These were four half slices of toasted Italian bread with whole slices of tomato (not chopped tomato as usual). The tomato slices were topped with pesto, grated parmesan cheese, and freshly ground black pepper. My sister said, “It's perfect,” and she always judges Italian restaurants by this one dish. I have to admit that this was one of the best I've had.
Location: Dattilo, 2288 E Florida Avenue, Hemet, California. Date: January 27, 2024.
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This is actually bowtie pasta in olive oil sauce topped with walnut halves, medjool date halves, diced tomato, garlic, spinach leaves, and crumbled feta cheese. Mario's recently changed hands, and this is a new dish labeled as local (due to the dates). I found it interesting and delicious. The nuts provided crunch and protein, the date halves were sweet and chewy, and the bowtie pasta was also chewy and well cooked. This was a colorful and healthy pasta dish.
Mario's Italian Cafe, 425 S Sunrise Way, Palm Springs, California. Date: November 7, 2023. This pasta dish was linguine tossed with a pound (about 30) black mussels, white wine, fresh tomato, garlic, chile flakes, and Italian parsley. It was served with lemon wedges. The black mussels were small, but they packed a flavor punch. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and because of the mussels it had absorbed some nice seafood flavor.
Location: Haus of Pizza, 72795 California 111, G-2, Palm Desert, California. Date: October 7, 2023. This delectable pizza had house-made ricotta cheese on the nicely charred crust, mozzarella, pistachio pesto, and imported mortadella. There was great chew on the crust, the ricotta had a lovely pillowy creaminess to it, and there was more than I expected, and there were some crunchy pieces of pistachio in the nutty and herbaceous pesto. The mortadella was almost crispy and provided a savory flavor. My sister and I sat under pine trees at almost 6,000 feet and enjoyed this very nutty, creamy, and savory pizza.
Location: Ferro, 25840 Cedar Street, Idyllwild, California. Date: September 16, 2023. The actual name of this dish is Homemade Fettuccini in a Creamy Parmesan Sauce with Cremini Mushrooms. It's a Sunday special at the fairly new Spaghetti Western in the high desert. It's owned by an Italian couple, and to me the food tastes more European than American. Given the name of this dish, I expected umami from the cheese and the mushrooms, and I wasn't disappointed. This savory pasta dish was double umami for sure! I'll be blogging more from this place, so stay tuned.
Location: Spaghetti Western, 50048 29 Palms Highway, Morongo Valley, California. Date: May 7, 2023. The Ukranian owner of Haus of Pizza sold her business to a Bosnian chef, and he has created an Italian menu that is more high end. This dish caught my attention because the “spaghetti” is actually baked spaghetti squash. The dish comes with pieces of zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, artichoke, fresh basil, and Haus marinara sauce. The yellow squash was al dente for texture, the artichoke heart had a slight tang, and the shredded basil added a nice floral note. The sauce was on the thinner side and didn't intrude on the other ingredients. The dish was a little under salted, but I actually like it that way because you can always add salt but you can't take it out (and I definitely don't like oversalted food). What I did here was to add a few good shakes of the powdered parmesan that was on the table, and that added extra salt and some cheese flavor that went well with the dish.
Location: Haus of Pizza, 72795 Hwy 111, Palm Desert, California. Date: April 22, 2023. Some food pairings are classic, and prosciutto and melon is one of them. The salty and nutty taste of Parma ham with the juicy sweetness of melon is a perfect match. The melon in this case was cantaloupe, but at the perfect peak of ripeness. The dish was also served with homemade Italian bread with olive oil. The last time I had this dish was in Panama, and they served it with the ham wrapped around green melon. Here, across from a beach in Nicaragua, the ham and melon were served separately, but since the owners of this restaurant are Italian, this is probably more authentic. In both cases, the dish was delicious.
Location: Puesta del Sol, Playa Las Peñitas, Leon, Nicaragua. Date: February 19, 2023. Sometimes simple is best. How about homemade Italian bread grilled crispy, smeared with butter, and topped with anchovy fillets and garnished with chopped parsley? Across the street from a beach in Nicaragua? The couple who own this restaurant (and B&B with swimming pool) are Italian, and this antipasto took umami to the next level!
Location: Puesta del Sol, Playa las Peñitas (near Leon), Nicaragua. Date: February 16, 2023. This homemade Italian sausage was served at Mimmo's with honey mustard sauce. I got six slices of sausage that had been crisped up on the grill. I was told that the sausage was pure pork with no fillers. I could taste the addition of fennel and a touch of spice, maybe just black or white pepper. It was a nice sausage that tasted homemade, and it was definitely good bar food. The smooth honey mustard dipping sauce was just that: thinner than mustard but with a sweet mustard flavor.
Location: Mimmo's, 73540 Highway 111, Palm Desert, California. Date: December 24, 2022. The menu stated that these wide ribbons of noodle came with charred tomato cream sauce, green beans, asparagus, cippolini onion, cherry tomatoes, and shaved parmesan. When the dish arrived, I could smell the enticing smokiness, and I knew it was going to be good. The noodles were cooked al dente, the green beans were the skinny kind, the asparagus was chopped, the cippolini onions were crunchy and sweet, and there were lots of halved cherry tomatoes for a juicy pop. There were also corn kernels that went really well with the smokey tomato sauce. I didn't see any char in the sauce, but it smelled and tasted like it had smoked Spanish paprika in it. The parmesan cheese seemed grated to me, rather than shaved, but it added really nice flavor. This dish had crunch in it, some sweetness, and lots or savory smokey sauce.
Location: Cafe One Eleven at Agua Caliente Casino, 68960 East Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, California. Date: December 10, 2022. |
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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