Dining Around The Desert

Brave New Swirls

The Coachella Valley uncorks a resurrected wine-bar scene.

Courtesy of JANICE KLEINSHMIDT RESTAURANTS

Photographs by Fredrick Broden

Drink

A rabbi, a mortician, and a conservationist walk into a bar.

It may sound like a joke, but this diverse trio describes three regular patrons of Dead or Alive, a 2-year-old wine bar in Palm Springs.

Once-popular wine bars have been supplanted over the past 10 years by cocktail lounges and craft breweries, according to Dead or Alive founder Christine Soto — a trend fueled in New York and Los Angeles. “Wine takes a back seat to cocktails if you have a full bar,” she notes.

But as food-loving millennials discover the pleasures of oenophilia, wine consumption is experiencing a steady rise, and dedicated venues for tasting, learning, and discovering are seeing resurgence. “I love wine bars because they provide an opportunity to try different things,” Soto says.

The trend can be seen across the Coachella Valley. “Our guests are adventurous, and they’re looking for an experience,” says Parker Palm Springs general manager Brandon McCurley with regard to last year’s introduction of the hotel’s Counter Reformation wine bar. The clientele, he adds, is “almost 50-50 hotel guests and locals. Our demographic ranges from younger and new-to-the-area to residents who have been here many years looking for something fresh and sophisticated.”

Here’s a look at some of the best places in the valley to swirl, sniff, and taste.

Dead Or Alive

Among the pours at Dead or Alive is Amplify Wines’ Pink Flag rosé of Counoise grapes from Santa Barbara County.

From the name, one might expect an Old West–themed saloon, not an intimate room with the refinement of eclectic music and a pink glow from a neon sign reading simply “Wine & Beer.”

“The concept was to be dark and alluring,” Soto says, adding that the lack of a business-name sign (the exterior is identifiable only by a glowing red circle) “in no way means I want to be secret or exclusive. I want anyone interested in wine and beer to come drink here.”

The long, narrow venue seats 21, mostly at the bar, which features embedded colored lights and a waterfall effect for lower stools at the front end. The tall backs of four unstained wood booths lend those spots to private conversations.

Soto notes that her bar is popular for people on Tinder dates but also attracts a lot of single men (in town on business, she speculates) and groups of women in their 50s and 60s.

A level-one sommelier, Soto selects only noncommercial wines. “There is no point in opening a wine bar to serve what someone can buy at the grocery store,” she says. “There is no discovery and experience in that.” She encourages patrons to “order something you don’t know — that you can’t pronounce.”

Soto hosts monthly wine tastings and the occasional Wine Wednesday, with half-off 
bottles. The bar lacks a kitchen, but there are snacks such as gourmet potato chips, olives, 
nuts, and vegan cheese.

Counter Reformation

Counter Reformation at the Parker takes a democratic approach: All wines on offer, such as Château de la Liquière Faugères from Languedoc-Roussillon, cost $7 per 3-ounce pour.

Down a tree-cloaked path beyond the lobby of Parker Palm Springs lies a wine bar in a former storage space. With its “hidden” entry, low ceiling, lack of windows, ’70s playlist, and Reformation-era pictures on the wall, the place feels a bit naughty. But that’s OK, because Counter Reformation also features an authentic confessional from Italy.

Adding to the time-shifting juxtaposition are the resort’s signature Jonathan Adler touches, such as midnight-blue subway tiles over custom orange-and-white patterned tiles and matching Annick de Lorme barstools.

“The hotel owner, executive chef Herve Glin, and I love the caves à manger of Paris,” McCurley says of the bar’s inspiration. “In the initial design, the counter was the core, with people standing and interacting. But Paris and Palm Springs are two different things; sitting is more approachable here.”

However, interaction remains key, so all 20 seats are along the zinc bar; Glin himself regularly engages with guests.

“With one counter, it’s so easy,” Glin says, emphasizing that he is “having fun” creating small dishes to complement the diverse wines, such as braised baby artichoke hearts, oysters, and caviar with crème fraîche and quail egg.

Small-batch wines that, McCurley says, 
are “not available anywhere else in the 
Coachella Valley” rotate onto the menu. 
To encourage discovery by removing the decision-making process based on price, all wines cost the same: $7 for 3 ounces, $12 for 
6 ounces, or $42 per bottle.

“People come before and after dinner and find it so relaxing that they end up trying two or four wines,” he notes.

Coachella Winery

From 2002 to 2014, The River at Rancho Mirage offered the desert’s only winery tasting room, Tulip Hill. In late November, a new one opened in the same space.

Owner Salvatore Evangelista, a wine importer for many years, previously operated the Gaia Italian bistro a few doors down. Concurrent with embarking on winemaking in Paso Robles, he opened the Rancho Mirage lounge to feature his own label (made with purchased grapes), as well as imported wine, and beer from Thousand Palms–based Coachella Valley Brewery Co.

