Palm Springs Style Nachos
Blackbook, Palm Springs
Owner Dean Lavine had one goal when he put nachos on the menu at Blackbook: “Let’s make sure every chip has cheese. It’s that simple.” The Arenas District spot bakes a single layer of house-fried tortilla chips sprinkled with a Monterey jack–cheddar blend for the perfect cheese-to-chip ratio. They’re topped with fresh jalapeños, diced tomatoes, scallions, and a thick housemade salsa blended with seven types of chiles. “We spent a lot of time creating that salsa, and it complements the nachos quite nicely,” Lavine says. They’re served still sizzling on the baking sheet. Add chicken, carne asada, or vegan crumble to take them over the top.
Baked Scallops
Pacifica Seafood Restaurant, Palm Desert
At this stalwart seafood restaurant, a half dozen scallops are baked in their shells with amaretto, spinach, shallots, Parmesan, and crumbled bacon, emerging from the oven bubbling and golden.
Tuna crudo from Tía Carmen.
Tuna Crudo
Tía Carmen, Indian Wells
At his desert ode to contemporary Southwest cuisine, Top Chef alum Angelo Sosa pairs ruby-red slices of yellowfin tuna with a velvety corn-coconut broth. “We take so much pride in picking out that luscious, lean, sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna,” he says. A corn sauté is steeped in coconut milk and coconut water, then strained and chilled before it’s poured over the fish tableside. Garnishes include tapioca pearls — meant to resemble fish roe — cooked in a smoky ancho- and chipotle-infused oil. “The inspiration here is really to focus on the sweetness of the corn with accents of the serrano chile and beautiful floral notes of lemongrass and makrut lime leaves,” Sosa adds. “It almost has curry-esque nuances.”
Baby Wedge
RD RNNR, La Quinta
The Old Town hangout gives the steakhouse wedge a California makeover, swapping iceberg for butter lettuce and adding avocado. Pancetta replaces bacon for a meatier bite, while housemade blue cheese dressing and crispy onions finish the salad with a satisfying crunch.
Croquetas de Cangrejo
Del Rey, Palm Springs
Villa Royale’s sexy tapas restaurant prepares a creative array of Spanish-inspired plates, including these creamy béchamel croquetas loaded with fresh Dungeness crab. They’re fried to order and plated with a bright saffron aioli, microgreens, and edible flower petals.
Bruschetta
Enzo’s Bistro & Bar, Rancho Mirage and La Quinta
At this duo of neighborhood Italian restaurants, the bruschetta is a sleeper hit. Heirloom tomatoes are chopped and tossed with olive oil, basil, and balsamic reduction, served alongside toasted ciabatta so diners can scoop as they go — no soggy bread here.
Grilled Santa Barbara Spot Prawns
Lola Rose Grand Mezze, Palm Springs
These massive prawns are marinated in housemade harissa for 24 hours, rubbed with juniper coffee salt, and grilled over an open flame for a signature char. They’re served over cucumber-flecked tzatziki, topped with an herby oil made from shrimp drippings, and finished with sumac, black lime, and fresh dill.
Vietnamese Crispy Rolls
Rooster and the Pig, Palm Springs
Though Tai Spendley’s menu changes often, these crispy rolls have remained a fixture
since he opened more than a decade ago. “It’s the first thing I ever learned how to make,” he says. “My mom made them a lot. Rolls are regional and everybody does it a different way, so it’s a bit of a signature.” The rolls are stuffed with ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, jicama, and glass noodles, wrapped in delicate rice paper, and deep-fried. Spendley serves them with a lemongrass- and ginger-spiked nuoc cham dipping sauce. “That’s what makes it so distinct.”
Vietnamese crispy rolls from The Rooster and the Pig.
Tavola
Italica, Indio
Get ready for a smokeshow. The meat-and-cheese platter at this speakeasy-style hideout in downtown Indio arrives under a glass dome filled with cedar-chip smoke, lifted at the table for dramatic effect. Selections rotate and may include Tuscan finocchiona salami, spicy capocollo, prosciutto, burrata, dill havarti, and aged Gouda — plus a bounty of honeycomb, brandied cherries, olives, sweet drop peppers, and Marcona almonds.
Local Date Plate
Cork & Fork, Indio
Sweet and savory find perfect harmony in these local dates stuffed with Point Reyes blue cheese and topped with toasted almonds slivers and a drizzle of garlic-chive oil. Chef and owner Andie Hubka developed the dish for California Date Commission trade shows and liked it so much, she added it to her menu in 2013. It’s been a top seller ever since.
