by Bob Sparrow
Linda and I just spent the last three days of our timeshare in the desert a weekend ago; it was the fifth or sixth time we visited the desert in the last two months – it’s like we’ve become ‘snow birds’. We’ve spent time out there this year with both golfing and non-golfing friends, but apparently, we ran out of both as we spent our last weekend with just the two of us. It predictably meant that we were going to have to talk to each other.
We did talk and decided that we’d make the weekend a pursuit of previously unvisited by us, hole-in-the-wall, places to dine and drink. Typically when we check in at the Marriott Desert Springs around noon, they tell us our room isn’t ready so we usually go to Cactus Jack’s for lunch and wait for our room, but this time we were switching it up, so I Googled hole-in-the-wall lunch places and found The Lunch Spot, tucked amongst several industrial buildings, where we both had a pretty good sandwich and although the place seemed hidden from the public, it was packed!
But they served no alcohol, so after we finished our sandwiches, we decided we’d find a place to get a margarita; we were told to go to the Cocina de Mama Margarita, which was not too far away. We found it, walked in and ordered two margaritas and the bar tender said they didn’t have margaritas!! “But your name is Cocina de Mama MARGARITA!!!” He started speaking Spanish, and we realized we weren’t going to get a margarita, so we left.
Our quest for a margarita, which we now wanted more than ever, brought us to Fresh Agave on Highway 111, we walked in and asked, “Do you have margaritas?” “Si” We sat down.
It was now getting near ‘Happy Hour’ and while we wanted to keep this as hole-in-the-wall only, just weeks ago when we were here, we had a slider and a Mai Tai at Tommy Bahama’s that was to die for, so instead of going into the ‘Hideout’, which was right next to Tommy’s and seemed like a perfect place for this adventure, we walked right by and found a seat at the bar at Tommy’s. “Sliders and Mai Tais, please.”
Saturday, we played golf, which thankfully kept us out of the bars for 4-5 hours, but after golf we continued our quest and hit the Little Bar, and it was indeed a little bar, so we spent little time – one drink and out. “What a hole-in-the-wall!” Oh yeah, that’s what we were looking for!!
To end the evening we decided that we had had enough ‘adventure’ for the day, so decided to hit an old favorite, Cactus Jacks. We had dinner and a cocktail and headed home, well, our ‘home in the desert’!
For Sunday morning breakfast we had been told by friends to try the Palms Café, a place we’d never been, so we plugged it into our GPS and ended up at Rancho Las Palmas Hotel in Rancho Mirage. We walked throughout the hotel lobby looking for the restaurant which we found out back by the pool. But it was only a grab and go sandwich place. We were sure this wasn’t the place that was recommended by our friends, but across the patio was a breakfast place where we could sit with views of the pool and golf course. As we were having breakfast there, I plugged Palm’s Café into my GPS again and found 4-5 different Palm Cafes in the area. Maybe we’ll try to hit the right one next time!
Since the temperatures were around 100, we decided we’d cool off in Agua Caliente Casino – we got, and remained cold, as we made a nice donation to our native American friends.
By talking to strangers we met in these random bars and restaurants, we’d always ask them about their favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant/bar and several people mentioned The 19th Hole in Palm Desert, which advertises itself as ‘hidden gem dive bar’. Perfect! So we headed there for dinner. Good fish and chips, cold beer and fun ‘people watching’.
Bottom line on the ‘desert dive bar tour’: Great fun, good change of pace, met and talked to various, interesting people from across the U.S. and Canada and found a few places we’d go back to.