It’s noisy, casual and fun. Located in a historic building in a historic neighborhood, its food and music and liquor celebrate the folk culture of Bakersfield, gritty capital of the south end of California’s agricultural Central Valley, where Chicano and Okie ways met and mingled in a zesty ethnic stew.

You think I’m talking about The Silver Dollar, right? Not so fast, bubbeleh. This is Manny & Merle on Market Street, the latest venture of Tony Palombino, the paterfamilias of Louisville’s popular Boombozz pizza chain and incubator poppa of a dozen restaurant concepts, some of which flew while others fell not far from the nest.
Continue reading If Manny doesn’t feed your spirit, Merle will →