A Coffee Destination Unique to the Palm Springs Communities. Co-founded by John Abner and John Strohm 15 years ago, Koffi is the largest independent specialty coffee retailer and roaster in the Coachella Valley. What began as a single storefront has grown to include three retail cafés — with a fourth on the way — a growing wholesale division, and an online store for freshroasted whole beans. In 2002, Koffi’s original location on North Palm Canyon became a community gathering spot before the area gained prominence as Uptown Palm Springs. A few years later, “Koffi North” doubled in size with the addition of a bakery kitchen that now supplies all Koffi cafés with freshly baked muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls, grilled breakfast sandwiches, and salads. The second Koffi opened in 2008 in a new modernist glass and steel building on the corner of Camino Real and East Palm Canyon next door to the very hip Ace Hotel & Swim Club. This Koffi location draws customers from the Twin Palms and Canyon Country Club neighborhoods as well as many hotels and restaurants along East Palm Canyon. In 2013, the Koffi Rancho Mirage Roasting Room and Café established a key moment in Koffi’s history by bringing the roasting process in-house. The company now sources and roasts more than 80,000 pounds of premium certified organic green coffee annually, some of which is served daily in leading local restaurants, hotels, and country clubs. Today, Abner and Strohm are joined by business partners Troy Neifert and Board Chairman Bruce Strohm. Together, with their dedicated staff of 50-plus coffee professionals, they are already writing the next chapter in the Koffi coffee story. DID YOU KNOW? Koffi sources some 20 different coffee varieties, mostly organic, from Central and South America, Indonesia, and Africa. Roast proiles of these exclusive coffees range from light to super dark, and are available for home delivery at kofficoffee.co • Palm Springs Koffe North: 515 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262 760-416-224 • Palm Springs Koffe South: 1700 S. Camino Real, Palm Springs, CA 92262 760-322-777 • Rancho Mirage Koffee Roasting Room & Café: 71380 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 760-340-244 kofficoffee.com

Del and Mary Delgado opened the original Las Casuelas in Palm Springs in 1958, but they weren’t the ones who named it. That distinction belongs to a confused sign maker. The Delgados aimed to honor Del’s mother, Maria Farjado, who supported her family during the Great Depression by peddling homemade tamales from her kitchen’s back door. Eventually, the lure of the lunchtime staples had lines of copper miners and other Arizona citizens stretching around the house. The food was cooked in earthenware pots called “cazuelas.” When the Delgados took Maria’s authentic Mazatlán recipes to the Calfornia storefront, they ordered a sign declaring the eatery’s moniker: “Las Cazuelas.” The sign maker accidentally swapped an “s” for the “z,” but the Delgados didn’t have the funds for a redo — so a desert dynasty was born. There are now four Las Casuelas restaurants across the Coachella Valley. Today, Del and Mary’s daughter and granddaughter run the bustling Palm Canyon location, serving up Maria’s take on classic Mexican meals like fajitas, tacos, and, of course, tamales. Other favorites include jalapeño margaritas and shrimp in mojo de ajo (garlic sauce). The restaurant’s longtime employees welcome diners with the same heartfelt hospitality that made the Delgados so successful more than 60 years before. With that enduring reputation for treating (and feeding) guests like family, Las Casuelas Original has proven itself a fine tribute to the matriarch who started it all.   Photography by Kaminsky Productions

Stroll past downtown Palm Springs’ sprawling Las Casuelas Terraza any day of the week and you’ll find a bustling indoor-outdoor space filled with loyal patrons indulging in traditional Mexican fare, mingling over margaritas at the palapa bar, and getting down on the dance floor to nightly live bands. Today, Las Casuelas may be one of Palm Canyon Drive’s most renowned and popular restaurants, but its roots are far humbler. The Las Casuelas legacy traces back to matriarch Maria Fajardo, who cooked meals at a boarding house for copper miners in pre-depression Arizona with her famous earthenware pots and pans known as cazuelas. “She was feeding delicious comfort food to the hardest working of the working class. And that’s what we’re still cooking for our guests,” says Fajardo’s great-grandson Patrick Service, who manages Las Casuelas Terraza with his mother, Patricia Delgado Service. The extensive menu focuses on Mexican-American and Mazatlan-inspired flavors. Combo platters blend classics like enchiladas, tacos, and tamales made from a 100-year-old recipe along with house specialties including carne asada and bacon-wrapped diablo shrimp. And then there’s Service’s favorite combo: the restaurant’s double-cooked pork carnitas paired with a fresh-squeezed margarita. Speaking of margaritas, the bar has more than 100 types of tequila on offer, any of which can be turned into one of Las Casuelas’ specialty cocktails, including the Dosarita, a 27-ounce margarita with a double shot. Since many guests like to taste and compare the spirit straight, the restaurant also serves a variety of flights with three types of tequila to an order. “I always say,” Service adds, “if you can’t take a flight to Mexico, come here and get a flight of tequila.”   Photography by Ethan Kaminsky

