Valentien Restaurant

After attending mass at St. Francis of Assisi in Bakersfield, California, Sandi and I were ready to eat a nice dinner. Where, was the big question; enter.....google search. We ended up picking Valentien Restaurant at 333 Truxton Ave., Suite 16 in Bakersfield. This French restaurant was all decorated as they were celebrating Bastille Day. We got there early so we were lucky to get seated. The cute servers were dressed appropriately for Bastille Day. They even had a corner for you to have your picture taken ala Frenchie. Shortly after we sat, a man started playing the accordion.

We debated on whether we should have several appetizers for dinner since the garlic fries, shrimps, and cheese plate all sounded good. Then we both zoomed on the Steak au Poivre avec Pommes Frites, the peppered filet mignon in a cognac sauce with the French fries served with spinach. I asked Sandi if we should split that and still order several appetizers. Her answer was "no", she wanted her own steak. Who was I to argue. We ended up ordering our very own Steak au Poivre. Before our steak, we enjoyed the French bread that was slightly burnt in the bottom. We ended up fighting for the burnt ones as it was very good with the butter. The steak was cooked to perfection and was just wonderful. I did ask for some extra sauce which made everything even more delicious.

Our server asked us if we would be interested in ordering the Chocolate Souffle for dessert. It would take 30 minutes to cook so we went ahead and ordered one to share. It was served with ice cream and the size was perfect for the two of us. As we consumed all of the souffle, Jeramy Brown, co-owner of the restaurant came by to ask us if everything was satisfactory. Showing him our clean plates was the best answer he could hope for.

While dining, we ended up striking a conversation with a couple next to us. Bernard and Beatrice Barmann are long time residents of Bakersfield and we were happy to be informed that Valentien is the best restaurant in Bakersfield. They not only knew the owner and the accordionist but they seemed to know most of the customers.

The evening was most enjoyable as we shared stories with the Barmanns and getting to meet Marie Antoinette was a nice bonus!