Differentiating itself from Tulip Hill, which served only its own wines and included a retail component, Coachella Winery uses the space to accommodate seating for 60 at tables, pairings of loveseats and easy chairs, and a bar. Living room–style furnishings, low-hanging light fixtures, and lounge music inject warmth into the high-ceilinged expanse.

“We get customers ranging in age from 20s to 80s,” says Luca Ricca, Evangelista’s nephew and bar manager.

Wines under the house label can be purchased by the carafe, glass, or in a flight of four. A separate menu lists wines from Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, sold only by the bottle. There’s an extensive Italian-leaning food menu too.

Coachella Winery discounts select wines 
and snacks during happy hour Monday to Thursday and brings in a DJ to spin tunes on 
Friday evenings.

Wine Emporium

Old Town La Quinta’s Wine Emporium veers from the cozy atmosphere of other venues, 
with capacity for 60 people indoors and 
70 more on the patio.

Owner Marcie Johnson uses the space adjoining her Old Town Coffee Co. to keep the buzz going well into the evening, when live music or DJs are on the bill.

“During the day, we get locals that want to hang out, like groups from country clubs. It’s really night and day between night and day,” manager Dustin Miller says.

A seven-piece country band draws “a huge crowd” on Tuesdays during the season, he adds. “Once the music gets going, people dance, and everybody parties.”

The bar attracts sports fans (two flat-screen TVs show football games) and beer aficionados. “We sell a ton of craft beer,” Miller notes, “but the emphasis is on wine.”

To that end, Wine Emporium offers 2-ounce tastes, as well as wines by the glass. Bottles can be purchased for consumption on-site or taken home. The venue occasionally hosts tastings with winemakers and operates a wine club, for which it hosts monthly pick-up events. The food menu includes cheese and charcuterie plates, sandwiches, flatbreads, and salads.

“Wine bars have evolved,” Miller notes. “We have live music, and that attracts people of all ages and backgrounds.”

Just A Taste A Winemaker Sets Up Shop.

As owner of a Santa Barbara County boutique winery, Mark Cargasacchi traveled hundreds of miles to market Jalama Wines in person.

“Palm Springs was one 
of my best areas for sales, and I realized this was a wine-drinking community,” he 
says, noting that shops in 
the area bought 10 to 15 cases at a time, compared to 
those in Los Angeles buying two to three.

Because his winery license allows only one off-site tasting room, Cargasacchi shuttered the one he had in Lompoc 
and in December opened 
a Jalama Wines tasting 
room in downtown Palm Springs’ La Plaza.

“When I announced on Facebook that I was closing it, I was scared a lot of people would discontinue the wine club. But most of our club members are from Los Angeles, and the feedback I got was how awesome it was that I was moving to Palm Springs. They said, ‘You will get me to Palm Springs before you will get me to Lompoc,’ ” says Cargasacchi, whose operation has vineyards in the Santa Barbara County and Santa Rita Hills AVAs. In one month here, he gained 10 
club members.

The tasting room’s ambiance reflects the Cargasacchi family farm, he says, with redwood-lined walls and black-and-white photographs of the ranch 
and vineyards under dramatic skies. “I am trying to bring 
the ranch down here.”

2019 Palm Springs Guide To What’s New And Instagram-Worthy

Sands is opening new doors in an area of the desert not known for boutique luxury.SANDS HOTEL AND SPA By David Hochman for Forbes Life

Palm Springs is forever reinventing itself. That's part of what brings me back year after year, era after era. The latest incarnation is what you might call Instagram Modernism. Hotels, bars, restaurants, and shops that are purpose-built (or meticulously refashioned) for a multitude of iPhone angles and maximum likes. Here's where to score the most ♥s in PS in 2019.

Read entire article here…

From Sheri Dettman
In Lifestyles & Things To Do, Dining Around The Desert

Morgan’s in the Desert

Fine Dining at the La Quinta Resort

On Christmas evening Michael and I joined our friends Tracey, Dan, Sallie, and Troy for drinks and dinner at Morgan’s in the Desert at the La Quinta Resort. Morgan’s is a long time favorite of mine and one of the best choices for fine dining in the desert. As an added bonus, the Christmas Tree is absolutely stunning and really sets the Christmas mood.

The Stunning Christmas Tree at the La Quinta Resort

We met our friends at the bar and enjoyed bartender Brian’s excellent libations. Moscow Mule, Old Fashioned, Cabernet and a specialty drink with a sugar rim featuring X Fusion, a pink liqueur with a premium vodka base that is infused with Provence blood orange, mango, and passion fruit flavors were some of the favorites.

Our friends moved to the dining room for a more formal experience and Michael and I stayed in the bar for dinner, listening to the delightful Ron Pass on the piano, Tuesday through Saturday 7:30-10:30pm. We had White Truffle French Fries, Wild Mushroom Flatbread with Pickled Red Pearl Onions, Nueske Bacon, Comte Cheese, and Roasted Cauliflower with Chai Curry Spice, Red Pearl Onions, Chive Oil, Shallot Aioli. Everything was delicious and the service was wonderful as well.

