Inside Hotel Paseo This culinary collaboration between Palm Springs restaurateurs Tony Marchese, owner of hot spot Trio Restaurant, and chef Andrew and Juliana Copley, the couple behind the upscale Copley’s on Palm Canyon, is one of the most-talked-about additions to the Coachella Valley dining scene. The colorful and contemporary eatery on El Paseo focuses on an American menu with global renditions of classic dishes. “The food concept,” chef Copley says, “is to take American food and add little twists and turns but make it recognizable.” AC3 is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as weekend brunch, when the oversized front patio fills up with guests indulging in smoked salmon rillettes, blueberrytarragon pancakes, and boozy bloodys. “One of our big sellers is our Cobb salad,” says Copley. “Our lunchtime Cobb salad uses Maine lobster as a protein and is made with goat’s cheese. And we make a vinaigrette out of fresh avocados. It’s a nontraditional Cobb but it’s still recognizable with the organic iceberg and the eggs.” The buzzy bar churns out creative cocktails prepared with seasonal ingredients while the kitchen presents reimagined desserts. “We make a basil ice cream and a vanilla,” Copley notes. “The classics plus a few unique flavors. We also do soft-serve vanilla ice cream with toppings.” And when you’ve cleaned your plate, window-shopping along El Paseo is a nice way to walk it off.

Take a ride down Palm Canyon Drive morning, noon, or night and you’ll spot an energetic crowd spilling out of Lulu California Bistro’s bilevel dining room and dramatic circular bar and packing its colorful patio. It’s been that way since legendary valley restaurateurs Barbara and Jerry Keller first opened the vibrant eatery seven years ago. “It’s just a fun and happy place to be,” says Jerry. “There’s always a party at Lulu.” And in 2017, the Keller family brought their party back to Rancho Mirage, where they had operated the popular Acqua Pazza restaurant for many years. “Our customers asked us to come back and we have,” he shares. Lulu and Acqua offer guests expansive breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus of award-winning California cuisine such as steak, seafood, pizzas, paninis, wild mushroom soup, and American Kobe burgers along with decadent housemade desserts. The restaurants also offer a very popular 50-plusdish breakfast menu and are home to booming happy hours, available all hours in the bar, as well as value-priced three- and four-course prix fixe menus. Lulu and Acqua received Best of the Best awards from Palm Springs Life in the categories of Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, American and Continental fare, Happy Hour, and more. Both venues offer large dedicated special events spaces, and, thanks to a full-service catering department, Lulu and Acqua can take the party (and the delicious cuisine) to you, whether it’s an intimate dinner or giant celebration. “The sky’s the limit,” says Jerry, “as to what we can do for hungry hearts everywhere.”

At the La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA West. Above the casual Twenty6 restaurant and bar is La Quinta Resort & Club’s signature Mexican restaurant, Adobe Grill. Featuring a bold Oaxacan motif drenched in vibrant colors, rustic Old World accents, and vivid folkart woodcarvings (complete with a cozy, double-sided fireplace), the grill cultivates good times with live mariachi music and a spacious dining patio. A diverse array of authentic cuisine is served amid a spread of guacamole (prepared tableside), fresh tortillas, and other tasty offerings. Spicy brunch dishes and a selection of shareable appetizer plates during happy hour make this a winner for a weekend out with friends, whether you’re just rolling out of your villa or winding down after a day at the pool. To complement the award-winning pork tamales (try them for supper with the combinación plate that also includes a chicken enchilada and chile relleno, drizzled in salsa ranchera or salsa verde), Adobe features a dozen or so signature margaritas, as well as bespoke cocktails mixed from the bar’s more than 100 varieties of topnotch tequila.

This Arnold Palmer–designed course (host from 2006 to 2008 to the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, now the Career-Builder Challenge, held in La Quinta) puts your game to the test with rolling terrain, 30 acres of water features, 14 bridges, and an abundance of pine trees. Classic Club has earned numerous accolades, including the No. 1 Best Range and No. 2 Best Course designations from California Golf +Travel magazine’s Best of 2016 Desert Golf list. Bellatrix With its warm, sun-kissed Mediterranean ambiance, sumptuous cuisine, and breathtaking view of the Classic Club golf course and Little San Bernardino Mountains in the distance, Bellatrix has achieved acclaim as a dining and special-events destination. From its dark wood and rich gold- and claret-toned interior to the sweeping stone pillar balcony, the restaurant and wine bar offers a quintessential Greater Palm Springs experience for formal or informal gatherings. Executive chef Gerard Brunett and his team recently revamped the menu to focus on more adventurous dishes using local ingredients for fresher and more vibrant flavors. Brunett’s modern cuisine brings the bounty of Coachella Valley farmlands — sweet corn, multicolored peppers, lettuces, carrots, citrus, melons, and artichokes, to name a few — to Bellatrix’s tables with delicious innovation. Bellatrix’s sommelier-curated cellar of 500-plus bottles includes select wines from around the world while maintaining its stable of awardwinning and boutique West Coast vintners on the roster. Wines are displayed in a lighted glass vault that adjoins the dining room and lounge. A full array of handcrafted cocktails, such as the raspberry-lemon-drop martini, and a variety of local, domestic, and international craft beers as well as an appetizer bar menu are also available.

