Devour the Desert
A Palm Springs Food & Culture Journal
The Date Shake: Theory and Practice
There is a particular kind of American confidence required to look at the hottest, driest, least forgiving stretch of ground in California and think: palm trees.
Not the palm trees that already grow wild in a handful of shaded canyons nearby, mind you, where springs seep up through granite and the Cahuilla people had the good sense to settle centuries before anyone else showed up with opinions.
No. Imported palms.
Palms from Iraq, Algeria and Egypt. Palms that had spent their entire evolutionary history perfecting themselves along the banks of the Euphrates, now expected to make a go of it in a valley where summer temperatures can reach 120 degrees and the annual rainfall might not fill a shot glass twice.
The Local Questions, Vol. 8 | Field Notes from Palm Springs: Presidents, Cougars and Other Suspicious Characters
Welcome to Field Notes, our occasional collection of questions about Palm Springs, the desert, and the increasingly unlikely things that happen here.
By now you know the drill. Our guests have questions. Lots of questions. Enough to maybe call them issues. We have help for that here too in Palm Springs.
So what's the deal with all the presidents who lived here?
Well, first of all, there aren't that many. There is no record that Millard Fillmore ever even visited.
But there are enough to make you wonder whether the Electoral College has a clause nobody told us about.
The Local Architecture | The Secret Language of Mid-Century Modern Palm Springs
Palm Springs has many languages.
There is the language of cocktails, spoken fluently from shaded patios at golden hour. There is the language of swimming pools, where a perfectly placed chaise lounge says more than most conversations. There is the language of food, which happens to be our favorite dialect.
But perhaps the city's most distinctive language is one that never utters a word at all.
It is the secret language of Mid-Century Modern architecture.
The Local Flavors | When Fish Tacos Surrender to Gravity
There comes a moment with some dishes when you realize the original plan is no longer viable.
You intended to pick it up.
The chef had other ideas.
The al pastor fish tacos at Maleza arrive looking, technically, like tacos. There is a handmade flour tortilla involved. There is fish. There are toppings.
But that's where the similarities to ordinary tacos end.
The Local Questions Vol. 3 | Field Notes from Palm Springs
After enough tours, you realize Palm Springs visitors don't just ask where to eat.
They ask the questions that seem simple—right up until you try answering them.
So what's up with all the orange?
Why are there hummingbirds everywhere?
Should I be worried about the tram?
Every place develops its own frequently asked questions. These happen to be ours.
The Local Questions, Vol. 2 | Field Notes From Palm Springs
The Longer You Stay in Palm Springs, The Stranger Your Questions Become
At first it's practical.
Where should we eat? Why is every third house somehow more beautiful than the last? Is everyone really this relaxed?
Then, somewhere around your second single-origin nitro cold brew and fourth glimpse of a hummingbird, your mind begins to wander.
Which is how you end up asking the kind of questions that only make sense in the desert.