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Sheri’s Palm Springs Area Blog

Whether it be real estate updates, restaurant reviews, events, or highlights of unique homes in Palm Springs, follow Sheri as she covers all that Palm Springs and the surrounding area has to offer.

Dining Around the Desert: Workshop Kitchen + Bar, Palm Springs

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ABOUT WORKSHOP KITCHEN + BAR

Last month, I took my friend Garry, who was visiting from San Francisco, to Workshop for his birthday. I'd been hearing great things about the restaurant for a long time, and this presented the perfect opportunity to experience it.

Located in the historic El Paseo Building in Uptown Palm Springs Design District on North Palm Canyon Drive, Workshop has been one of the most popular destinations in Palm Springs since opening in 2011. In a city known for its beautiful landscapes, eccentric modernism, celebrity residents and stunning architecture, Palm Springs has been a destination for locals and travelers seeking a smartly refined getaway.

Helmed by Chef/Owner Michael Beckman, along with partner Joseph Mourani, the 2015 James Beard Award-winning restaurant for best restaurant design features a market-driven menu comprised of seasonal food highlights harvested from local farms and offers a bar program, unlike any other desert establishment.

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I started with one of their famous cocktails, the Hemmingway Especial. Made with white rum, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, fresh grapefruit juice and a little maraschino liqueur, it was light and very refreshing.

Garry enjoyed the Bee's Knees. Made with ransom old tom gin, lemon juice, fresh honey, and lemon oils. This Prohibition-era cocktail was originally made to mask the flavor of bad gin and is updated with modern ingredients. This drink is bright, fresh, and complex.

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For appetizers, we shared the shaved brussels sprouts, with Fuji apple, bartlett pear, persimmon, pomegranate, pepitas, balsamico, olive oil, and pecorino romano, and cauliflower brie gratin, with herb flowers.

We then shared the night's special risotto with shaved black truffles, and duck leg confit with duck merguez sausage, young vegetables, de puy lentils, jus, and bloomsdale spinach.

Everything was excellent, and the service was outstanding. We will be back!

For a contemporary experience in the dining room or a leisurely meal under the olive tree, Workshop in Palm Springs is the perfect desert dining destination.

Read more about Workshop here.

From Sheri Dettman
In Dining Around The Desert

The One and Only

La Quinta Arts Festival earns a No. 1 ranking by Art Fair SourceBook for two judging categories.

The La Quinta Arts Festival is March 1-4 at La Quinta Civic Center Campus.

The La Quinta Arts Festival is March 1-4 at La Quinta Civic Center Campus.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY LA QUINTA ARTS FESTIVAL

La Quinta Arts Festival has captured the No, 1 ranking in the nation for both judging categories, Fine Art and Fine Craft, by Greg Lawler’s Art Fair SourceBook.

The ranking is based on the 2017 event, which broke records for attendance and art sales.

Since 1993, Art Fair SourceBook has been collecting and analyzing sales and anecdotal data for more than 1,500 fine art and fine craft shows annually. Art Fair SourceBook’s resources and tools assist artists in selecting shows and venues appropriate for their work in order to maximize their earnings.

“It is rare to capture the top spot in both Fine Art and Fine Craft competing against so many events across the United States,” says Christi Salamone, president and CEO of La Quinta Arts Foundation, producer of the festival. “La Quinta Arts Festival has claimed the No. 1 honor four times in the last six years, and now, twice for both categories.”

In Fine Art, La Quinta bested competing shows in Colorado, Virginia, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, and Oregon. The top 10 events in Fine Craft placed La Quinta ahead of the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and One of a Kind in Chicago.

“This award validates the consistent high quality of participating artists and patrons who appreciate their offerings,” Salamone says.

The 36th La Quinta Arts Festival is slated March 1-4, at La Quinta Civic Center Campus. For more information and tickets, visit LQAF.com.

Palm Springs Weekend

Itinerary picks for quick desert trips.

ANDREA AMENTDECEMBER 29, 2017 ATTRACTIONS

Photo by Andrea Ament

Photo by Andrea Ament

When the winter months get a little cold and dreary in Los Angeles, I love that I can hop in the car for a short ride to sunshine, bright colors, delicious food, and high style. A Palm Springs Weekend is one of my favorite escapes from L.A. — just far enough to feel like a vacation, but close enough that I’m not driving for days.

