ANOTHER TRIP TO LA LA LAND...WITH A STOP IN PALM SPRINGS
Last week was my mom's birthday, so we decided to celebrate with a trip down to LA. Ok, actually, I needed to swap cars with my sister, but we figured since we needed to get that done anyway, we'd go on my mom's bday. Since my parents own a time share in Palm Springs, they decided that they wanted to celebrate there, so after a 7.5 hour drive, that where we ended up.
Now, I haven't been to Palm Springs in quite a while, but I don't remember stellar dining options there. But my sister had asked me to look up a place for dinner (and breakfast the following day). After some Googling, I was happy to find that Open Table had a list of restaurants in the area, and after some more research, I had settled on Zin American Bistro. (It was one of the recommended restaurant for "foodies").
After getting a bit lost finding the place, we finally arrived at the restaurant. It wasn't packed when we arrived, but it had totally filled up by the time we left, so it was clearly a local favorite. However, for me, if this is what the "foodies" in Palm Springs are eating, then I feel a bit of pity for them.
Below, you'll see the salad I had ordered. It was apparently a salad featuring their famous dressing (garlic/anchovy aka their version of Caesar). I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but it was more correctly dressing served with some lettuce. They had completely drowned it in their famous dressing. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't that good.
Last week was my mom's birthday, so we decided to celebrate with a trip down to LA. Ok, actually, I needed to swap cars with my sister, but we figured since we needed to get that done anyway, we'd go on my mom's bday. Since my parents own a time share in Palm Springs, they decided that they wanted to celebrate there, so after a 7.5 hour drive, that where we ended up.
Now, I haven't been to Palm Springs in quite a while, but I don't remember stellar dining options there. But my sister had asked me to look up a place for dinner (and breakfast the following day). After some Googling, I was happy to find that Open Table had a list of restaurants in the area, and after some more research, I had settled on Zin American Bistro. (It was one of the recommended restaurant for "foodies").
After getting a bit lost finding the place, we finally arrived at the restaurant. It wasn't packed when we arrived, but it had totally filled up by the time we left, so it was clearly a local favorite. However, for me, if this is what the "foodies" in Palm Springs are eating, then I feel a bit of pity for them.
Below, you'll see the salad I had ordered. It was apparently a salad featuring their famous dressing (garlic/anchovy aka their version of Caesar). I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but it was more correctly dressing served with some lettuce. They had completely drowned it in their famous dressing. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't that good.
For my entree I ordered the fried chicken. As you must know from reading this blog, I have a small obsession with fried chicken. Unfortunately, this one wasn't so great. First, they actually managed to make the meat dry. (Isn't that the opposite of the purpose of frying?) and the coating on the outside wasn't so great. And the sides they chose to serve with it were kinda ridiculous in how heavy they were - heavily buttered mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and the chicken sat atop a pool of country gravy. It was all just too much for me, and I really didn't get very far. (My dad helped me out).
But again, not everyone had the same experience as me. My mom liked her mussels. Tom thought his rabbit stew was ok. My dad didn't like his porkchop because he felt the sauce was too sweet. What kinda annoyed me is that when he mentioned it to the server, the server didn't respond to it at all. There was no, oh, how can we make it better? Can it take it back? Would you prefer something else? There was just a nod.
We were seated next to the host stand and throughout dinner, that's where the chef spent a lot of his time, meeting and greeting diners. Personally, I thought he should've been in the kitchen overseeing every dish that was coming out. The good thing was, dinner wasn't super expensive, especially since I footed the bill. Would I go back? No. But I think the rest of my family had a far better experience than myself, and the important thing was that they enjoyed their time there.
But again, not everyone had the same experience as me. My mom liked her mussels. Tom thought his rabbit stew was ok. My dad didn't like his porkchop because he felt the sauce was too sweet. What kinda annoyed me is that when he mentioned it to the server, the server didn't respond to it at all. There was no, oh, how can we make it better? Can it take it back? Would you prefer something else? There was just a nod.
We were seated next to the host stand and throughout dinner, that's where the chef spent a lot of his time, meeting and greeting diners. Personally, I thought he should've been in the kitchen overseeing every dish that was coming out. The good thing was, dinner wasn't super expensive, especially since I footed the bill. Would I go back? No. But I think the rest of my family had a far better experience than myself, and the important thing was that they enjoyed their time there.
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