If your holiday prerogative calls for a leisurely afternoon among friends over a bottle of French wine, a pot of steamed mussels, and a basket of fresh-baked bread to sop up all the sauce, you need not travel to the City of Lights to find it. Harkening back to the bustling bistros of Paris past, Café des Beaux-Arts cultivates a dining experience that is decidedly transportive. The indoor-outdoor restaurant sits at the heart of Palm Desert’s buzzy shopping boulevard, El Paseo, offering prime alfresco seating and people-watching. Inside, dark wood paneling, antiqued mirrors, and crimson booths are illuminated by the soft glow of glass pendant lamps. Owners Didier and Christina Bloch have infused the space with playful artwork and touches of retro French décor — the paintings are Christina’s handiwork, while the quirky sculptural objets d’art are all crafted by Didier. You’ll find locals gathered around the circular central bar, known as Le Bar, unwinding after a round of golf or a workday. Daily happy hour includes drink specials and an extensive small-bites menu, with live jazz Wednesday nights during season. The menu focuses on French fare, breakfast until dessert, from quiche Lorraine and stuffed crepes to coq au vin and duckling à l’orange to artisan cheese plates and profiteroles. One bite and your taste buds will be singing. Oh là là!

Family Style — Voted Best Italian Restaurant in 2018, Castelli’s Ristorante has been treating guests like famiglia for more than 30 years. By Lizbeth Scordo Photography by Ethan Kaminsky When St. Louis-born brothers Michael and John Castelli moved to the desert three decades ago, they took a chance on a modest 30-seat eatery on Highway 111 where they planned to share a taste of Old World Italy with guests via their favorite family recipes. Turns out they’ve done a lot more than that. Over the past 31 years, Castelli’s Ristorante has become an institution, a gathering spot for locals, and a can’t-miss stop for visitors when they’re in town. The dark woods, lace curtains, and soft lighting provide a warm, inviting atmosphere, throwing it back to the old supper-club days. Since opening, the space has expanded multiple times to seat nearly 200, and the walls are covered with photos of athletes, presidents, and actors who have dined there over the years, including Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Joe Pesci, Martin Short, Bob Hope, Heather Locklear, and James Caan, to name a few. “Guests feel like part of the family when they come here,” says Michael Castelli, whose surname means “castles” in Italian. “They’re greeted by my brother or me. The atmosphere is just great, and we have a wonderful piano player every night. People say it reminds you of a place in New York or Chicago. It just has that old-school feel.” And then, of course, there’s the food. Some dishes — like the famous fettucine alfredo and osso bucco — have remained on the menu since the early days, but newer additions have become just as popular, including the classic cioppino seafood stew, the 22-ounce charbroiled bone-in rib-eye with Gorgonzola, and the sherry-glazed, caramelized apple pork chops that began as a special. “I was getting calls from people back east saying, ‘We’re going to be in the desert. Are you having pork chops that night?'” Michael recounts. “We had to put them on the menu.” In addition to making you “feel like family,” a goal achieved through their delicious dishes and warm, welcoming staff, the brothers Castelli aim to please your palate and will customize your meal to perfezione, even accommodating gluten-free and vegan requests. It’s one of the reasons Zagat rated Castelli’s among America’s top 1,000 Italian restaurants and Palm Springs Life readers voted it Best of the Best in Palm Desert. After dinner, guests can linger as they might in Italy over a traditional cappuccino Romano or a slice of homemade tiramisu as evening entertainer Patrick Tuzzolino serenades from the piano with jazz standards or original compositions. The restaurant still gets its fair share of highprofile customers, including filmmaker Peter Farrelly, who recently revealed to Michael that he started fleshing out the concept for his Oscar-winning movie Green Book at one of Castelli’s tables. “I told him, ‘Well I didn’t hear you thank us in your speech,'” Michael laughs, nonetheless happy by all that he and John have accomplished. “This restaurant really has changed lives in terms of memories, proposals, and anniversaries. My brother and I really get a kick out of it.”  

For the past 23 years, City Wok has been serving fresh, made-from-scratch Chinese cuisine at affordable prices. Locals have consistently voted City Wok Best Chinese in the Valley because each delicious, creative dish is prepared to order. Efficient takeout and delivery are some of the reasons City Wok is always one of the desert’s favorites.