— Andrea Ament

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FRIDAY AFTERNOON

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Cabazon Dinosaurs
On your way into Palm Springs, visit Mr. Rex, one of the Cabazon Dinosaurs. A $12 ticket ($10 for kids) lets you climb all the way up to his teeth. While you’re there, try a date shake at Hadley Fruit Orchard and explore the outlet stores.

SATURDAY MORNING

The Saguaro Palm Springs
Pack your favorite floaty and spend Saturday morning lounging on a chaise in the sun. There’s no shortage of pools in Palm Springs, but this one is the most colorful.

thesaguaropalmsprings

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4 Golf Courses to Play During CareerBuilder Challenge

When you're not busy watching the world's best golfers compete at the CareerBuilder Challenge, take your own game up a notch.

BILL DWYRE DECEMBER 24, 2017 GOLF

Golf legend Phil Mickelson will return for his second straight year as ambassador of the CareerBuilder Challenge, the desert’s annual PGA Tour event. Jeff Sanders, tournament executive director, says that Mickelson’s presence “brings us unbelievable expertise,” and his ongoing connection to the event “helps us work — alongside him — to make it great.”

Mickelson has won five majors and was champion in the desert in 2002 and ’04.

The Jan. 17–21 tournament will be its 59th iteration. For many years, it was played as a 90-hole event, generating most of its extensive charitable donations to Coachella Valley groups through amateur participation. Now, it is a standard PGA Tour event, with 18 holes a day over four days and with a purse of $5.9 million. But the charity element, with a reduced amateur presence, remains intact and lucrative, under John Foster, longtime president of Desert Charities. Entertainment includes Huey Lewis and The News (Jan. 19) and Goo Goo Dolls (Jan. 20).

The tournament is traditionally played on a series of courses. This year, CareerBuilder takes over the Stadium Course at PGA West, as well as the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West and the La Quinta Country Club. Defending champion Hudson Swafford will return to defend his only PGA title.

Tickets purchased by Jan. 14 will cost $30 for a one-day grounds pass, $75 for a weekly grounds pass, and $25 for a senior one-day pass.

“At $30 a day,” Sanders says, “we are the most affordable tournament on the tour.”

CareerBuilder Challenge, Jan. 17-21
cbchallenge.com

4 COURSES TO PLAY

Classic Club

Classic Club

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5 Top Reasons To Purchase A Home In The Palm Springs Area

Courtesy of Haley Kieser

The scenic city of Palm Springs is located in the Sonoran Desert of southern California. This gorgeous little city is known for glamorous hotels, resorts, spas and natural hot springs thereby making Palm Springs the perfect destination for tourists and potential residents alike. The city is noted for examples of mid-century modern architecture giving the town a feeling of old-world glamour.

  1. Outdoor Recreation

    One of the many perks of settling down in Palm Springs is the vast opportunities for outdoor recreation. If you or someone you love is an avid golfer, Palm Springs will without a doubt become near and dear to their heart. If you have not tried the sport, it would be wise to give it a shot after relocating. Golfing would be an excellent hobby to learn given that Palm Springs has been given the high praise of being colloquially known as the “Golf Capital of the World,” and it truly does live up to its nickname. Palm Springs and the surrounding area is home to over 20 lush golf courses, most notably the world-renowned Arnold Palmer Classic Course at SilverRock Resort and the PGA WEST Golf Club & Resort to name a few.

    The Palm Springs area offers majestic views of the Santa Rosa Mountains that are downright breathtaking. The mountains can be viewed from the golf course and enjoyed both up close and afar. Hiking trails are found throughout the mountains. It should be heeded that visitors to the mountains should strictly follow their map, and be sure to head back when half of your water is depleted as the mountains are situated in the middle of a dessert. The good news is that due to the climate of the southern Californian Sonoran Desert, both the hiking trails and the golf courses can be enjoyed year-round.

  2. Beautiful Weather

    Palm Springs is a desert city - the weather gets hot. The best time of the year to enjoy the southern Californian weather would be between January and April when the weather is most hospitable. During the summer months, temperatures will regularly reach triple digits.

    Palm Springs is the perfect location for those who like the heat. Moving to Palm Springs not only means embracing the heat, but embracing the wind farms. Wind farms are a fact of life in the desert and are churned all year long. The windy season in Palm Springs is generally the end of the summer leading into fall. On top of clean energy sources, the added breeze will be a nice touch as the summer heat ratchets up.