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, dramatic circular bar, and colorful outdoor patio. It’s been that way since legendary valley restaurateurs Jerry Keller and his late wife Barbara first opened the vibrant eatery in 2011. “There’s always a party at Lulu,” Jerry says. In 2017, the Kellers brought their party back to Rancho Mirage, where they had operated the popular Acqua Pazza restaurant for years. “Our customers asked us to come back,” he shares, “and we have.” Both venues feature large special-event spaces, including Acqua’s stunning River Room — a private dining room that can accommodate up to 150 people for a seated dinner, with sliding glass doors boasting mountain views and overlooking The River’s dramatic water feature. Lulu and Acqua offer guests expansive breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus of award-winning California cuisine, including steak, seafood, pizzas, paninis, and American Kobe burgers, along with decadent housemade desserts. The restaurants are also home to booming happy hours, available all hours in the bar, and three- and four-course prix fixe menus. The fun vibe, fabulous food, cool cocktails, and Instagrammable atmosphere have also made Lulu popular with bachelorette parties who’ve dubbed the spot #bachelorettecentral. Lulu and Acqua can take the party to you, thanks to Lulu Catering & Events, which has catered some of the biggest affairs in the valley, including annual galas for the Palm Springs Air Museum and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ Dinner in the Canyons.   Photography by Jaime Kowal

Melvyns Restaurant In the Ingleside Inn This glamorous eatery and bar embrace Palm Springs’ Hollywood history with an elegant atmosphere that nods to the golden age of film. Dine like a midcentury move star with epicurean standards such as filet mignon, escargot, and shrimp scampi, or settle in the Casablanca Lounge to enjoy the nightly live music and expertly poured cocktails that landed the locale on Esquire’s 2019 list of the Best Bars in America. Dress to impress, order a dirty martini, and keep an eye out for famous faces — Melvyn’s is a popular destination for the modern-day cinema elite.  

Morgan’s is older than La Quinta Resort & Club itself — if you go by its name, that is. The elegant finedining establishment was the property’s first, opening in the late 1920s when the resort was still La Quinta Hotel. That was around the time Bay Area businessman Walter H. Morgan bought the land from the Cahuilla Indians and created a desert retreat for his Hollywood friends. In those days, a rustic communal table sat amid luxury casitas, attracting the likes of Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and company. Morgan’s remains on the A-list for modernday celebrities, but the guest list extends far beyond the jet and Hollywood sets. Many are drawn to the restaurant’s historic charm coupled with cutting-edge cuisine and mixology. You’ll still find comforts from the past, like the fireplace, piano music, and cowboy mural that’s been here since 1926, while the epicurean experience has evolved to include seasonal ingredients, with special attention paid to local flavors. The menu is ever diversifying, but with offerings deeply rooted in California cuisine, you can always enjoy fresh market salads, savory small plates, prime steaks, and chargrilled seafood, plus an extensive list of wine varietals to perfectly complement every meal. Outside, a walkway trellised by hot-pink bougainvillea plumes spills into the homey yet upscale dining salon and lounge, with live entertainment many nights. The front patio is ideal for watching the sun give way to a smoldering sky, while the outdoor firepit is as cozy in the night as the Cinnamon-Smoked Old Fashioned — one of many signature cocktails at Morgan’s.   Photography courtesy La Quinta Resort & Club

Celebrating 20 years of bringing a taste of Europe to downtown Palm Springs, Pomme Frite provides an intimate, romantic ambiance for special nights out. The quaint setting evokes a continental café, with its street-side patio on bustling Palm Canyon Drive and the dulcet sounds of French music playing softly in the background. The greatest praise, owner-entrepreneur Jean-Claude Constant says, is when patrons tell him it feels like they’re in Paris or Brussels. “Because of the atmosphere, people feel they are transported to Europe for an evening,” he says. “That’s the best compliment I can get. And I get it frequently.” (Palm Springs Life readers voted Pomme Frite Best of the Best French Restaurant in 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2019.) Popular appetizers include the oven-baked French Onion Soup with “beaucoup” Gruyère cheese, imported escargots, and baked French brie. Steak lovers can choose from several cuts, complemented by brandy-green peppercorn sauce, bearnaise, bordelaise, or blue cheese cream. The signature Flemish-style carbonnade of beef simmers in Belgian beer and is served with pommes frites. Prefer the catch of the day? Opt for salmon, rainbow trout, filet of sole, grilled tiger shrimp and sea scallops, or the California bouillabaisse. Steamed Mediterranean black mussels — a house special — are prepared 12 different ways. Pomme Frite is open seven nights a week from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. From January until May, it’s open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.