By Emma Krasov, photography by Emma Krasov
At the beginning of May I turned 29 [again]. Choosing to celebrate in Palm Springs, a famous hangout for the stars, I thought of its hot sunshine, cool modern architecture, mineral hot springs, and cool snowy peaks of San Bernardino Mountains, but there were many more wonders to discover in this legendary desert oasis.
May and June is what they call here a shoulder season between balmy winter and high-temperature summer months. The major tourist crowds from colder climes are gone, and the city dwellers almost have their pretty little town to themselves.
Almost. Many Californians, weary of the Pacific Coast’s “May Gray and June Gloom,” seek refuge in Palm Springs to enjoy its eternally cloudless sky, whispering palms, and great travel deals.
Riviera Palm Springs
Spacious, full of light, and lavishly decorated in kitschy baroque style, this sizeable resort seems to provide everything so its visitors would never want to leave the premises.
Mirrored hallways, plush guest rooms, and red glass chandeliers are only rivaled by the excellent service, chic restaurant facilities, and the most luxurious freestyle swimming pool, surrounded by sunlit palm trees.
On my birthday, I was treated to a signature dessert – Sticky Toffee Pudding with pecan caramel and vanilla gelato at the poolside hotel restaurant, Circa 59.
I equally enjoyed my sampling of three other scrumptious desserts – rice pudding with rhubarb compote, crème-brulee crepe (!) with peaches, and bittersweet chocolate tart with sour cream gelato.
Speaking of restaurants…
Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week, June 3-12To get a little preview of what’s coming to the long-anticipated Restaurant Week in the culinary heaven of Palm Springs, I visited a few local favorites, always painfully aware that it would not be possible to try them all in such a short period of time.
Not only that, in those favorite places it would not be possible to try everything they had to offer. So, here’s just a sampling of some ever tempting treats.
As they say, life is short, eat dessert first.
Melvyn’s Restaurant is located in the historic Ingleside Inn, built in 1925. Franck Sinatra, Bob Hope, Marlon Brando, Barry Manilow, Liza Minelli, Cher, John Travolta, and Arnold Schwarzenegger used to stay here. Some decadent desserts for the Restaurant Week are: Peach Tart – chocolate cake layered with peaches and topped with Bavarian cream and Chambord; Melvyn’s traditional Kahlua Flan – enough said; and Chocolate Bomb Glace prepared tableside – chocolate and Grand Marnier sauce over vanilla ice cream.
Mister Parker’s is a dark atmospheric dig in Parker Hotel, offering butterscotch pot de crème with candied bacon (!) and banana sorbet, and Mini Pie Duo by the pastry chef Chantal Carter.
You are at luck if one of the pies is key lime and another banoffee – banana and toffee, made after the chef’s family recipe.
Copley’s on Palm Canyon is a very special place where chef-owner Andrew Copley makes his own ice cream out of fresh herbs, like basil, mint, and tarragon.
Chef Copley also teaches Thursday and Saturday cooking classes, where he explains how to make this kind of ice cream at home, as well as other dishes from his menu. For the Restaurant Week, Copley’s will have Roasted Beet & Warm Goat Cheese Salad, Hawaiian Ahi Tacos (tuna tartar on crispy sesame miso shell with avocado, green onions, ginger soy dressing and tobiko), and an array of equally enticing seafood and meat plates.
Kaiser Grille has a French chef, Didier Tsirony, and it shows! Prosciutto-wrapped greens and cantaloupe salad, house-cured salmon, and cabernet-braised short ribs with chorizo risotto are out of this world.
However, the most original of Chef’s creations comes in a latte glass, and looks like your glass of latte. Not so fast! Those are black mussels in a mussel broth with goat cheese foam on top. Drink if you dare.
Johannes, owned by an Austrian-born chef, Johannes Bacher, puts lots and lots of Wiener Schnitzel on its menu, but not only that. My delicious sampling plate contained a chilled shooter of potato soup made of 2-day-old spring tubers; garlic-herb escargot; house-smoked trout; shrimp, scallop, and lobster, happily forming Menage a Trois; and a slice of fried camembert with grilled plum – mmm…
Jake’s Palm Springs was named after a preciously-cute white dog that belongs to the partners-owners Bruce Bloch and Chris Malm. My favorite dish on the Restaurant Week menu – Jake’s Ribs. Bathed in pineapple teriyaki sauce, they were so good, I could have eaten the entire dog. KIDDING! Let me present to you another favorite – Watermelon Salad, made with feta, mint, frisee, and fresh lemon vinaigrette. Everything tastes great at Jake’s.
Trio is a relatively new kid on the block. The block being a recently developed Uptown Design District, and its name says it all. The restaurant is a part and parcel of the city’s vibrant modern feel, and its prevailing color is orange – so-o-o Palm Springs! The name Trio refers to Food, Art, and Sound, but let’s not forget Cocktails. The list here is very impressive – try Trio Tini, Palm Springs Punch, or Desert Flower to see what I mean.
The food is American-great, with the greatest salmon ceviche ever made, scallops with cantaloupe-habanero sauce, and St. Louis Style Spare Ribs with chipotle rub.
Ethnic cuisines are nicely represented by some local favorites.
Las Casuelas Terraza, in operation since 1958, where the food is traditional Mexican, excitingly fresh and prepared with lots of love, like tender and tangy chicken mole.
Johnny Costa’s Ristorante – Fine Italian Cuisine, family owned since 1977, offers an extensive menu of Italian staples with home-made sauces and wonderful breads baked on premises.
Cheeky’s is a cozy place for breakfast, with outdoor seating, freshly-squeezed juices (try blood orange), house-made yogurt, fancy omelets and sandwiches.