  3. Rich History

    Many notable American figures have visited Palm Springs, including Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, and Ronald Reagan. In its early years, Palm Springs attracted more visitors than potential property owners. Following World War II, there was a boom of development. At first, visitors flocked to Palm Springs to enjoy the natural bathhouses and hotels cropping up within the quiet desert town. Soon the quaint town would attract the attention of philanthropists, moguls, and starlets who would eventually settle in the area. It is likely they settled after watching the glittering town be advertised on the silver screen.

    The desert was routinely selected as a choice spot for filming silent films and would grow to become an oasis for Hollywood stars outside of film sets. Today, Palm Springs still maintains a sense of old-world glamour wrapped in plenty of modern entertainment options. In fact, one of Palm Springs quintessential historical landmarks, including Walter and Leonore Annenberg’s Sunnylands Estate. Since 2012, the 200-acre estate and historic residence operates as a place of hospitality for international leaders to convene to “promote world peace and facilitate international agreement.” Tours are available for small groups but require a ticket booked in advance.

  4. Minimal Traffic

    An added bonus that will be felt at every turn, is that there is virtually no traffic in Palm Springs. No more days of sitting in traffic for 2-hours for a commute that should, in theory, should take only 20 minutes. City dwellers throughout the country understand the plague of heavy, bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic. Moving to Palm Springs means making traffic a woe of the past. A drive to the grocery store will be just that, without the need for planning added time to consider for traffic and delays. Even during the busiest times of the year, traffic will always be minimal. The average commute time is about 22 minutes, which is lower than the national average.

  5. Affordable Living

    Compared to huge metropolitan areas like San Francisco or New York, the smaller city of Palm Springs can offer a much cheaper alternative for housing prices without any void of things to do. Although California tends to be expensive as a whole, the Palm Springs area tends to be comparatively cheaper. The median price for a single-family home in Palm Springs is about $300,000, which is subject to change year over year. With the added pocket change, this allows for greater flexibility for leisure around the town and the ability to enjoy the city’s boutiques and fine dining nestled along Palm Canyon Drive.

Tennis Season is About to Bloom

Garden Party

BNP Paribas Open slates kick-off event to tennis season at the Gardens on El Paseo Jan. 26.

SITE STAFF JANUARY 11, 2018TENNIS

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The Gardens on El Paseo will host a free event for the public to open the tennis season in the Coachella Valley.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY GARDENS ON EL PASEO

The BNP Paribas Open “Garden Party,” a new free event open to the public that will serve as the official kick-off to tennis season in the Coachella Valley, will be held from 3:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Gardens on El Paseo in Palm Desert.

The event – which is part of a larger “Full Bloom” thematic for this year’s tournament – will provide food and beverage from a variety of vendors and activities ranging from a trivia competition to table tennis to lawn games. Fans will also have the opportunity to take their photo with the Official BNP Paribas Open Baccarat trophy. The event will give attendees a preview into the men’s and women’s player fields at the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, and conclude with live music, beginning at approximately 6 p.m.

Ahead of the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, set for March 5-18, the tournament has launched a brand-new partnership program for local businesses to get involved in the region’s largest sporting event and spread the excitement about the tennis season in the Coachella Valley. Local businesses are invited to become preferred partners of the tournament, with special benefits and perks for both the merchants and their patrons.

“We’re thrilled to bring this brand-new event to the community in our backyard,” said Philippe Dore, media and marketing director for the tournament. “Each year, we strive to create new offerings for our incredible fans and look for new ways to engage with the community that supports us. We can’t wait to celebrate the start of tennis season with our fans and our partners ahead of what promises to be another fantastic tournament in March.”

This year’s BNP Paribas Open will highlight the world-class tennis players that participate in the event woven into the natural beauty of the desert landscape; as well as the physical attributes of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Ahead of the 2018 event, the site is undergoing a full-scale beautification project that emphasize the lush, green environment.

Additional activities and special guests will be announced over the coming weeks. Visit bnpparibasopen.com for the latest information and to purchase tickets to the BNP Paribas Open.

For information ranging from places to shop, eat, and calendar events about El Paseo, visit elpaseocatalogue.com.

New Restaurants Opening in the Palm Springs Area in 2018

As we move into 2018, I look forward to discovering fun, new places and bringing you my first-hand reviews. Here's some to plan on:

Courtesy of the Desert Sun

2017 gave the Coachella Valley many exciting restaurants, and you can bet the New Year will bring us more.

