PALM SPRINGS/LA DAY 2

Our second meal in Palm Springs took place the next morning for breakfast. After surfing Opentable, I had learned that there was a Norma's located inside the Parker Meridien in Palm Springs. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Norma's is famous for it's breakfast. Though I never visited the location in NY, they became widely known recently due to it's offering of a $1,000 omelet (it's got a lot of Beluga caviar on it). Though the prices are sky high, I figured it'd be fun to try it out, so I made the reservation.

When we arrived at the Parker in Palm Springs, we found a hotel that could be best described as retro chic. It was clearly an old hotel, that they had repainted and filled with all sorts of retro furniture and details. Not exactly the right fit for my parents, but it was different. We tried to find the restaurant, but there was no sign, just a open door that lead to an area with tables. I figured it was Norma's, since it was the only dining area in sight.

It turned out to be the right place, and we were seated quickly (by a gentleman wearing far more make up than needed). Here are our table settings - you can see how the retro chic look continues throughout.

Ok, here's a link to the menu, so you can check out the offerings and prices. Given that the prices begin at $15 and go up from there, you'd kinda expect this to be the most amazing breakfast that you were ever going to have. Tom and I did like the fact that they served as French press coffee, which was pretty good. For my breakfast, I ordered "flat as a pancake" crabcakes. Here they are below.

I'd say they were pretty good. Certainly not the best crab cakes that'd I'd ever had, but I liked the fact that my side dip was served in a hollowed out fried onion. We also decided to get an order of fresh donuts to share.

Unfortunately they weren't that great. The frying temperature had been far too low, allowing the batter to absorb a lot of oil, so they had that oil tasty and weren't as light and crunchy. Additionally, they had coated it with way too much sugar and cinnamon.

The good thing was that parents seemed to enjoy their breakfast. Tom and I agreed that though it was pretty good, it certainly wasn't worth the high price tag, and our favorite thing overall was the coffee.

After breakfast, it was time to visit one of the may spas in the area, and then it was back to LA for dinner with friends. When I found out I'd be going back to LA, I asked Katie to pick a restaurant and make a reservation so we could all go out to dinner. And though she rarely makes reservations so far in advance, she made an exception for me and made reservations at Akasha, near hear home in Culver City.

When we entered the restaurant, we found a sprawling space with high ceilings and a dark, industrial/modern interior. The entrance is a tad strange because the front part acts as take out cafe during the day, and you actually have to walk around to the side of that to reach the sprawling dining room. We were seated right away and given menus. Now, I don't know why I thought this (perhaps due to its name, or because I looked at the menu online too quickly), but initially, I thought the restaurant was more like a modern Indian place. However, I was wrong, and I would agree with Katie's assessment that it's "organic." Ok, I realize that doesn't actually describe a type of food, but the menu is kinda wide ranging, though does feature a lot of organic, vegetarian or vegan options.

I started off with a grilled artichoke.

I'm such a sucker for artichokes, they're truly one of my favorite foods. And though I don't think they're really in season right now, if I can get someone else to prepare them, I'll happily order it. This one was quite good. I liked the fact that it was grilled and not overcooked.

But it did kinda fill me up, so I wasn't super hungry when my entree arrived - a pizza with chicken sausage and red peppers.

I did enjoy the pizza, though I let Tom finish it off. Overall, I found the dining experience at Akasha pretty enjoyable. The prices are reasonable and though I wouldn't count it as a place I'd go for a casual bite, it's certainly somewhere to take friends who are in the area. Mostly, I liked hanging out with my friends from LA, and only wish I could see them more often.

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.

But not everyone had the same experience as me. My mom enjoyed her lobster bisque, and was quite happy that there was actually a large chunk of lobster in it. My father liked his crab salad, though I really can't call this a "foodie" place when they would serve slices of tomato in December which were tasteless and didn't enhance the crab salad in any way. Oh, and Tom thought his sweetbreads were decent.

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.