To be kept up to date on wine dinners, entertainment, etc…

About Morgan’s in the Desert

When Walter H. Morgan invited the Hollywood elite out to the desert to escape Tinseltown in the Christmas of 1926, they shed the burden of celebrity, and shared the simplicity and health benefits of good food, good drink, and good friends. The retreat was rare, but the connection was real and lasting. As Frank Capra, who returned many times to write his most famous film classics, stated, “It was the kind of place everyone was looking for; it is a wonderful green oasis in the middle of the desert, and it is absolutely private.” The Coachella Valley flourished with irrigation, golf soon followed, and all the while, Mari Dressler, Greta Garbo, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Errol Flynn and Joan Crawford enjoyed the “original hideaway” and the relaxed times around the rustic but well-set table.

Today, the tradition continues at Morgan’s in the desert, with simple culinary sophistication, an elegantly unpretentious hacienda inspired dining room, and guests who come from miles away to share special moments with their friends and families.

Read more about Morgan’s…

Kimpton Rowan Hotel Palm Springs

A Sophisticated, High-Spirited Hotel in Palm Springs

The Saturday before Christmas, Michael and I dropped by the Rowan to have a drink at the rooftop bar. The fire pits were lit, it was a beautiful night, and a handful of people were lounging around the pool. I enjoyed a specialty cocktail called Desert Winters, while Michael had an excellent Old Fashioned. We’ll be back soon to try the other dining and bar choices as they all look great.

Nestled in the center of downtown, Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs Hotel eases you into a heady love affair with the storied, chic city of Palm Springs. Whether you’re in need of a reboot or in search of adventure, our staff creates an effortless escape. Find ease and comfort in our refreshing guestrooms, which offer your own private, dramatic view. Wander up to the rooftop deck, where you’ll discover our one-of-a-kind pool with its astonishing views—the sunsets are the stuff of dreams. There, handcrafted cocktails are within easy reach at High Bar, and so is our playful, intimate restaurant, 4 Saints, with its mouthwatering spread of seasonal small plates. At dusk, witness the transformation of the rooftop deck to a seductive nightlife scene.

Read more about the Rowan Palm Springs…

Jeremiah Tower Headlines Wine Dinner

Culinary Collaboratives Again
World-renowned Chef Jeremiah Tower shared the kitchen again with The Pink Cabana Executive Chef Jason Niederkorn for a special dining experience.

I was fortunate enough to attend this fabulous dinner last weekend. I was very excited to go, not only because I knew it would be a wonderful experience, but because I used to work for Jeremiah at Stars in San Francisco.

He was always the most elegant, eloquent, creative chef, and I found that to still be the case. It was great to see him and a lot of the friends that flew in from all over the country to attend.

The Backstory

Fresh from graduating the Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Jason Niederkorn earned his first taste of culinary greatness in the 1990s when he was hired to work under Chef Jeremiah Tower at Stars Restaurant.

The duo worked together to further cultivate what Tower had originally created, known today as “California Cuisine,” and later a major figure in creating “New American Cuisine.”

Greater Palm Springs food enthusiasts were the lucky recipients of their collaborative efforts again when Tower came to The Pink Cabana inside the Sands Hotel in Indian Wells on Sept. 15 to help Niederkorn create the “Cabana Under the Stars” dinner experience.

“One of the great highlights of my career is the time I spent working alongside Chef Tower,” Niederkorn says, “and to partner with him on this incredible menu is an amazing opportunity. It will be an evening to remember.”

The evening featured a cocktail hour with canapés and apéritifs, a six-course menu, and thoughtful wine pairings. This dinner highlighted the chefs’ imaginative creations like filet mignon and buttered lobster, foie gras agnolotti with black truffle broth, and ended with an almond cake baked Alaska with passion fruit meringue and peach ice cream. The menu was accompanied by a curated wine and cocktail pairing from The Pink Cabana’s food and beverage director and sommelier, Molly B. Casey, featuring Mezcal shooters of mint, cucumber, and jalapeno.

Chef Jason Nierderkorn PHOTOGRAPH BY JAIME KOWAL

Tower is considered one of the most prolific chefs in contemporary American cuisine. In addition to Stars, he was also executive chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. He has appeared as the subject in the late Anthony Bourdain’s documentary The Last Magnificent and has won the prestigious award from the James Beard Foundation for “Outstanding Chef of the Year” in America and “Best Regional Chef” for California. He is also an award-winning cookbook author for Jeremiah Tower’s New American Classics; his latest release is The Flavors of Taste.

“Cabana Under That Stars,” 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at The Pink Cabana, 44985 Province Way, Indian Wells. 760-321-3771; sandshotelandspa.com/dining-bar/. Tickets are $260 per person including wine and beverage pairings. Seats are limited and advanced purchase is required.

From Sheri Dettman
In Dining Around The Desert, Lifestyles & Things To Do