China Town Buffet, a place to eat like an emperor

China Town Buffet during dinner hours. (Credit http://www.tripadvisor.com)

China Town buffet is a Chinese restraint that is located on the corner of California ave. and Oak street. The restaurant is a great place to go if you are craving for a big meal. People who got there are usually people who want to eat a lot for a low cost. You typically pay $10 for an all you can eat experience.

The food there at China Town Buffet are those typically at a Chinese restaurant. You find food such as orange chicken, cheese wontons, fried rice and etc. but not only do there care Chinese food, but they also have other styles of food. They have food such as grilled salmon, pizza, chicken nuggets, and sushi.

The main specialties as China Town Buffet are there seafood dinners. For diner tie they serve an all you can eat seafood buffet which includes crap legs. A lot of people come here to eat the crap legs because people see it as a gourmet food.

If you need some help in trying to see how good it is here are some reviews on China Town Buffet.If your looking for a good place to eat out with out with family or friends, or go out for a special occasion like a graduation celebration. China Town Buffet is a nice place to eat while not spending a lot of money.

To Beat this Bakersfield Heat, Dive into a Local Pool to keep you Cool!

Although there are many residents who know how blistering hot summers in Bakersfield get, there are still so many who have no access to a pool! But not to worry all you local residents out there who have no access to your own pool, there are plenty of community pools in town, which are offered in several different locations, to keep you feeling refreshed this summer.

Come cool off this summer for free Bakersfield! (Photo Credit: http://www.turnto23.com)

 

• The first pool is the Jefferson pool which is located on Beal and Bernard.  This newly refurbished pool now offers a separate area for smaller children, or those who have limited abilities in the water, to a state of the art filtering system, this pool is a great place to wade away those summer afternoons. The spray park offers a great variety of fun during the hot months of the summer and is open from when the weather starts to warm up around May, to the end of the hot weather, usually mid- October. This pool is free for all to use.
• The second pool is the MLK pool which is located on E. California & South Owens. This pool offers swimming lessons before recreational swimming and are well worth the investment for your children! These lessons allow the children and even adults to learn to be comfortable in water while building strength and skills to give them the confidence they need to save their life if they are ever presented with a tough situation in a body of water. This pool has the same hours as the Jefferson pool and they welcome all local residents to come cool off!
• McMurtrey Aquatic Center located on Q & 13th street, features an 8,551 square foot recreation pool and a 50-meter competition pool. This community pool center even offers a double water slide and specially designed interactive wet play equipment! Although there is a fee to enter this pool, it is well worth the money spent to have a great day splashing around in the sun!
• Silver Creek Pool, located on Harris & Reliance features a 25 yard pool with a small wading pool. This pool also offers swimming lessons and is available for rental in the summer on the weekend evenings! What a great place to host a child’s birthday party or a family BBQ, with no outsiders permitted while the pool has been rented out especially for you!

A Bakersfield Community Pool Center. (Photo Credit: voices.yahoo.com)

For rules and guidelines for community pools in Bakersfield, visit the link above and make sure to check out a pool in your area! Bakersfield heat isn’t intolerable when a clean, clear swimming pool is only a couple blocks away!

Skydive Taft gives Kern County a “sky high” personality

Taken from Skydive Taft’s website

 

Bakersfield’s entertainment value is very minimal when we compare it to cities like Los Angeles or New York. It has a lot to offer its more than 350,000 residents, such as food, shopping and rich culture. But what if you want to do something extreme or adrenaline filled?

Those seeking out thrill and excitement in Bakersfield will be sadly out of luck. However, by venturing to Bakersfield’s neighbor, Taft, Calif., you’ll find Skydive Taft, which opened on April 1, 1998.

A tandem skydive costs $189 per person. A discount is given to students, firefighters, police, and people in the military or on birthdays, for whom the cost is $169 per person. Skydivers must be 18 years or older.

Along with those prices skydivers can choose from group jumps that are $179 per person or groups of 10+ for $169 per person.

“It’s pretty affordable considering the type of sport that it is. We offer a lot of different prices and different price points to help people get excited about skydiving,” said Dave Crouch owner, of Skydive Taft.

“We get a couple hundred people each month, a lot of college students from different colleges around and different people from out of town,” Crouch said.

Skydive Taft has professional instructors and pilots committed to keeping skydivers safe from danger. Though Skydive Taft’s web site doesn’t state the type of experience they have however, Skydive is USPA Certified. Which stands for United States Parachute Association and they make sure that skydiving facilities and equipment are held to a certain standard.

