The first word in the title of this blog is "food". Anyone who has looked at it before, stumbles upon it now, or heck, knows me in person will understand that I love food. Genuinely. I once had a friend who would not so kindly tease me by calling me a food snob (note the past tense in describing that friendship!), but no, I am not that. Yes, I eat fast food. Yes, I eat snacks. No, I don't need gourmet food, haute cuisine. All I ask is that food be prepared well, or that it simply hit the sweet tooth (and salty tooth, if that's such a thing) that I have.
So let's bring food (and drink) back to this blog and talk about dining in the desert.
I've commented on this to Conrad and van a few times, and to Courtney and Robert this past weekend: Palm Springs, for such a tourist destination, strikes me as not living up to its potential in terms of dining. I'm being unfair - I've hardly tried many restaurants despite having been down that way perhaps 30 times in the past three years. It's not a large city either - 50,000, perhaps? String it along with all the other Coachella Valley communities (including Rancho Mirage), and there are multiple hundreds of thousands of residents and thousands more visitors. And yet, despite that, I've largely only had good food (and some mediocre food) and seldom great or really interesting food.
I have had good drinks, though!
I'm not going to plumb many years of photos from desert dining. Instead, let me spotlight a few recent forays.
Van's birthday falls close to US Thanksgiving each year, so this year his friends Jennifer and Sanders joined the three of us at Bar Cecil for dinner. It's a newer restaurant in the city, and wow, has it been popular. Tough to pin down reservations to the point where it's dropped off our radar (and yes, we tried a walk-in once, to be met with a suggestion that maybe in a couple of hours). But for Van's birthday, I scored a late table.
I like Bar Cecil. I like the vibe, I think the bar program is great. I like the food. I don't LOVE the food, but I always find things to enjoy. I mean, come on: deviled eggs!
Choosing an entree left me a little less interested, though. I ended up with a steak frites plate, and it was fine.
Will I recommend the restaurant? Yes! Will I go back? Yes! I simply may choose a different main course.
The three of us were down in the desert a couple of weeks later, getting things ready for Christmas since Conrad and I had plans to see his family briefly before the holiday. Van had wanted to get us to Truss & Twine, so we arrived at opening and secured some good seats at the bar.
Ah, I love sitting at bars, watching the bartenders at work, asking them questions when I can. I recall that the food menu was very simple and tasty enough, but I recall better the Fallen Angel, a cocktail that was so odd sounding (tequila, lime, and... creme de menthe!).
I followed that with the Brandy Crusta, which was good (and sticky), but made me wish I had had a second Fallen Angel.
Conrad and I flew into Palm Springs on Christmas Eve in time for Van and Marie to pick us up and take us to brunch at Boozehounds. I love it - a dog-friendly restaurant. We've dined there once before, and I was happy to go back. My mood? The Spam bibimbap breakfast bowl.
See? Spam! Not a food snob at all (bring on Spam musubi any time I go to Hawaii). That was a welcome meal.
On New Year's Eve, we made sure to avoid an evening dinner out, but we did get out of the house and headed into Palm Springs again (and you know, we do dine in Rancho Mirage regularly, but also sometimes in Palm Desert). Brunch in the city again, this time at Gigi's. You know, I know I had something breakfast-y to eat, but what stuck with me was avocado margarita.
Smooth and richer in taste thanks to the avocado wash. I need to try fat-washing cocktails at home sometime.
Back into Palm Springs this past Sunday night. Workshop Kitchen is a restaurant I have visited and recommended many times in the past, but in recent years (and I am sure the pandemic has not helped), I've had varying, inconsistent experiences with the place. The menu used to be bigger, and I've found the food and presentations have not been quite as refined as in the past. The last time I had gone there was in December 2021 when we took Marie, and wow, was it a disappointment. That was due mostly to the service, wherein the server made us feel as though he was doing us a favour by coming by our table from time to time. It soured us on the place tremendously, so I was a little nervous about going back with Courtney and Robert.
Happily, this time we had a server I not just recognized from before but was happy to see. She is someone I had known to make great and honest recommendations in the past, and this time was no different. A sigh of relief that at least that part of the night would go well. The food was good, too. We shared some small plates - fried pierogis,
a burrata and persimmon plate,
shaved Brussels sprouts.
I was sorry that they had run out of the bread service. I did not get a picture of the duck fried rice. I would say that the pierogis were my favourite of the batch. None stood out as especially awesome, but all were quite fine. I liked my duck breast as well.
I did sort of think to myself that the plate was meager when it was set down, but then, I finished dinner (we had dessert and a nightcap at home) satisfied and not overstuffed. Besides which, the purees and sauces on the plate complemented each other nicely, and the meat was cooked properly - I too often have duck breast that is tough and chewy or with the fat not rendered out very well.
A long entry. And think back on it. Good, nice, decent. No raves, except perhaps for cocktails. Palm Springs and desert dining has a lot to offer (and I sometimes think the best dining is found in hotels). Heck, some time I need to blog about Wally's and how much I love its old school vibe and absolutely love love love that they have liver (yes, I enjoy liver). But the city, the area, is not really the culinary destination that I think it should be. I never hear people in the LA area who visit the desert ever talk about the food, their meals, the restaurants to visit. I really wish that it were the case that they did.
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