I also enjoyed my
au plein air breakfast at
Escena Lounge & Grill, located at the most scenic golf course with a great view of San Jacinto Mountains.
Speaking of mountains…
Peaks, the restaurant, is found at the Mountain Station on San Jacinto Peak, at 8,516 feet elevation.
The Restaurant Week menu, prepared by Chef Kevin Oakes, features the freshest sashimi grade ahi, prepared three ways; macadamia-crusted scallops; festive Caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes; filet mignon with marsala jus, and panko-crusted rack of lamb with porcini risotto among many other delectable plates.
Chef’s desserts include sinful dulce de leche cheesecake, and Grand Marnier crème-brulee. The food at Peaks is much more exciting than you would expect from an eatery tied to a cool attraction. (During Palm Springs Restaurant Week, participating restaurants will provide three-course prix fixe menu from $24 to $36. More info at:
http://www.palmspringsrestaurantweek.com/.)
And speaking of cool attractions…
Palm Springs Aerial TramwayBrings you from a hot valley to the coolness of the mountain top – at least 30 refreshing degrees difference in temperature. Covers more than two and a half miles and five biological zones of Chino Canyon in a 10-minute ride. Operates the largest in the world rotating Tram cars with 360-degree views. Rewards you with all the wilderness and 54 miles of hiking trails of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park. And, did I mention the cheesecake at Peaks?
http://www.pstramway.com/.
Palm Springs Art MuseumAmong the modern and contemporary collections currently on view, there are Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Don Wexler – through May 29; John Baldessari: A Print Retrospective from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation – through June 26; Comic Art Indigéne – through September 18, and Global Lens Summer Film Series – Every Thursday Night, June 2-July 28.
My picks from the permanent collection: Joan, by John De Andrea (top photo), and Old Couple on a Bench, by Duane Hanson – fooled me!
http://www.psmuseum.org/.
Palm Springs Air MuseumThe world’s largest collection of flying WWII warplanes located in climate-controlled hangars. Computer flight simulators, a resource library with 6000 volumes, museum docents – war veterans, and an opportunity to climb inside B-17. How cool is that?Well, to do that you have to be taller than an air bomb put upright.
http://www.palmspringsairmuseum.org/.
Palm Springs Modern Tours with Robert Imber
Palm Springs is a living museum of mid-century modern architecture with the largest concentration of mid-40s through mid-70s notable architects’ masterpieces in one place.
Standing on a corner of S. Palm Springs Canyon and Tahquitz Canyon Way, by the tower remaining from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Art Deco Oasis Hotel, you can observe four decades of architectural gems around. Take a walking tour of downtown with the local historian Robert Imber to fully appreciate what you see.
The Spa at Spa Resort CasinoWhat’s cool here is the spa signature service, Taking of the Waters.
Steam, sauna, and eucalyptus inhalation rooms, then a 10-minute soak in a private sunken tub filled with [hot] mineral water. Then a visit to the Tranquility Room, where you just lie down and drift away to fragrant darkness and soothing music, icy lavender compresses upon your tired eyelids… and they have springtime spa specials!
http://www.sparesortcasino.com/.
Coming in November:
The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands
Sunnylands, the estate of Ambassador Walter Annenberg and his wife Leonore, with a mid-century modern house designed by A. Quincy Jones, will open to the public in November as a multi-purpose facility, including conference center, historic house, education center, desert garden, and solar farm.
In their day, the Annenbergs entertained six American Presidents, Queen Elizabeth II, and international political figures here, as well as cultural, sports and entertainment leading players. Following the Annenbergs’ desire to create public access to the Retreat, The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands opens up its art collection, its architectural gems, and its gardens for all to see.
http://www.sunnylands.org/.
All information about what to eat and see in Palm Springs is readily available at: Palm Springs Visitors Center, 2901 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. Call 800-347-774;
http://www.visitpalmsprings.com/.
Perfectly portioned, Sunday prix fixe at Ozumo consists of a four-course dinner with some of the best menu choices thoughtfully pre-selected for spoiled San-Francisco gourmands. Sure enough, the place was packed last Sunday, when my husband and I landed at Ozumo for an early dinner with a bargain Bay Bridge view at sunset.
One plate of our first course was grilled asparagus salad with Asian greens, sweet egg, and wasabi vinaigrette, and the other – an in-house miso-cured salmon with pickled young fern.
A glass of clean-tasting crisp house sake, brewed by a top Japanese distiller specifically for sake-conscious Ozumo, was just what the doctor prescribed for taking small fragrant sips between the courses.
The sushi course had fresh meaty pieces of hamachi, maguro and salmon nigiri, and a famous Ozumo Akebono roll, named after a sumo wrestler. This fancy roll has pink tuna belly on top of crunchy asparagus and fatty avocado, with an upper layer of pickled daikon and popping black tobiko.
First – pan-roasted hamachi collar with marinated cucumber salad and daikon ponzu dipping sauce. I had to restrain myself not to eat this piece of fish with my bare hands, it was so good. So crispy on the outside, so tender and moist inside! 
The second – braised kurobuta pork belly with cress salad and soft pouched egg on top was a symphony of delicate tastes.
Even if we had to consume some sugary calories, they were not excessive and just rounded up the stellar experience. Sunday prix-fixe menu changes every week, but is sure to please no matter what’s offered – it’s Ozumo after all, so you are always in good hands here.
Ozumo Restaurant is located at 161 Steuart Street, San Francisco. Open for dinner nightly and for lunch Monday through Friday. Call for reservations 415-882-1333, or visit http://www.ozumo.com/.
