Temptations

Written by Mike Stepanovich

The restaurant, where you get country-club quality at diner prices, has become so popular that the other day I had to grovel for reservations for Thursday night’s buffet. I got them only after I promised to be there right when the restaurant opened at 5:30 p.m., and out of there by 6:30. Jana Fidler-Wiggers, who oversees the dining room, said she had 85 reservations that night; and that didn’t count the walk-ins.

Small wonder: the Renegade Room was featuring a German buffet that included Bavarian lentil soup, hot German potato salad, Rohkostsalatter (a vegetable salad), Sauerbraten, Wiener schnitzel with mushrooms, bratwurst and sauerkraut, potato pancakes, braised red cabbage, and apple strudel. It was nothing short of a feast.

And feast we did! The buffet has two stations: one on the south side of the room with the soup, salad, and appetizers, and the other on the north side of the room for the entrées and side dishes.

I tried the Bavarian lentil soup first. It was loaded with lentils in beef froth with diced carrots, onions, celery, and turnips. A bowl of this and some good bread would have made a hearty meal, but I was just getting started.

The German potato salad had Chef Patrick Coyle’s signature on it. He stopped by our table and grinned at our satisfied “oohs” and “aahs.”

“I lived in Germany for four years and learned how to make it,” he said. It’s remarkably simple—diced cooked potatoes, bacon, parsley, and onions with a tangy vinaigrette dressing. Delicious!

The entrées were splendid as well. The Wiener schnitzel, Vienna’s own dish, had breaded veal medallions topped with mushrooms in a brown sauce. Tender and moist, the veal almost melted in your mouth.

And the bratwurst and sauerkraut! Wow! Pork ribs were also in the mix of a steaming and delicious dish. The bratwurst was made fresh by BC culinary arts students, who prepare all the food for the Renegade Room under the watchful eyes of Coyle, the program’s director; faculty member Chef Suzanne Davis; and, when they’re in the dining room, Fidler-Wiggers. The sauerkraut was superb, with a nutty flavor that enhanced the flavors of the sausages and pork ribs. Another Coyle secret: he cooked the kraut in beer. Each dish was delightful. I was compelled to get seconds on a couple of the items, which left me scant room for the apple strudel. But I persevered, and was glad I did, as the strudel was the perfect end to the dinner...except that my wife, Carol, had found a peach and almond tart, and some German chocolate cake. I could only manage a couple bites of each, and wished I had not had seconds on the potato pancakes.The cost for this extravaganza? A mere $10.95 per person. Dinners are served Tuesday from a menu and Thursday is the buffet, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Lunches at the Renegade Room are also reasonably priced. Lunch is served only on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The menu, which changes weekly, features an entrée, entrée salad, and sandwich of the day (dinners feature two entrée choices).

I recently stopped in for lunch, and couldn’t resist the duck and andouille gumbo offered as the soup of the day ($3.25 á la carte). It was beautifully presented, with a white-rice island surrounded by the hearty gumbo, laden with chunks of duck and the spicy French sausage. Finely chopped chives topped the creation, which was delicious!

Anticipating the week’s menu is part of the Renegade Room’s charm, so I was intrigued by the “executive chef salad” during a recent lunch visit. What could that be? Fantastic might be the best word: thinly-sliced grilled steak on a bed of greens with a colorful assortment of vegetables. The steak was grilled to perfection, and it was one of those dishes you could just sit there and smell until it evaporated. Tequila-lime chicken was the entrée of the day; my lunch companion’s mmm’s and ahhs testified to how flavorful it was.

The Renegade Room, which has been open to the public since it first opened in 1968, is the face of BC’s culinary arts program. And Coyle has been part of the program, except for a seven-year hiatus, almost since it’s inception. He was a student in the program from 1969 to 1972, earning his associate of arts. He then served in the Army from 1972-76, with four of those years spent in Germany, before earning his bachelor’s degree in organizational behavior from the University of San Francisco. He returned to Kern County, spending two years as the food service director at Taft College before accepting a position in 1979 as a chef instructor in the Renegade Room.

“I’ve been here a long time,” said Coyle, who has earned the Certified Culinary Educator designation from the American Culinary Federation. He stays current on culinary trends by his involvement with local chefs, including the Arthritis Association’s annual Tastes of the Town fundraiser, in which he has participated for more than 20 years. “I try to keep our program as up-to-date as possible,” he said. “We want to teach them proper theory and blend that with the practical.”

That is evident in the Renegade Room’s fare, prepared by the culinary arts students. That’s also the reason it changes weekly, so students get exposed to different foods and how to prepare them. The restaurant opens four weeks into each semester, which gives Coyle and Davis time to get the new would-be chefs up to speed before the opening.

The program also handles catering for special events, such as the Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Club’s annual Tuscany at Twilight dinner. The Bakersfield College Foundation’s annual Sterling Silver Dinner each January, featuring guest chef William Bloxsom-Carter, executive chef at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, provides an opportunity to students in the program to gain exposure to one of the nation’s most talented and cutting-edge chefs.

The students learn all aspects of the restaurant business: “They rotate from the front of the house to the back of the house. They wait tables, do baking, prepare dishes—they do it all,” Coyle said.

Since the Renegade Room is a teaching restaurant, “crazy things happen,” Coyle said laughing. “The first time I let students do the seasoning for a Cajun-themed menu, it got a little spicy. They really livened it up.”

Fidler-Wiggers laughed at some of the occasional mishaps, like getting orders mixed up, or forgetting to put orders in. The loyal clientele understands the purpose of the restaurant and is patient with the students, she said. Usually by mid semester, those problems vanish.

“A broader audience is finding the Renegade Room,” she said, adding that about half a week’s customers are regulars. “Our customers are extremely loyal. A lot of people hear about us by word of mouth.”

I’ve long maintained that Coyle and Davis could be executive chefs at any country club they chose, but they chose Bakersfield College because they love teaching. And that’s the real secret of the Renegade Room.

The Renegade Room is open during the fall and spring semesters and during summer session. Coyle and Davis plan the menus well in advance. To see what is available each week, visit the Bakersfield College website, www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/renegaderoom, and click on the menu. For reservations, call (661) 395-4441. The Renegade Room accepts cash and local checks.

Article appeared in our 27-5 Issue - December 2010