Don’t Miss the Foodie Fun in Greater Palm Springs!

Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week is June 3 – 12, 2022

Story and photos by Barbara Beckley

Boba tea topped with cotton candy!  Cocktails served in a pink flamingo! Gourmet sushi – in a hotel lobby. Dining is always different and delicious anytime you eat in Greater Palm Springs. But it’s extra special during Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week, June 3 – 12, 2022, when more than 70 of the desert’s unique, locally owned restaurants invite you for lunch and dinner at pennies on the dollar. 

Indulge to your heart’s content with prix-fixe, custom two-or-more course lunches at $15, $25 and $35. And prix-fixe, custom three-or-more course, or small plate, dinners at $39, $49 and $59. Some restaurants may even add wine pairings (for an additional charge). I had the pleasure of taste-testing a few of the valley’s newest eateries and Restaurant Week favorites. Wow! I loved them all.      

AMAZING FLAVORS   

“The best in the desert.” Not just my opinion. This is what veteran sushi-lovers say after tasting the creative, super-sized Japanese sushi at Glo Sushi, off the lobby of the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. Created by local sushi master Chefs Shin and Chai, the menu brims with Nigiri favs like Snow Crab, Yellow Tail and Smelt Eggs (yup, delicious); Sashimi albacore, halibut and to-die-for Fatty Tuna; and rolls including the “Dragon Breath,” freshwater eel on a shrimp tempura roll with avocado, spicy aioli and eel sauce, and yummy “Rainbow Roll,” a California roll topped with tuna, salmon, halibut and avocado. All paired with a curated selection of premium sake. And, while you’re there enjoy a Restaurant Week meal at CAVA, serving American fare.   

Newly opened Café California, in Old Town La Quinta, is the most creative and delicious breakfast, brunch and lunch I’ve ever tasted! Enjoyed on the picturesque patio, nothing is as you expect. Everything is better! From Crab Cakes, with local farm greens, lemon, capers, lemon herbed aioli, fresh dill and local micro greens; the huge Lox on a Bagel, slathered with sundried tomato cream cheese, plus lemon, capers, red onion and dill; and Eggs Hollandaise, with poached eggs, crab, asparagus, a Boursin scone, lemon hollandaise, to Huevos Ranchos, with cactus tortilla black bean puree, chicken chorizo, avocado, poached eggs, tomatillo salsa, micro greens and chives, the menu has it all. Even sweet-tooth Strawberries Stuffed French Toast, with cream cheese, brioche bread and whip cream strawberry jam. A must for Restaurant Week lunch $25.

Hit the heights of SoCal good taste with a southern and Latin twist at 4 Saints rooftop restaurant at the Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs Hotel. Delight in 360 valley views paired with their signature cocktail – Flamboyance of Flamingos – champagne, Absolut Elyx, lillet blanc, maraschino and fresh grapefruit, served in a gigantic brass flamingo! Minimum four people. Executive Chef Ysaac Ramirez’ makes the most unique cornbread ever – topped with sweetened pecans, crispy chicken skin, cultured butter and chives. Along with small plates like Scallop Crudo in yellow Tiger’s Milk with Fresno Chili, cucumber, brown butter and chive; 14-day dry-aged Flannery Ribeye, and fresh seafood. Restaurant Week dinners $59.

MIXOLOGY MAGIC

Boba veteran or first-timer, you’ve got to try the new Dragon Lili Boba Bar in Rancho Mirage. “Like making a cocktail. It takes the same precision of measuring and mixing,” explained Joe Enos, a partner, from behind the bar. Watching him craft one the classic and creative drinks, he was like a barista. Choose from arguably the largest selection of boba drinks in the desert, including milk teas with black tea, fruit milk tea, yogurt teas with green tea and Yakult yogurt, popping boba and jellies – even honey boba and Dragon Lili Boba with house-made brown sugar syrup, Latte Hokkaido, Matcha Thai – and the signature secret (it’s not on the menu, you have to ask) – The Dragon’s Breath, a frosty blended fruit tea topped with bubble gum-flavored cotton candy!

I call Palm Springs the “cocktail capital of the world.” So it’s no surprise, the monthly Midcentury Mixology Cocktail Clinic at Mr. Lyons Steakhouse in Palm Springs, helmed by New Zealand cocktail guru Steen Bojsen-Moller, is crazy popular. Measure, mix, shake and pour – creating and then drinking – the perfect whisky sour and Old Fashioned. Insider secret? “A pinch of salt enlivens any cocktail,” Bojsen-Moller told me. Check for the next clinic on Mr. Lyons Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mrlyonsps). Stay after class for Mr. Lyons Restaurant Week dinners $49; $99, and optional wine pairing for $25. 

FAVORITE BITES      

At much loved Trio restaurant in Palm Springs, owner Tony Marchese is planning an extra special Restaurant Week menu, including local gourmet produce from Aziz Farms in Thermal just east of La Quinta’s golf courses. Enjoy perhaps a Street Corn appetizer or Half-chicken Cous Cous, with Aziz Farms dates, almonds, ras el hanout spice and caramelized onions; or Black Bass, with local asparagus, English peas, mushrooms, radish and buttermilk herb vinaigrette. I can attest the veggies are farm fresh, having actually picked cucumbers, eggplant and corn in the fields and medjool dates from high in a date palm at Aziz Farms. Restaurant Week lunch $25; dinner $39.   

For delicious food with a side of late night live entertainment, Kitchen 86 Restaurant + Bar on tony El Paseo in Palm Desert is perfect. With a new owner, new menu and new outlook, Kitchen 86 is one of the few spots on El Paseo rocking until 2 a.m. “We named it ’86,’ because we’ll 86 any items we don’t think are up to our standards,” co-owner Joe Morano, told me. Proof is in the pudding, so to speak, like the desert’s best Boom Boom Shrimp, lightly panko breaded with Thai chili glaze and local organic greens; Heirloom Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil and balsamic reduction; wood fired pizzas, and tableside cheese wheel pasta. Restaurant Week lunch $25; dinner $49.

Honored by Wine Spectator magazine since 2004 for its extensive California wine list and keen on locally sourced ingredients, The Steakhouse at the Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs is ideal for fine wine pairings with gourmet delights such as the Prime Filet Oscar with king crab, asparagus and Béarnaise and Bordelaise sauces; paired with a Tate merlot. Almond-crusted halibut, and pan-seared sea scallops with black garlic, chorizo and a vanilla bean vinaigrette. Dine indoors or on the elegant terrace with a city view. Enjoy Restaurant Week lunch for $35 at the casino’s 360 Sports restaurant/bar, serving elevated cuisine.   

WHERE TO STAY?   

Where the sushi is! The beautifully redone mid-century style Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indian Wells offers luxurious guestrooms and suites up to 1,852 square feet, with golf course and pool views; a bustling lobby, pool bar and deck with oversized cabanas, and five dining options in addition to Glo Sushi.  

Also The Paloma Resort, a hip new property with 66 bungalows and suites, a restaurant and spa services, is set to open in June in Cathedral City. Named after the cocktail – “The Paloma” not the Spanish dove – it sports both modernist-style villas and a 1930s Mediterranean-style lobby/dining building, where valley super chef Chad Gardner plans to helm tapas-style Sol y Sombart restaurant. Check the site for opening details.