From veteran food legends to small business owners, many people are working day and night to make sure their new eateries have successful local openings next year.

And there’s nothing foodies love more than the taste of a new menu.

Here are some of the restaurants we’re looking forward to seeing open in 2018:

A farm-to-table experience that can’t be missed

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A salad course for the Beyond Balisage preview dinner. (Photo: Jose Bastidas/The Desert Sun)

Chef Daniel Villanueva is a staple of the Coachella Valley food scene. He showcases his farm-to-table, seasonal approach to cooking regularly during the Palm Desert Food & Wine festival, and his catering business is known to many.

After saying goodbye to his previous restaurant, Balisage Bistro in Palm Springs, at the end of 2016, Villanueva will be back with a new eatery, Beyond Balisage, in Cathedral City next year.

Friends and family were treated to a private tasting dinner earlier this month showcasing the new restaurant’s clean, seasonal menu. Among the offerings there was a salad with Spanish white anchovies, blue cheese, romaine organic egg yolks, Meyer lemon juice and heirloom tomatoes.

“When you support me, you support all of my farmers directly, as well,” Villanueva told dinner guests.

Villanueva said he hopes to open Beyond Balisage to the public sometime in January. The restaurant will be located at 68-327 E. Palm Canyon Drive in Cathedral City. For more information go to Beyond Balisage’s Facebook page.

Two valley food legends team up for new hotel

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Construction continues at Hotel Paseo on Larkspur Lane in Palm Desert on Nov. 28, 2017. The 150-room boutique hotel is slated to open in January and will be the first for the upscale shopping district. (Photo: Sherry Barkas/The Desert Sun)

When the new Hotel Paseo opens in Palm Desert next year, it will come with it a taste of Uptown Palm Springs.

The hotel’s new restaurant, AC3, as well as its bars, will be operated by two beloved Palm Springs restaurateurs — Copley’s on Palm Canyon’s owner and chef Andrew Copley and TRIO Restaurant’s owner Tony Marchese.

Back when news of the collaboration was first reported by The Desert Sun in April, Copley said the restaurant would focus on comfort food, fun flavors, and New American cuisine.

AC3 will open alongside the Hotel Paseo and will be open to the public every day. The hotel was originally set to open this fall, but construction delays moved to the opening date to sometime in January.

The Hotel Paseo will be located at 45350 Larkspur Lane in Palm Desert. For more information go to ac3palmdesert.com

More: Read the rest of the article here....

2017 10 New Restaurant Openings in the Palm Springs Area

2017 10 New Restaurant Openings in the Palm Springs Area

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Courtesy of Jose Alejandro Bastidas, The Desert Sun

If there is something we love in the Coachella Valley, it’s food.

And this year brought many new restaurants, flavors and concepts to the desert.

The restaurant scene in the desert is ever changing, and it can be difficult to keep track of all the openings and closings going on from west to east.

So, let's take a look back at some of the exciting local restaurants that opened in 2017:

  1. A fast, casual take on Mediterranean cuisine

    The shopping centers around El Paseo in Palm Desert are becoming home to many local and chain restaurants.

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    A sampler platter consisting of falafel, hummus, pita bread, couscous medley and stuffed grape leaves offered at Luna Grill Palm Desert. (Photo: Jose Bastidas/The Desert Sun)

    One of the most recent additions is Luna Grill.

    A sampler platter consisting of falafel, hummus, pita bread, couscous medley and stuffed grape leaves offered at Luna Grill Palm Desert. (Photo: Jose Bastidas/The Desert Sun)

    The fast, casual and affordable Mediterranean eatery opened in October and offers delicious dishes in big portions (plus wine and beer). Some highlights include the falafel as an appetizer, the ground sirloin kabob (around $11) for an entree, and the mini cupcakes for dessert.

    Luna Grill Palm Desert is the chain’s 39th restaurant and the company is growing fast. So, don’t be surprised if you see more locations popping up in the near future.

    Luna Grill is located at 73-405 Highway 111, Suite 105 in Palm Desert. For hours and more information go to lunagrill.com

    More: A closer look at the new Mediterranean restaurant in the valley everyone is talking about

    To read about the other nine restaurants that made the list, click here....

    From Sheri Dettman
    In Dining Around The Desert

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