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 The Parker Palm Springs epitomizes desert cool. This hotel and others in the area offer modern amenities while maintaining the area's historical aura. |
Welcome Back to Palm Springs
"The desert is booming"
By Bruce Schoenfeld
From Wine Spectator magazine
Today’s Palm Springs greets you with salmon-colored sportcoats blazing as you roll up to the cinder-block brise-soleil of the Parker Palm Springs hotel. It hints at its swinging past with portraits of young Jane Fonda and Goldie Hawn on the walls of your junior suite and original Valley of the Dolls and Portnoy’s Complaint hardcovers on the side table. But don’t be fooled into thinking that Palm Springs—two hours of freeway driving east of Los Angeles—is selling naught but nostalgia. Since its establishment in the early 20th century as a spa-destination for respiratory patients, the city has continued to reinvent itself. The Hollywood of Marlene Dietrich discovered the desert in the 1930s, as did tennis stars such as Alice Marble, who held court at the Palm Springs Racquet Club.
Discreet Southern California society followed, with its art galleries and dog shows. Then came the Rat Pack in the ’50s and the first wave of retirees in the ’60s and ’70s. By that time, the all-inclusive family resorts were being built.
The latest incarnation, including the amenities in the string of rapidly growing Coachella Valley resort towns (Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta) that line Highway 111 toward the sunrise, may be the most exhilarating yet. “We’ve never had restaurants like this,” gushes Milwaukee’s perfectly coiffed Chickie Steinberg (winter address: Rancho Mirage) as she lunches at Cuistot, which is doing a raucous business on a Friday afternoon while models strut between tables, hawking local fashions. “The desert is booming.”
Hollywood knows it. That red-haired beauty staying at the Parker? Nicole Kidman. She’s in town, along with Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, Samuel L. Jackson and plenty more A- and B-listers, for a local film festival. The two-hour drive from Century City is scarcely longer than many a studio executive’s commute.
Golfers flock to the valley, too, from across the country and around the world. Some three dozen courses are linked like stepping-stones, from the Doral Palm Springs, Cimarron Resort and Tahquitz Creek to Tom Weiskopf’s PGA West, 30 miles east. Bob Hope’s Desert Classic is a PGA Tour perennial, while the Skins Game provides a coda for the season each November. Tennis enthusiasts are also accommodated in style. Spectators get the Pacific Life Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden—one of only three U.S. events at which ATP and WTA tournaments are played concurrently at the same facility—while players discover courts of red clay (the Parker), green grass (La Quinta) and enough concrete composite to pave over the whole of Wimbledon.
And everyone enjoys the weather. From September through June, the occasional puffy cloud floats past like a dirigible against a background of cornflower blue. (Summer heat can be stifling, however, and many restaurants close for the season.) At the idyllic properties that offer the world within their gates, such as the Westin Mission Hills and the Renaissance Esmeralda, only the intensity of the sun and the dryness of the desert air remind you that the ponds and lush fairways are man’s doing, not nature’s.
Today’s visitors can enjoy the same spaghetti-and-meatballs recipe that the Chairman of the Board did—retro Italian joints and unreconstructed Sinatra steak houses are currently in vogue, part of an ongoing revival of midcentury culture—but many don’t want to. Younger, hipper and more diverse than ever, today’s arrivals bring big-city tastes to the desert and demand nothing less than what they’ve left at home. They get it with the Middle East–meets-Pacific menu at Omri & Boni, perhaps the desert’s most unusual fine-dining experience, or with Cuistot’s smart, quirky wine list.
As you journey eastward through Rancho Mirage and into Indian Wells, menus that appeal to an older clientele are increasingly in evidence. But these days, even steak-house wine lists (such as those at LG’s Prime and Prime Chop House, both Wine Spectator award winners) are more likely to feature top California Cabs and cult Australian Shirazes than the limited offerings of an earlier era. Northern California winery Tulip Hill has opened a tasting room in a posh Rancho Mirage shopping mall, the River, where it sells its Merlot Mount Oso Vineyard 2001 and seven other selections to a growing number of wine-savvy consumers.
