Basque Tables

room

Noriega Hotel

Bakersfield, 1893–2020, then 2021–2025. Closed twice. The bar and the neon sign are in a museum.

A 2011 dinner menu for Noriega Hotel in Bakersfield, California
A 2011 dinner menu for Noriega Hotel in Bakersfield, California
Jjazz76 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Where
525 Sumner Street, Bakersfield, CAcited
Opened
1893cited
Status
closed 2025
Closed at Sumner Street in 2020; the Stockdale Highway room closed in early 2025.
checked 2026-09-16cited
Seating
a long table, with strangers
One bell, one seating, strangers down the length of the table. Recorded as it was.cited
Picon Punch
not published
The bar itself now sits in the Kern County Museum.cited
Recognized
James Beard Foundation — America's Classics, 2011
Calls its kitchen
“Basque boarding-house table, one seating, set menu”cited

Now

Nothing serves under this name. The Sumner Street building stands empty.

Before

One seating, one bell, one price, whatever the kitchen cooked that day, at a table you shared. The James Beard Foundation named it an America's Classic in 2011. It closed in 2020. New owners reopened a Noriega's on Stockdale Highway in June 2021 with the old recipes and the old chairs; that closed in early 2025. The bar and the neon went to the Kern County Museum.

Kin

A cider-maker house inside Igartubeiti Farm Museum in Ezkio-Itsaso village. Guipuscoa, Basque Country.The long tablestorythe room that set the shape everyone else is measured againstWool Growers Restaurantroomeight blocks away, and still open← the Bakersfield room this one outlivedBasque cupboard with lauburu (=basque cross), (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France).Ostatuawordwhat this was before it was a restaurant← was one until 2020The Hotel Padre has long been a landmark in downtown Bakersfield, California, USA.Californiaregionthe state this room sat in
Open on this page
  • the 1893 founding year against the several dates in circulation

Sources

Record provenance: cited · confidence high · updated 2026-09-16