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.
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I can almost never pass up chimichurri sauce, that green Argentine condiment made with a base of olive oil, parsley (or cilantro), and garlic. It's used to flavor meat, and this steak taco featured it along with grilled onion. There was some sweetness from the onion, and I could definitely taste the garlic in the chimichurri. The grilled meat was tender, and the taco was nicely presented with a garnish of micro cilantro. There was a wedge of lime for squeezing and a crunchy slice of radish on the side. There was also some salsa on the side but it wasn't as good as the chimichurri so I didn't use it. Actually, Mexico meets Argentina is not an uncommon theme in the culinary world.
Location: Low Desert, 1775 E Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 405, Palm Springs, California. Date: February 28, 2024. This 16” Greek inspired pizza featured Nina's marinara sauce, mozzarella, garlic, chopped fresh tomato, soft eggplant pieces, feta cheese, Greek oregano, kalamata olive slices, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a generous garnish of fresh shredded basil. The tomato added freshness, the eggplant added creaminess and extra flavor, the feta cheese gave it saltiness and a touch of sour, the fresh basil gave it some herbal spice, and the other ingredients were the supporting cast that helped take this pizza to the next level. The dough was fairly thin and nicely baked.
Location: Nina's, 555 S Sunrise Way, Palm Springs, California. Date: February 10, 2024. The sign in the entryway of this Italian restaurant had “Smoked Mac & Cheese with Bacon” as a new menu item with the caption “an absolute must try!”. So I did. It was penne pasta in a smokey, creamy, buttery sauce with lots of crumbled bacon. I'm guessing that the cheese was parmesan. This could be my favorite mac and cheese ever.
Location: Dattilo, 2288 E Florida Avenue, Hemet, California. Date: January 27, 2024. The menu said this was a rich soybean based broth with organic tofu, green onion, kikurage mushrooms, bamboo shoots, baby spinach, and corn. With this dish I had the choice of spinach noodles, so that's what I chose. I also chose a couple of extras: dried seaweed and spicy umami oil. There was some crunch from the bamboo shoots, the thinly sliced black mushrooms, and the corn kernels. The spinach noodles were toothsome and provided some nice color. I only got one sheet of seaweed, but it was better than nothing. The oil was spicy, but I enjoyed it in my milky white broth (that I think was really smooth miso with some ginger). It was so good that it took me a while to realize that the tofu was missing. When I pointed it out, I got a plate of grilled tofu that was sliced really thin that I added to what was left of my broth. It was a good and interesting bowl of noodle soup.
Location: Torakichi Ramen, 5001 E Ramon Road #2 A, Palm Springs, California. Date: December 30, 2023. This sushi roll combined two of my favorites on the outside: baked eel and raw fish (in this case it was tuna). Inside the rice was tempura shrimp and spicy crab. On the bottom of the plate was sweet and savory eel sauce, and the roll was garnished with masago (flying fish roe). This roll had a rich flavor with some crunch from the tempura shrimp and the fish eggs. The red came from the tuna, and shrimp tails protruded from each end of the roll making it more dragon-like. There was also some avocado on top for creaminess. I had this roll at a Mexican sushi bar, so I'll call it fusion sushi.
Location: Hamachi, 31855 Date Palm, Cathedral City, California. Date: June 24, 2023. This is evening street food at a bar I go to, and today I finally caught up with them. I ordered, from left to right on the photo, the Shrimp Tempura Taco, the Korean Taco, and the Wasabi Taco. The shrimp taco was chopped up crispy battered deep fried shrimp, the Korean was asada beef with kimchi and Korean BBQ sauce, and the wasabi was chicken. They had house made sauces lined up from mild on the left to spicy on the right. I chose the fairly mild creamy cilantro for the shrimp, the medium spiced house sauce for the Korean beef, and the spicy habanero kick for the chicken. The tacos came with crunchy cabbage and julienne of carrot, and they all had Asian flavors like soy sauce and ginger that lingered in my mouth all the way home.
Location: Ruberry Salsa Tacos at Hair of the Dog, 555 S Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, California. Date: June 23, 2023. These fish tacos are what you would expect: a piece of fried fish with chopped cabbage, picco de gallo (chopped tomato, onion, and green chile), served on a corn tortilla with a wedge of lime for squeezing. What sets these fish tacos apart is that they're served with Spanish potatoes. I think these potatoes were deep fried with skin on, smashed, and then garnished with crispy fried shallot slices and crumbled cotija cheese. Both the tacos and the potatoes were served with what I think was chipotle mayo. Patatas Bravas would usually be served in Spain with a sauce flavored with spicy smoked paprika, but that wasn't the case at this Mexican restaurant; however, I applaud their attempt at serving Spanish style potatoes, and they let me know that they think that this is what sets them apart from other Mexican restaurants in the area.
Location: Jalisco Restaurant, next to Jalisco Tires on Indian Canyon, Desert Hot Springs, California. Date: April 7, 2023. Birria is a Mexican slow braised stew in a flavorful sauce that includes red chiles. The most popular version is made with goat meat, but in the north of Mexico beef is common, and that's what I got here in this Mexican Japanese fusion dish that consists of ramen noodles, chunks of tender beef with the broth it was cooked in, and a hard boiled egg (that often accompanies ramen). The dish was garnished with a grilled serrano pepper, a grilled scallion, and chopped green onion and cilantro. There was some very hot and very red sauce on the side, and that's what made this dish pop. This was certainly not the best birria I've had and certainly not the best ramen I've had, but having them both together is a first for me, and that makes it noteworthy (not to mention that Guy Fieri visited this place).
Location: Pablos Tacos & Beer, 42425 Jackson Street, Indio, California. Date: October 25, 2022. This dish is a Peruvian fusion of causa, which is cold mashed potato flavored with aji amarillo, the well known yellow chili of Peru, and lomo saltado, the famous Peruvian dish of beef stew served over potato fries. The dish I had today was warm beef stew served over cold causa, a contrast in temperature that I found enjoyable. When I told the chef, he got all excited because it was this aspect of the dish that he really liked. The stew was tender beef slices served in gravy along with quartered tomatoes and half inch wide slices of red onion. It was garnished with fresh cilantro. The yellow chili in the potato added some spice, the onion added sweetness and crunch, there was sourness from the tomato, and savory goodness from the gravy. The dish came with a side of green and creamy hot sauce that provided extra heat and sourness. This was a worthy dish for my 65th birthday lunch.
Location: Peruvian Fuego, 1751 N Sunrise Way, Palm Springs, California. Date: September 18, 2021. |
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
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