Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class John Cason | PORT HUENEME, Calif. (Feb. 03, 2025) - Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Frantz Gonzalez,...... read more read more
Subscribe
PORT HUENEME, Calif (Mar 10, 2025) - Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) Port Hueneme Food Services completed operations shift to temporarily serve meals from the historic Bard Mansion Catering & Conference Center (Bard) while renovations were being completed to the primary galley.
"Changing venues isn’t always easy, but It's essential to remain flexible," said Chief Warrant Officer 3, Darweshi Eldridge, food service officer. "Having the capability to change and adapt planning and execution is essential part of mission readiness, and we accomplished this."
Thomas R. Bard, an influential Ventura County landowner, entrepreneur, and politician built the Bard estate nearly 115 years ago and leased it to the Navy during World War II. It was officially acquired in 1951 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
"The Bard was a unique venue, both the customer and the cook had a positive dining experience," said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Frantz Gonzalez. "I really enjoyed working at the Bard, learning it’s kitchen layout, and knowing that there is 100 years of history in this building."
Many Sailors and Soldiers stationed at Port Hueneme agreed with Gonzalez.
“I didn’t even know about the Bard until they shifted operations,” said Construction Mechanic Recruit Josh Nystrom, assigned to Naval Construction Training Center Port Hueneme. “I loved it; it’s not every day we get to dine in a mansion.”
Eldridge explained the dining experience goes beyond just eating food.
"It is a social setting for connection, a sense of community, and impacts health and well-being through service and environment,” said Eldridge. “The Bard was a perfect setting to flex a shift in food service operations."
Regardless of whether food is served in a mess hall, mess deck, wardroom, or galley, Navy cooks strive to create appetizing meals to produce the highest standards and best quality of life for service members.
"As with all missions, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to shift operations, like logistics, transportation and communication,” added Gonzalez. “We remained flexible to ensure there was no reduction of service and no Sailor-Soldier ever went without a good meal.”
A total of 95,854 meals were served at the Bard to Sailor-Soldiers during the shift in operations.
NBVC is major shore warfighting platform; providing sustained ready forces to deploy, fight, and win. Composed of three operating facilities: Point Mugu, Port Hueneme and San Nicolas Island and home of the Pacific Seabees, West Coast E-2D Hawkeyes, 3 warfare centers and 110 tenant commands.
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2025 11:37 |
| Story ID: | 492393 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Port Hueneme food services flex to complete operations shift, maintain mission readiness, by LTJG Drew Verbis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
