‘Coachella Valley’

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Steak Night at Outback

April 30th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Steak heaven.

Since there appears to be no Outback Steakhouse in LA (seriously LA?!), the last time I was in Palm Desert I managed to convince my grandparents to take me to Outback.  Of course, I have had Outback in the past, but not since I’ve been writing my glorious meat blog.  I’ve never had a bad experience at Outback and I hoped this one would be no different.

The place was set up just like any other Outback and although there was a short wait, we were seated soon and ready to order some beef.  Of the delicious-sounding steaks, the Outback Special looked especially tasty.  This special cut of steak, that I think is a sirloin, comes in 7 or 9 ounce cuts.  It also comes with a choice of two sides.  I went with the larger of the cuts and then decided to load up on carbs for my sides.  I chose both the garlic mashed potatoes and the dressed baked potato.  I’m sure this meal was an accurate reflection of the typical Australian diet.

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Overly Nutty at Lotus Chinese Restaurant

April 14th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Any chicken in there?

For a little dinner break on the way back from Arizona, we stopped in Rancho Mirage to hit up the grandparents for a meal.  They thought Chinese food sounded good, so we headed to Lotus Chinese Restaurant to see what they had to offer.  The place was pretty full when we arrived, so I assumed it must be pretty good despite being in the middle of a desert.  We grabbed our seats and got a look at the menu, which was pretty typical American Chinese fare.

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Memories of the Elephant Bar

February 5th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Made with real elephant. Wait. No.

As a child of 13, I went to the Elephant Bar in Palm Desert and loved the perpetually moving straw fans on the ceiling.  Of course, that was all it took for me to like a restaurant at the age of 13.  Now things are a little different.  Those fans still cater to my easily distracted mind, but my taste buds require something more.  A quick look at the menu made me feel like the Elephant Bar was suffering from mild schizophrenia.  While most of the menu was filled with American fare, for some reason a whole page was devoted to Asian stir-fry-esque meals.  This threw me off and made me feel like this place wasn’t made for Asian food.  I flipped back to the American comfort zone and found what I wanted.

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Being Seasonal at Mimi’s Cafe

February 4th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Brie-tacular.

Recently I paid a visit to the desert, aka Rancho Mirage, to visit my grandparents.  For dinner one night we headed to Mimi’s Cafe, which is apparently a chain that I had never heard of and was very appropriate for a meal with the grandparents.  This was all new to me, though, so I was excited to see an entirely new menu of good food.  It was obviously prepared with the health-conscious in mind, since it had its own little healthy section.  Some of this section was even unvegan, but I was not in the mood for health.  Instead, I found my way to their seasonal menu and their Brie Chicken.

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The Appropriately Named Thai Smile

June 17th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit
It would look much better if it weren't for those vegetables.

It would look much better if it weren't for those vegetables.

One of the nights that I was visiting my grandparents in Rancho Mirage, we went to a restaurant called Thai Smile.  There was a 20 minute wait, but I was assured that it would be worth it.  Besides, I really had nothing better to do.

While waiting, we checked out the menu so we could order as soon as we got our table.  It really took me a long time to decide what to order because the Chicken Spicy Peanut Sauce looked great except that it had green beans and peppers, while I could just create my own dish, but none of the customizable items looked as good as the chicken dish.

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Beer Me Some Bell’s Oberon

Look like summer to you?

It’s really not summer until you’ve had some Oberon.  Sure, the weather may be warm, the grass may be green and the county may be forcing you to water your lawn only on odd-numbered days, but in truth, none of this matters until you get some Oberon in you.  Now, you may be wondering, “What is Oberon?”  If you turn to Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge), you will be lead to believe that Oberon is the king of the fairies.  But this is just hogwash.  In fact, Oberon is more likely to be a king of beers.  No, not the king of beers…some brewery in St. Louis has that copyrighted.

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