In this case, KFC stands for Korean Fried Chicken, not Kentucky. I chose the honey butter flavor because it sounded unusual, and it came with walnut pieces. I was told that honey sauce was popular in Korea, but the restaurant here in California added the butter and walnut pieces to make it more interesting. The chicken was boneless crispy nuggets that were on the dry side, but the flavor was good. It was only slightly sweet, and I enjoyed the addition of the walnut. I also liked the chewy little rice cakes on top that resembled fried noodles. It came with a side of steamed rice, salad, and lightly pickled crunchy white radish cubes. The salad was composed of lettuce, radish, shredded carrot, red cabbage, and sliced Persian cucumber. It came with a very tasty soy based dressing. I almost liked the sides better than the chicken, but when I dipped the nuggets into sriracha hot sauce, it kicked them up a notch.
Location: Beech Please, 6755 Ste A105, Hwy 111, Cathedral City, California. Date: April 24, 2024.
0 Comments
Ahogada means drowned in sauce, and I had the choice of green sauce or red. I chose the green because I know it's made with tomatillos that give the sauce a refreshing sourness. On the menu it listed the ingredients, wrapped in a flour tortilla, as being portobello and shiitake mushrooms, squash in chile pasilla, tofu, tomato, onion, panela cheese, pico de gallo, green zucchini, Mexican zucchini, pickled cabbage, and Oaxaca cheese. I'm not sure that all of these ingredients were in there, but it did come with the welcome addition of corn and creamy pink beans. A friend told me that she really liked the burritos at this place, and the one I had did not disappoint.
Location: Low Desert, 1775 E Palm Canyon Drive, Ste 405, Palm Springs, California. Date: April 17, 2024. Someone in my local tavern told me about a little Mexican restaurant located inside a liquor store down the street, and he said they had lamb birria. Birria is a soup or stew from Mexico that was originally made with goat, though some think lamb is more authentic. Here they often use beef, but to me that's not birria. At the liquor store they used the shredded lamb meat for tacos, but they served the soup, made from the lamb carcass, on the side. They said I could put the lamb meat into the soup, but then I wouldn't have had tacos. The lamb in the tacos was a little smokey, maybe from the grill, and the meat was topped with raw onion and cilantro, and the tacos were served with lemon wedges and some really good hot sauce on the side. The soup was made with red pepper, but it wasn't really hot, and it came with onion and cilantro just like the tacos, and it also featured garbanzo beans. Each of my two tacos came with two corn tortillas topped with the lamb meat that was a little dry, but together with the soup it was deconstructed birria. The funny thing is that you can eat in the liquor store but you can't drink alcohol there!
Location: Oasis Market, 13175 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: April 6, 2024. I was told that the Desert Hot Springs Spa had good burgers as well as their excellent house-made soups, so I tried their Spa Burger. It was made with a kobe beef patty, but unfortunately I wasn't asked how I wanted it cooked, and I forgot to say, so it was more well done than medium rare; however, it came with plenty of lettuce, tomato, pickles, and red onion, but it was the potato skin fries that made this burger noteworthy. I hadn't come across fries quite like these before, and with a dousing of malt vinegar they were the star of the show. The simple burger on a sesame bun was nice, I just have to try it again on the more rare side.
Location: Sunshine Cafe at the DHS Spa Hotel, 10805 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: April 1, 2024. A friend of mine invited me to this new Thai restaurant in our valley that I had been wanting to try, and it didn't disappoint. I ordered the Hot Squid lunch special that came with tender squares of squid stir fried with basil leaves, bell pepper, mushrooms, celery, onion, carrot, and their special hot basil sauce that was dark and rich. You can order it mild, but I got the hot version, of course, and the squid had a whiff of the sea that I really enjoy. Since it was a lunch special, I got it with white rice and sweet and sour Tom Yum soup with chicken. You can also choose brown rice and salad. This hot squid dish had a nice balance of spice and sweet.
Location: Desert Thai, 68718 E Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, California. Date: March 29, 2024. I was told that Miracle Springs, here in my hometown, has noteworthy house-made soups, but I discovered that they're actually made at The Spa next door. A patron at my local tavern told me that Miracle Springs and The Spa are owned by the same person, and they have a man that comes in specially to make the soups. On the day I went to try one of their soups, they only had Chicken Tortilla, and because I've had good versions of this in Mexico, I didn't have much hope that it would make my blog; however, it turned out to be a fresh and healthy version of the Mexican classic, and it was amazing. The rich and creamy broth had onion, red beans, fresh corn, diced tomato, and little chicken pieces in it. The soup was topped with crispy tortilla strips and grated cheese, and lime wedges were on the side. There was a touch of spice, probably because tortilla soup broth is traditionally made with dried chiles. This soup was definitely house-made, and squeezing lime wedges into it kicked it up to the next level. The waitress told me to come on a Friday for the house-made clam chowder. I will try it and report back.
Location: Sunshine Cafe (Spa Restaurant), 10805 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: March 23, 2024. This pizza crust sported house manicotti spread and mozzarella cheese topped with portobello mushroom, jalapeño, and caramelized onion. It was garnished with an impressive swirl of reduced balsamic vinegar. I had some creaminess from the spread, some heat from the jalapeño slices, some acid and sweetness from the balsamic, and umami from the mushroom slices and the caramelized onion. This is a brick oven place so the crust was blistered nicely.
Location: 2 Guys Pies, 56969 Yucca Trail, Ste A, Yucca Valley, California. Date: March 20, 2024. One of the bartenders at my local tavern is a good cook, and for Saint Patrick's Day she brought corned beef, cooked carrots, mashed potato with cabbage and bacon, and red potato. Someone else brought a Mexican style chicken dish with whole jalapeño peppers, and I contributed my homemade Irish Cream cheesecake that was flavored with Irish cream liqueur and had Irish butter in the crust. The top photo shows my savory lunch plate after I helped myself, and the bottom photo shows my cheesecake before some pieces got eaten and the rest mysteriously disappeared. This was a good and memorable Saint Patrick's Day meal.
Location: Escapade Tavern, 12347 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: March 17, 2024. When you're going to eat a salad, it's probably not a bad idea to have panko crusted fried goat cheese in it. That's what I got along with a good amount of sweet and chewy dried fig pieces, refreshing grapefruit supremes, and some beet and sweet potato, all served on a bed of red and green lettuce with some arugula, I believe. The crunchy goat cheese that was meltingly soft in the middle was the star, but the fig really brought this salad together. The owners used to meet under the clock at Grand Central station in New York, and when they moved out West they wanted just a small restaurant, but they found this historic larger place in Palm Springs that had a clock, and they couldn't resist.
Location: Grand Central, 160 La Plaza, Palm Springs, California. Date: March 9, 2024. All the fresh produce at The Spread is sourced from Farmer in the Dale, a local farmer's market that gets its produce from local farms. My Italian sub featured layers of ham, salami, and pepperoni, as well as a slice of provolone cheese. The sandwich was dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion, and green pepper. It was seasoned with mayo and Italian herb sauce. This was savory and tangy goodness. You can build your own sub at The Spread, and that's what I'm going to do next.
Location: The Spread, 66184 Pierson Blvd, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: March 2, 2024. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
All
|