Pete Tittl samples the flavors of Chef Lino’s Grill
Have you ever gone to a restaurant with plans to be a calorie-conscious person, maybe save half the dinner for lunch at work the next day, but then the food is so good you can’t possibly do that?
The Rationalization Monster kicks in.
“Oh, this probably wouldn’t reheat well.”
“I have a salad in the fridge at home I could take.”
And the final one: “This food is so tasty I just can’t stop eating it. It will never be better than it is right now.”
That’s what happened to my companion when she ordered the salmon with the jalapeno mashed potatoes at Chef Lino’s Grill, a new restaurant on Panama Lane owned and operated by Chef Lino Gonzalez.
We’ve been following this guy around for years now. He started at the family restaurant in Pumpkin Center, then moved to downtown Bakersfield to open Centro 18 in 2016, eventually closing that and opening up at the old Greenback Coppermine location up in Woody and now he’s moved into an old barbecue location on Panama. He’s a guy worth tracking down, and his employees have been pretty loyal, too, such as our waitress, MC, who said she’s been with him for years and had specific favorites to recommend on the menu. It’s always so nice in a new restaurant when the staff has a familiarity with the bill of fare and can guide you intelligently.
If like us you’ve been following Lino around, a lot of this will look familiar. He has four steaks and knows how to make a respectable chimichurri, and the rack of lamb and braised lamb shank are selections we’ve enjoyed in the past. The oven-roasted chicken breasts with a creamy queso fresco sauce ($18)
and the pork barbacoa with the house-made spicy bacon chipotle barbecue sauce ($16) are both simply amazing, but we wanted to venture into new territory. My companion chose the Cajun salmon that hereafter we should just call The Irresistible ($28), while I had to try one of the steaks, the Arrachera con Chimichuri ($27), probably because I wanted to get his chimichurri. Taste memory works like that sometimes. For an appetizer, we selected the crispy cheese and potato tacos ($10), and we polished off the feast with the cheesecake chimichanga ($11, aka Son of Irresistible).
The appetizer was tiny but powerful, two crispy tacos filled with cheesy potatoes, drizzled with cotija cheese and a garlic vinaigrette — just the right amount for flavor, but not too much to abuse the shells. It was a nice debut note to our dining experience, though I must say his famous pork belly tacos are also available as a starter.
Let’s get to The Irresistible. The strip of very fresh-tasting salmon was seared and topped with a house-made (an adjective that pretty much seems unnecessary at his restaurants) lemon butter cream sauce that amplified but did not distract from the Cajun rub on the seafood. The jalapeno mashed potatoes were light and with a suitable heat that made you wonder why more kitchens are not offering something so winning. There were sautéed carrots, zucchini and onions on the plate, too. Nothing was left, though neither of us stooped so low as to lick the plate. This time.
My beef was billed as tender outside skirt steak, though I’m not sure that first adjective is actually possible. It comes with two sides and I chose the garlic Parmesan-drizzled French fries and the pot of black beans because I’ve had both of those before and my fond memories of them were reinforced. As much as I liked it, I have to say that on my next trip I’ll be getting the 14-ounce New York steak ($34), which the menu billed as “well-marbled” and topped with onion straws and Jack Daniels peppercorn sauce. I’ve never had that from Chef Lino before and I’ll bet it’s Irresistible 3.
The dessert was amazing. House-made cheesecake inside a sweet tortilla, perfectly fried, thick like a monster burrito with a raspberry puree, chocolate drizzle and a scoop of functional but not dazzling vanilla ice cream.
The interior seems similar to what we saw from the last two tenants (barbecue restaurants) with shiplap walls, an exhibition kitchen, a combination of booths and tables and those windows facing the parking lot that my companion thought could be a distraction to the otherwise firstrate ambiance.
“Headlights keep shining through,” she noted, and I figured some sort of removable window coverings would really dress up the place and help the décor match what’s coming out of the kitchen.
I must share that on Sunday mornings he has, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page, resumed the all-you-can-eat Brazilian-style brunch, $25 for adults and $12 for children 6-10. Younger children eat free. I’d recommend reservations for that.
Chef Lino’s Grill can be recommended for a fine dining experience.