Increasingly, too, those shrimp cocktails and racks of lamb are being pushed aside to make room for more exciting fare. “I like to break all the rules, to do things that are provocative and interesting,” says Omri & Boni’s Omri Siklai, a Los Angeles–trained Israeli chef who has generated a fiercely loyal following with his fusion cooking. “You have to push people a little bit, educate them. Otherwise, nothing would ever change.”
But don’t despair that the changing times have robbed Palm Springs of its legendary aura. Reserve a table for lunch at the lemon-hued Citron inside the Viceroy hotel—the area’s hottest boutique property, it’s just the kind of place you’d imagine Hollywood rewrite men holing up to salvage defective scripts. Pretend you’re spying on a movie star over your Cobb salad until Suzanne Somers walks in, wearing a sky-blue pullover, her hair in pigtails. She orders huevos rancheros and settles into her banquette like a regular, and the daydream morphs into reality as you sip your Pellegrino.
“You get used to it,” says your server, who looks about 20 but seems to have seen it all. She heads off to fetch the Patz & Hall Pinot Noir someone has ordered, adding sotto voce as she leaves the table, “It’s just another day in the desert.”
All of the following establishments accept major cards.
Where to Stay
La Quinta Resort & Club
49-499 Eisenhower Drive, La Quinta
Telephone (760) 564-4111
Web site www.laquintaresort.com
Rooms 630 Suites 23 Spa villas 147
Rates $225–$3,500
The desert’s original resort, La Quinta has 90 golf holes, 41 swimming pools and a 27,000-square-foot spa, yet still manages to feel intimate. Celebrity sightings are common (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barbra Streisand, John Cleese and Andre Agassi are regulars; Diane Keaton rents villas every Christmas), and the rambling, old-home feel of the public spaces somehow doesn’t suffer for the inclusion of modern amenities such as big-screen television in the lounge. Spanish casita-style rooms range from comfortable (wood-burning fireplaces) to opulent (private pools and spas), but all have access to golf courses designed by Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus or Greg Norman and offer the intoxicating smell of orange blossoms in the spring.
Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs
4200 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
Telephone (760) 770-5000
Web site www.theparkerpalmsprings.com
Rooms 131 Villas 12; also 1 freestanding residence
Rates $150–$3,000
Formerly the Melody Ranch (when owned by Gene Autry) and the Givenchy Resort and Spa (when owned by Merv Griffin), this 13-acre resort of whitewashed two-story buildings has come to define postmodern Palm Springs. A $29 million renovation, completed last fall, created a unique property—from the swinging wicker chairs in the lobby lounge to the Hermès and L’Occitane bath products—that attracts Hollywood’s smart set, along with vacationers eager to experience the epicenter of the Palm Springs revival. Free wireless Internet, oversize beds and a saltwater pool add to the experience.
Lodge at Rancho Mirage
68-900 Frank Sinatra Drive, Rancho Mirage
Telephone (760) 321-8282
Web site www.ranchomirage.rockresorts.com
Rooms 219 Suites 21
Rates $169–$1,250
A Ritz-Carlton from its opening in 1988 until 2001, this lodge still has that clubby, sedate feel, though change is in the air. The old artwork was sold at the end of 2004, leaving blank walls behind the front desk until replacements can be procured. The clientele is younger now than when the place was a Ritz. The rooms are larger than average and comfortably designed, and this resort is one of the area’s few to feature interior hallways instead of an open-air compound setting. But the real star is still the location, a 650-foot-high plateau set against desert chaparral—a reminder that the true paradise at hand isn’t a manicured fairway but the wilderness beyond. Request a room with a mountain view and watch the jackrabbits run by.
Viceroy Palm Springs
415 S. Belardo Road, Palm Springs
Telephone (760) 320-4117
Web site www.viceroypalmsprings.com
Rooms 53 Suites 15
Rates $159–$700
Grapefruit and lemon trees in the courtyard, bungalows with barrel-tile roofs and utter privacy: The Viceroy, owned by the Kor Group, which is also in possession of the Avalon and three other hip, Los Angeles–area properties, is a boutique hotel that works—if you can handle Kelly Wearstler’s over-the-top design scheme. (Think faux-chandelier light fixtures, black-and-white patterned ceilings and furnishings that look like they’re wrapped in Versace ties.) The clientele is younger than at most area properties, and decidedly not conventioneers.
Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa
71-333 Dinah Shore Drive, Rancho Mirage
Telephone (760) 328-5955
Web site www.westin.com/missionhills
Rooms 472 Suites 40
Rates $159–$1,500
Waterfalls and fountains gurgle softly around almost every corner of this resort—a campus of Moorish-style buildings arranged around two of the area’s best golf courses. This well-run property infuses the best features of chain membership with site-specific personality. Rooms are bright and jauntily decorated, and most have balconies or patios. As many as three notably good concierges are always on duty.
Where to Dine
Azur by Le Bernardin
La Quinta Resort & Club
Telephone (760) 564-7600
Web site www.laquintaresort.com/dining/azur.asp
Open Dinner, Tuesday to Saturday; closed June 15 to Oct. 1
Cost Entrées $29–$54; menu $110
Now that talented chef Jasper Schneider has departed for the Caribbean, this 3-year-old seafood restaurant has lost some of its ambition, though Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert still consults by phone every week. Gone are the imaginative seviches and inventive preparations of less-common fish, such as fluke done four ways, in favor of standard-issue tuna, halibut, salmon and lobster. Schneider’s replacement, Eric Wadlund (most recently of Jimmy Schmidt’s Rattlesnake Grill in the Trump 29 Casino here), seems to have a firmer hand with meat; his pan-seared organic filet mignon is one of the area’s best dishes.
But the dining room, with its original 1920s lodge-style wooden ceiling and woven leather chairs, still dazzles, and service is knowledgeable and adept. The wine list is strongest at the low end (Spain’s refreshing Bodegas Godeval Valdeorras Viña Godeval 1999 for $30; Moët & Chandon Brut Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 1996 by the glass for $29.50) and at the high end (white Burgundy from Vincent Girardin and Étienne Sauzet; verticals of Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon and Opus One priced well into three digits), but it would benefit from more distinctive options in between.
Citron
Viceroy Palm Springs
Telephone (760) 318-3005
Web site www.viceroypalmsprings.com/dining
Open Breakfast, lunch and dinner, daily
Cost Entrées $26–$34
The dinner menu barely fills a page: seven starters (including soups and salads) and six entrées. The dining room, done up in Brady Bunch yellow, is smaller than most hotel bars. That Citron, which opened in 2003, has advanced to the forefront of Palm Springs restaurants despite such minimalism is a tribute to its cooking, though the baton has been passed from founding chefs Tim and Liza Goodell (of Orange County’s Aubergine and Troquet) to Chuck Courtney. Sweet carrot soup with seared scallops is garnished with pistachios and an herb mousse. A fillet of monkfish is wrapped in pancetta, roasted with garlic and sliced like prime rib. Lunch items are familiar—ahi Niçoise salad, chicken Cobb, burgers—but everything is done with flair.
By popular demand, some European and Australian wines have been added to what used to be an all-California list, but the best bets remain domestic: Simi Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2001 ($60; $15 by the glass) and Oregon’s King Estate Pinot Noir Reserve 2000 ($70) up to Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cépages 2001 ($155) and Joseph Phelps Insignia 1999 ($180).
Cuistot
Best of Award of Excellence
72-595 El Paseo, Palm Desert
Telephone (760) 340-1000
Web site www.cuistot.net
Open Lunch, Tuesday to Saturday; dinner, Tuesday to Sunday; closed July and August
Cost Entrées $26–$39
In creating a new home for this outpost of serious California-French dining two years ago, Bernard Dervieux started by designing just the stove he wanted. He built a vast, glassed-in kitchen around it, shaped the impressive dining room from there and purchased a property to fit. Dervieux is a chef first, a restaurateur second, and it shows in his food, which is imaginative (though not daring) and perfectly prepared. Dishes such as the quail stuffed with sweetbreads and the rabbit in mustard sauce with rabbit-liver feuillette reveal Dervieux’s upbringing in Lyon, France, and his training with Paul Bocuse and Roger Vergé.
Sommelier Fred Gerber began his cellar anew with the move. Plenty of mature Bordeaux was purchased at auction and marked up accordingly. Stick to something young, like Château Magdelaine 2000 from St.-Emilion ($120), or sample from the vast American list, perhaps a bottle made by the week’s featured winemaker. (Recently, five Heidi Peterson Barrett bottlings, each from a different producer, were priced from $59 to $395.) Note that Cuistot is one of the few premier restaurants here that opens for lunch, though the menu—mostly salads and sandwiches—is considerably scaled back in amplitude.
