Hi, Lin-
I used to spend a week a month in Bakersfield, but that was in the 1970s. After that, it was a week once or twice a year until I retired in 1999, and since then it has been one or two nights a year. I always went by myself, mostly for work.
You really do need to go to a Basque restaurant in East Bakersfield. A meal at a Basque restaurant is an experience you'll never forget. It's all comfort food, so you're bound to like it unless you're really fussy. They serve a multiple-course dinner, always starting with cold tongue (which tastes like brisket and is delicious).
If you go to Bakersfield and don't eat Basque food, that's like going to Hamtramck and not eating Polish food (the czarnina in Hamtramck is especially good).
-Joe-