Wool Growers lands on L.A. Times's list of California's 101 most essential restaurants

Yahoo

2 days ago

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – What is it about L.A. Times restaurant reviewers and Bakersfield Basque restaurants?
The legendary Jonathan Gold loved Bakersfield Basque cuisine, especially the Noriega Hotel, but he died in 2018, and the original Noriega's closed two years later.
Five years later, the Times is back – this time with restaurant reviewer Bill Addison singing the praise of another Basque landmark: Wool Growers, which shares much of that Noriega DNA.
Addison names Wool Growers on his list of California's 101 best restaurants – one of only three in the Central Valley to make the list, and the only in Kern County.
'Oh, I had no idea (until) somebody sent me a text this morning and said congratulations,' said Christiane Camou, the third-generation owner of Wool Growers. 'I'm just so flattered. It's such an honor, because for me I'm just trying to continue my grandmother's legacy.'
Camou's grandmother, Mayie Maitia, immigrated to the U.S. from France in 1947 and, following a stint working at the Noriega Hotel, started Wool Growers with her husband J.B. in 1954.
'She started this with nothing, and it has provided for so many families – you know, our employees' families, and our family,' Camou said. 'What an honor to be considered one of the top 100 restaurants in California. She's looking down from heaven. She's so happy.'
According to the L.A. Times review, 'Here the fried chicken runs a little juicier and more roundly garlicky and the oxtail stew is full of meat tumbling from the bone, and the vinegar that sharpens the sliced pickled tongue twangs like Parker Posey's North Carolina accent in 'The White Lotus.'
'When I salt the hell out of the fries, they're great. Plus, the beige floral wallpaper and the plastic table coverings over white tablecloths woozily blur the time-space continuum. I don't know quite where or when I am, but the friendly, fast-moving staff always seems glad I'm here.'
Jenny Maitia Poncetta, daughter of Mayie and mother of Christiane, ran Wool Growers for decades before retiring – and then un-retiring. She missed the action.
'We're very proud to be Basque in our heritage,' Poncetta said. 'But we're proud to be Americans too.'
And so Bakersfield's decades-long run as a culinary critical darling remains intact.
The Times did give props to another Bakersfield Basque restaurant – the Pyrenees Cafe, just a block over. Happily but somewhat incongruently, the paper also plugged the Sinking Ship Room cocktail lounge, which is neither Basque nor dining, unless you count pineapple wedges.
The old Noriega Hotel remains shuttered, and Narducci's, another historical Old Town Kern restaurant, is still undergoing renovations. But this east Bakersfield restaurant district is still serving it up – hot and garlicky.
Picon Punch, anyone? Cheers!
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