For the inexperienced skydiver, they offer tandem skydiving. This is where people are connected to an experienced skydiver. Together they jump, and pull the chute and land safely on the ground.

“We offer a lot of options for different levels of skydiving experience. Of course, if you’ve never done it before, doing a tandem skydive in California will just about beat any other first-time experience,” states Skydive Taft’s Facebook page. “As you progress in diving levels, you can try more complex dives, learning new skills and keeping safety in mind as you improve.”

Skydive Taft offers many events that help promote the business and get people who would never think about skydiving up in a plane. One upcoming event on June 1 and 2 is the Grumpy, Gimpy, Old Farts Boogie. The fifth annual event will feature a live band, food, beer and a raffle for a free jump ticket. This event is not just for “old farts” younger individuals are invited as well.

With it being close to Bakersfield and offering prices that can tempt even the cheapest thrill seeker, everyone can enjoy this activity. Skydive Taft helps prove that Bakersfield isn’t just an oil town and neither is Taft, both of these small towns have hidden gems among them.

Taken from Skydive Taft’s website

Get a job. Career fairs are fun

A representative from the Masters in Business Administration program waits for interested students.

Students gather around company tables in search for job opportunities and internships during CSUB Career Day.

Students were offered free pens as an incentive to sign up for the Masters program. The future prospect of a high paying job isn’t enough for the modern student.

Sophomore Traci Schnaidt tries to keep her chin above the bar at the Marines table during Career Day.

Junior Biology major Cassandra Cortez gets some information from Sergeant Major Johnson.

Up In Smoke

Many people are still under the impression that Bakersfield is just a small-town city with nothing to do. Maybe that is true for people who choose to stay inside their own homes, but for those who are willing to step outside of their bubble, Bakersfield has plenty of sources of entertainment. Bakersfield has a variety of different options. The only limits are those that people choose to place on themselves.

Inside King Tut Hookah Lounge. (photo courtesy of http://www.yelp.com)

•             King Tut Hookah Lounge, located at 10606 Hageman Rd., is one of Bakersfield’s best hookah bars. Doubling as a restaurant, this place offers plenty to eat and drink. King Tut is a Mediterranean restaurant that serves courses from mouth-watering salad to perfectly seasoned grilled chicken, served over rice with a side of fresh vegetables to match. Guests can choose to dine inside, or choose a relaxing spot on the patio. Open from 11am-2am on Monday through Wednesday and Sunday and 11a.m.-4a.m. Thursday through Saturday, King Tut offers live music and entertainment for the 18-and-older crowd. At about $10-$15 a plate and frequent offers of $5 for hookah, King Tut is sure to have something to satisfy people’s taste.
  

  An inside look at Flame and Skewers. (photo by http://www.archinect.com)

•             Flame and Skewers is another popular hookah lounge in Bakersfield. Located at 5482 California Ave., this hookah bar also doubles as a restaurant. With a menu that serves sandwiches starting at just $5 and their mouthwatering combination plate that consists of three different types of meat, flavorful rice, and fresh vegetables at about $14, Flame and Skewers offers plenty of food for the family. For those who are 18 and over, Flame and Skewers also has a hookah bar. With nearly 40 different types of shisha flavors, friends can enjoy hookah for hours. At about $13 per hookah, guests can choose to either relax on the patio, or enjoy the black light lounge with plenty of music from live DJ’s. With its restaurant portion open from 10a.m. until 10p.m. every night and its hookah lounge open passed 2a.m., people can expect to see a packed crowd at Flame and Skewers.
•             One of the most popular hookah bars in Bakersfield is Elixir. Located at 1110 Calloway Dr., this hookah bar knows how to reel in a crowd. Open from 11a.m. until 2a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11a.m. until 4a.m. on Friday and Saturday, Elixir keeps packing people in. Their menu boasts sandwiches and salads bursting with flavor, starting at about $3. Drinks are also provided to guests starting at just over $1. People coming by to check out this hookah lounge can expect music from live DJ’s and plenty of different shisha flavors to keep everyone satisfied.

