attractive. Strictly low-budget Vegas buffet material, if that. The texture of the pasta, sadly, was not al dente as you would expect in a respectable Italian restaurant.
The pizza, as I guessed, was great, mostly for the mix of textures and flavors and that typical outstanding Plumberry’s crust (dark and crunchy outside, soft and slightly yeasty inside). I’ve had a lot of really solid barbecue chicken pizzas in recent months, and this rates with the best.
One must-try on the dessert menu is the plumberry pie ($3.25), made with plums and boysenberries. The crust was unimpressive, pretty pale and not particularly buttery, but the combination of fruit was really interesting and new to me.
Service was not quite as promising. It was sporadically attentive and math challenged. When the bill came I put an extra $20 in there as I needed change for the tip.
She brought the change back $10 short. When I tried to signal to get someone over to help me, someone else behind the counter brought me an extra $5 in ones, telling me that she said I’d been shorted that.
I noted that $20 minus 10 minus 5 did not equal zero. It’s that new higher math. Quite annoying.
