Taco and tequila slinger Bakersfield opens in Brush Park on Monday

Bakersfield – a restaurant that specializes in tacos, tequila, and finer whiskeys – opens in Brush Park near Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 18.

Matthew Schmidt, a regional managing partner with the Cincinnati-based Thunderdome restaurant group that owns Bakersfield, tells Metro Times the restaurant braises its meats in house, makes its own tortillas everyday, squeezes the fruit for its mixers, and makes fresh guacamole every two hours.

Among the taco menu highlights are the cochinita pibil with 
achiote braised pork, pickled red onion, habañero salsa, and cilantro; or the huitlacoche with corn truffles, roasted poblano, corn, onion, cotija cheese, cilantro.

Bakersfield also offers lines of tostadas and tortas – Mexican sandwiches – like the milanesa with chicken cutlet, black beans, salsa verde, arugula, and avocado lemon mayo.
Behind the bar, Bakersfield will stock over 100 bottles of domestic tequila and whiskey that runs the gamut from top to bottom shelf. Schmidt says to expect tequilas like El Jimador and Don Julio 1942, and whiskeys ranging from Knob Creek to Pappy Van Winkle.

Thunderdome now operates seven Bakersfield restaurants in five states. Schmidt says the company chose Detroit and Brush Park because it looks for "mid-tier cities, and areas on the up and come."

Bakersfield is located at 3100 Woodward Ave. Hours of operation to start will be Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

It opens the same day as For The Love Of Sugar, a Brush Park cakery and cafe around the corner at 72 Erskine St.