Johannes
Award of Excellence
196 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
Telephone (760) 778-0017
Web site www.johannesrestaurant.com
Open Dinner, Tuesday to Sunday
Cost Entrées $23–$40
Though perhaps the desert’s most accomplished restaurant, there’s not a hint of pretension, and the vaguely Provençal setting—mustard-yellow walls, Scandinavian blond-wood chairs, white linens and a single Granny Smith apple on each table—is a soothing contrast against the loud crowds.
Don’t be put off by a wildly eclectic menu that ranges from grilled baby octopus to wiener schnitzel. Austria-born chef Johannes Bacher’s skills are perfectly aligned with his ambition. Each of Bacher’s creations, from the garbanzo-and-artichoke spread that accompanies the bread onward, arrives fully formed; the old waiter’s saw about everything on the menu being as good as everything else actually rings true here.
The extensive and well-considered wine list centers on California, with single-vineyard bottlings such as the Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard 2001 lifting it far above the ordinary.
Omri & Boni
Award of Excellence
47-474 Washington St., La Quinta
Telephone (760) 777-1315
Web site www.omriandbonirestaurant.com
Open Dinner, Wednesday to Monday; closed certain days in September (call for specifics)
Cost Entrées $28–$42
Lights blazing, this striking building sits like a spaceship that landed on a commercial street in La Quinta. And an evening inside, where you’ll find a faux olive tree and a glassed-in wall of wine bottles, can seem like a dining experience on another planet.
Whether that’s a positive or a negative depends on your take on traditional service. Your waiter may leave your table in the middle of taking the order because he’s being buzzed on his pager—but that’s only because the kitchen won’t use heat lamps and is dedicated to delivering food at its ideal temperature. Don’t worry; he’d do the same for you. (For the same reason, entrées may arrive hot on the heels of the appetizers.) The food, too, is like nothing else in the area. Omri Siklai melds Middle Eastern and Asian influences with California cuisine, so Peking duck shares plate space with plums and prunes, enoki mushrooms, a spicy corn tamale and exquisitely roasted beets and rutabagas. A buffalo filet is served with pomegranate-and-Port sauce.
The husband-and-wife owners started in Palm Desert in 1993 with six tables, paper plates and an all-pasta menu with every item priced at $4.95. Now their wine list, amassed by sommelier Mark Sontz, ranges from Mulderbosch Chardonnay Stellenbosch 2001 ($52) to Vietti Barolo Castiglione 1996 ($86), the latter having the best shot at pairing well with everything on the table, to a 10-vintage vertical of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. The restaurant also hides a cache of top Bordeaux (Mouton-Rothschild 1988 for $675; Haut-Brion 1989 for $995; Latour 1990 for $995) on the reserve list.
Wally’s Desert Turtle
71-775 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage
Telephone (760) 568-9321
Web site www.wallys-desert-turtle.com
Open Dinner, daily; closed June to September
Cost Entrées $26–$40; menus vary
Soft lighting, the tinkling of piano keys, lit candles on every table, an older, upscale clientele and first-growth verticals: Wally’s is the ideal place to propose to your potential third wife. Alongside superbly executed standards—beef tartare, cream of mushroom soup, crab cakes, Colorado lamb chops, chocolate soufflé—are a few dishes a bit further afield but no less precisely rendered. Duck, roasted to exquisite crispness, is served with Medjool date sauce. Rare medallions of ostrich are coated in a sauce of juniper berries. Scallops are paired with Asian spices and sit on a bed of seaweed.
Service, tag-team style, is European-accented—literally and figuratively—and approaches perfection. The wine list features white Burgundies and older Bordeaux in the high three-digit range and beyond, but bargain hunters too can drink well. Try the Rosenblum Zinfandel Paso Robles Richard Sauret Vineyard 2002 ($58), the Melville Estate Pinot Noir 2001 from Santa Barbara’s Santa Rita Hills ($59) or the Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches 2000 ($165).
Bruce Schoenfeld is a Wine Spectator contributing editor.
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