I've had my eye on Fredo's for a long time now if only because that beautiful neon light with the restaurant's name embedded in the wall above the door seemed like a serious investment. I mean who spends cash on custom neon signs in our world today?
It took awhile but it opened late last year and readers told me I needed to get there to check it out. We finally did in February but our waiter told us they were still doing a "soft opening" and had no printed menus and in fact had only five food items to choose from: a Caesar salad for $12 and four pizzas ranging from $18 to $22. There was, however, a great drink and wine list and a trio of pizza chefs working near the front door, so we were not deterred.
And that was a blessing indeed, as the pizza is quite impressive and not like a lot of what competitors in Bakersfield are offering. We had heard that the place was a version of a restaurant in Santa Monica, but as usual the truth got jumbled up on that.
Our waiter explained that the owner — a Bakersfield native who had been working in Santa Monica — wanted to bring a different style of restaurant to his hometown. Like The Botanist, another new downtown bar/eatery, there's definitely an L.A. west side vibe to the place, with what my companion noted was the shelves with greenery, the wood floors, the mirrored bar, the industrial-style cement block walls, the mix of high-top and low-top tables, the startling tile work on the floor near the front door. You feel hipper just coming in the place. My companion took special notice of the green tile work visible under the bar.
There's a balcony for upstairs dining, though it was dark when we visited.
None of that would work if the food and drink were ordinary, and thankfully they aren't. My companion ordered a glass of Substance chardonnay from Washington ($10) and I selected a Hemingway daiquiri ($15), hoping the great writer's powers would help with this review. It was both beautiful and tasty, with rum, lime and grapefruit juice with maraschino liqueur and a dried citrus slice floating in the glass.
My companion found the chardonnay to be impressive, light and fruity, right in the middle of thin or too oaky. We noticed some of the drinks have the showy dry ice presentation. Just a warning: We saw no beer taps near the bar, so if that's important to you, you've been warned.
We ordered a pepperoni pizza ($20) and the pesto pizza ($22), and were surprised by the size — 14 inches easily. What makes this product so special? The crust is very thin but chewy and interesting like real bread should be. The crust is thin, so dark brown on the edges and on the bottom, with black, slightly scorched bubbles here and there, but not burned, appropriately smoky, thick with cheese and the pepperonis cupped due to the casing on the outside (like Mountain Mike's is always touting). In short, real pepperoni, not some mass-produced junk, the kind that you want to pick off the pizza and eat like potato chips.
Swirls of a pistachio-based pesto topped the cheese on the pesto pizza, which also had three mounds of ricotta in the center coated with ground pistachios. Hard to eat, but worth the effort. The kind of pizza we wish we could pull off at home. The envy was evident.
The Caesar salad was also impressive mostly because the dressing it's tossed in is not excessive, which can wilt the greens fast. There were dark and white bread croutons, big chunks obviously made in house, and a healthy dose of fresh grated Parmesan on top.
Service is pretty polished, too, with the staff dressed in black, and our waiter, Luis, was quite welcoming and upbeat without being foolish or annoying about it. He obviously enjoys working at this restaurant and feels strongly positive about what they're offering.
A hint of what's to come may be on the Valentine's Day menu they were promoting on social media: grilled oysters, bruschetta, pesto fettuccine, tiramisu and panna cotta. It's a work in progress.
Fredo's can be recommended for a fine dining experience.
Pete Tittl's Dining Out column appears in The Californian on Sundays. Email him at pftittl@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter: @pftittl.