The entrance of Elixir Hookah Lounge. (photo courtesy of http://www.elixirhookah.com)

A burger place is always around the corner

Recently Bakersfield has seen a surge of burger places ranging in different prices. I don’t know about you but I’ve seen a new burger restaurant pop up in Bakersfield almost every month. Many of these burger joints are scattered around Bako but offer different but similar ways to enjoy an old classic. I’d like to go over some of the many burger restaurants around Bakersfield and something that sets them apart from each other.

• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers– this burger restaurant is fairly new, having its grand opening on January 22, 2013 and is located on Calloway. Like the name implies they offer steak burgers along with custard. Custard is similar to ice cream however, it uses more yolks and ice crystals to make it more dense and rich. Freddy’s offers more then just burgers, other things they sell are chicken burgers and for the vegetarians out there they have veggie burgers as well. Another thing that sets Freddy’s apart from other burger restaurants are what they call LTO’s, which stand for limited time only. For example they have a Philly steak this month for customers who want that but when the time period ends they can only be sold again this month next year. Freddy’s is a nice place when it isn’t hectic and crowded with people, they offer good food, the staff is nice and the prices aren’t that bad as well.

Photo taken from Freddysusa.com

 

• Juicy Burger– This burger place is relatively new to Bakersfield, growing from one to two in a matter of a year. The first Juicy Burger to open in Bakersfield is located downtown on 24^th Street, like I mentioned before the restaurant doubled in size and expanded to a modest location on Hageman. This burger place is rather pricey but they offer “fresh never frozen 100% Harris Ranch beef,” states their website. Harris Ranch is located just alongside interstate 5 and is the largest beef producer in Calif. Juicy Burger sets itself apart from other burger restaurants by offering fresh beef, freshly cut fries, milkshakes, hot dogs and even lettuce wraps. As soon as you walk in you can grab a piece of paper with a list of different burger combinations and you can make your own burger to your liking. With two convenient locations Juicy Burger is quickly making a name for itself in Bakerfield.
• Eureka Burger– This burger restaurant is located on Stockdale Highway and is probably the most upscale burger restaurant in Bakersfield. This burger place is set up more like a restaurant where customers can go and order burgers, a nice craft beer or other menu items and enjoy the atmosphere. What sets Eureka apart from the other burger joints on this list, is that chefs make the food and Eureka even offer ultra premium craft beer and whiskey, other burger restaurants in Bakersfield don’t offer this. Eureka is the perfect place to go if you want a good burger, beer, and even local music.
• Moo Creamery– This place is located on Truxtun Ave and is pretty new to Bakersfield as well, and is probably my favorite burger place on this list and rightfully so. With burgers being the dominant thing on the menu they do offer them along with different shakes and other menu items like sandwiches, soups and salads. Depending on the day you go they offer many specials and even Sunday brunch. This place is my favorite burger place in Bakersfield because they have a lot of different selection of food and give customers a lot to choose from and they have milkshakes that will knock your socks off, I recommend the whiskey caramel malt, this shake is a favorite among me and my friends. Moo has a nice and welcoming environment, the staff is nice and the food is amazing and so are their prices.

Photo taken from Moocreamery.com

 

So to conclude Bakersfield has a lot of burger places that are very different from one another. Depending on what you want to spend and how far you want to travel a burger place is always right around corner in Bako.

Bakersfield Fun for all but limited by age

Bakersfield Sign taken from http://www.california-blog.com/photos-information-places/tag/bakersfield-ca

Some say there is nothing to do in Bakersfield. This is true for some while there are things here for kids it is very limited. We have Game Show thought the marriage and family counselling center but this is a once a month event. We also have parks but not all parks have good people hanging out in them. We also have California Animal Living Museum but not everyone can afford to go there all the time. What we do lack is an amusement park and a water park. For people without kids or people who like to go to bars there are some bands that play at bars one of which I know is Deedra Patrick who will be performing during A Night of Blues. For those of us who enjoy a good play we have Stars Theater and the Empty Space theater. Yes we have a mall even if it is rather small. In Bakersfield we only have one small Museum located in downtown that is only open Thursday thru Saturday. We have bowling and movies but why people say there is nothing to do in Bakersfield it is because Bakersfield is slow to get anything new. While we do have the Fair every year it costs about the same as a trip to Magic Mountain which is more fun anyways and Magic Mountain has more rides than the Kern County Fair. While Bakersfield is half the size of Los Angeles we lack a lot of the thing that other cities have that we do not have. It is said that Bakersfield is a big city with a small town mentality and I believe it is time for Bakersfield to get some more fun stuff like a water park.