Make pit stop for pit-style beef at Zingo’s Cafe
In recent years, the development on Buck Owens Boulevard has been astonishing, with Temblor Brewing Co., The BLVD, revamped hotels and a multistory medical building going up to turn what used to be Pierce Road into a real impressive commercial district.
Standing proud against all that progress like one of those small houses surrounded by skyscrapers is the venerable old coffee shop Zingo’s Cafe, still busy with regulars who want food just the way they always had it served with “I’ve got to get back to work” speed by a staff that looks like they’ve been there as long as the place has been pulling in customers.
On the restaurant’s Facebook page, the self-described “long-standing, old-school pit stop” touts its “homestyle American eats (that) are served in a retro atmosphere.” That’s a very accurate summary of what Zingo’s brings to the table. Sure, there’s an IHOP, a Denny’s and a Starbucks down the road, but if you want old-school Bakersfield, you’ve got to stop here, and if you’ve got a truck, there’s a handy truck wash behind the building that always seems to be busy.
My favorite menu item is the pit-style beef melt, which is found on the cafe’s whiteboards with the day’s special written on them with black markers and changed as the day goes on. Think of a grilled sandwich with their pit-style beef, lots of cheese and crunchy sourdough bread. Order this if it’s on the board.
On our Saturday visit, when melts weren’t available, my companion got the next best thing: a pit-style beef sandwich ($10.25) on a toasted French roll. The pitstyle beef here is the best we’ve sampled outside of Jake’s. Jake’s gives you a few more crunchy bites mixed in, but the Zingo’s
version is exceedingly moist and just as smoky. It’s their hidden specialty, really. And the french fries served with it seemed fresh-cut.
That morning, I ordered the chicken-fried steak with eggs ($12.95) with the gravy on the side. Why the gravy on the side? To better judge the crispiness of the steak, and it was really interesting to say the least. Just across the street at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, they have the best chicken-fried steak I’ve ever had in my travels around this country, so I was expecting something similar, if not as large at this reasonable price. The exterior was indeed crispy but completely separating from the cube steak inside it. Most curious.
There was a time when many believed Zingo’s offered the best biscuits and gravy in town, but this gravy seemed like a vegan version. Creamy flour is what it tasted like. I could see an occasional black pepper speck and I did find what looked like a strand of ham in the mix, but the taste wasn’t there. I’m sure it’s healthier than what I prefer, but this is Zingo’s, and I just didn’t expect that.
The sourdough toast was slathered with plenty of butter and the eggs over medium were expertly prepared.
Although the country potatoes served with the steak were soft and adequately fried, they had no
onions or peppers and very little orange seasoning salt. It reminded me of something you might encounter in a hospital cafeteria, where the staff was under strict orders not to overexcite the taste buds of the patients. In contrast, I was recently in Santa Barbara at Chad’s (formerly Sambo’s) and got similar potatoes flavored with caramelized white onion stands, garlic, sesame seeds and a sprinkling of chopped green onions on top. Quite a contrast.
I love that the place has not been remodeled or jazzed up, still has booths with all these tiny ads underneath a plexiglass sheet like most coffee shops used to do in order to bring in extra revenue.
There are all sorts of car culture homages on the walls, including what looks like a copy of the ticket James Dean got before he died in his famous accident, right near a poster of him.
Lots of black-and-white pictures of old race cars, the kind of authentic atmosphere chain coffee shops wish they had. The staff were all wearing black T-shirts with “Support Local” on the back.