Dining Around The Desert: Cooking With Class, La Quinta
The Open Kitchen (Guest Dining Tables Just Of Out View Here)
And now for something a little different on our desert dining scene. Cooking With Class in La Quinta offers gourmet cooking classes, fine dining, food, wine tastings, and more. They strive to use only local, sustainable, and organic products whenever possible. Themed dining events are also offered one or two days each week. My husband Bill and I have enjoyed several of these dinners over the past two years.
On Wednesday evenings Cooking With Class offers their weekly Cork & Fork dinners where diners can choose from six delectable small plates and six different wines by the glass. The Cork & Fork menu changes weekly and you can preview the upcoming menu online. While no reservations are required, we were told there is a lineup at 5:30 on most Wednesdays. We choose to arrive at 7 PM, which worked well except that they’d run out of one item. The upside was that we doubled up on the small plate we enjoyed the most. We look forward to returning for several upcoming Wednesdays.
Shoot The Moon Small Plate Sampler
Diners at Cooking With Class can order a la carte from the menu or go for their ‘Shoot the Moon’ sampling with six small plates for just $55 for two. We ‘Shot The Moon’ and enjoyed all six plates including a wonderful creamy tomato soup, House cured Scottish salmon, a short rib grilled cheese, shrimp and grits, and a birthday cake martini for desert (not ours; this week was Cooking With Classes 3rd birthday).
In summary, Cooking With Class has great people, wonderful food and a nice relaxed atmosphere that’s refreshingly different than most restaurant scenes. The open kitchen used for all cooking classes is front and center so it’s a bit like eating at the chef’s table. Be sure to check out the variety of classes offered throughout the week, which range from ‘Simply Trader Joe’s’ and ‘Tamale Cooking’ to ‘Cook Like a Chef’ taught by Former First Lady Betty Ford’s personal chef. Some classes fill up quickly so don’t wait until the last minute to sign up, which you can conveniently do right on their website. Several wine dinners are also available each month.
Cooking With Class is located at 47875 Caleo Bay Drive, La Quinta, behind Walgreens at the corner of Washington and 48th Street.
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