
5

"Nearly all of the dining is al fresco beneath an arbor strung with golden-glow bulbs, a romantic setting for hearty plates built from carefully chosen ingredients. Chef Jon Butler, who grew up in a Southern California farming community and trained at Arzak (Three MICHELIN Stars) and noma (Three MICHELIN Stars) in Europe before returning to California, lets relationships with Coachella Valley producers dictate the menu — “I don't like to settle into a seasonal menu… here we have micro seasons… We’re using produce when it’s right to use produce.” A mélange of purple and yellow carrots arrives roasted until soft and buried in buttery pistachio-rose crumble like topsoil; generous hunks of crisped pork chop sit atop white beans and Brussels sprouts cooked in the meat’s fat. In a lamb dish, his technique shines as the meat comes beneath a sheet of handkerchief pasta beautifully laminated with watercress like pressed leaves, and a peppercorn sauce pings a pleasure center in the back of my brain tied to a childhood memory: rich gravy, the most cockle-warming color brown. It’s the calling card here: familiar comfort — or as Butler puts it, “If people can connect a dish with something that they grew up with, you’ve got a customer for life.”" - David Shortell