Best restaurants and bars in Palm Springs and Palm Desert

The first thing to know about the most buzzed-over restaurant in Palm Springs is that reservations are nearly impossible to score. Bookings open a month out to the day; my travels to Palm Springs from Los Angeles are usually more spur-of-the-moment. I’ve made my peace with lining up before the restaurant opens at 5 p.m. and starting early at the bar. Lead bartender Avery Underhill also clued me in that the 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. window is often when the first wave of bar seating turns over, and I’ve had luck more than once slipping in then.

Jeff Brock and Richard Crisman, the hoteliers and life partners whose local properties include the Sparrows Lodge and Holiday House, opened the restaurant in April 2021 as an homage to Sir Cecil Beaton, the famously flamboyant British photographer, designer, author and all-around Renaissance man who died in 1980 four days after his 76th birthday. A photo of Beaton, his wide-brimmed hat cocked at a rakish angle, hangs over the bar, its oak shelves lined with gin bottles, vintage glassware, framed sketches and photographs plus thick books on food and fashion. A big part of the restaurant’s appeal is executive chef and partner Gabriel Woo’s synthesis of styles — a worldly mix of Continental swagger, global-minded modernism and California realness. A route of caviar-studded deviled eggs, shrimp cocktail and steak frites is as satisfying as mussels in Thai-inspired red curry followed by a smoked pork chop or a bowl of cacio e pepe. The martinis are cold and potent, as Beaton preferred them.