By Judith Salkin
When Bonnie Barkley opened Cello’s, an Italian Bistro, four years ago, she signed the restaurant up as a participant in the annual Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week, which runs May 31 through June 16 this year.
For Cello’s, tucked into a small strip mall at Date Palm and Gerald Ford Dr. in Cathedral City, with no anchor store and several other eating establishments, the relationship has been more than beneficial.
“Every year Restaurant Week has brought us new customers and many of them have become regulars,” Barkley said recently at the event’s media kick-off at the Palm Springs Riviera Resort.
And when Restaurant Week debut its pre-event “Uncorked” pairings dinners last year, Barkley again jumped into the mix. “It gives us another way to show customers what we can do,” she said.
The multi-course “Uncorked” dinners on May 29 and 30, are priced from $45 to $85 for meals that pair premium beers and wines with the Chef Herb Parrott’s chef’s table special menu. Seating is limited to eight guests each night.
“We could have done just five courses, but decided to do the full seven,” Barkley said.
As for co-owner Tommy Cello’s house-made Limoncello, “We have to limit it to two glasses per guest,” Barkley said. “Or we have to call a cab!”
At Spencer’s by the Mountain, in Palm Springs, the restaurant and Executive Chef Eric Wadlund hosts a pairings dinner with two pairings dinners to celebrate Miljenko “Mike” Grgich’s 90th birthday with a four-course dinner and wines from Grgich Hills Estate for $85, while Las Casuelas Terraza, also in Palm Springs, will host a tequila pairings dinner for $45 per person.
Other “Uncorked” participating restaurants include Copley’s on Palm Canyon, Tinto at the Saguaro Palm Springs, Circa 59 at Palm Springs Riviera and King’s Highway at the ACE Hotel and Swim Club, all in Palm Springs; the Grove Artisan Kitchen at the Miramonte Resort and Vicky’s of Santa Fe, both in Indian Wells; and Pinzimini at the Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage.
Reservations are recommended for all the “Uncorked” dinners as most have limited seating.
For information on the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week and “Uncorked,” go to the website at palmspringsrestaurantweek.com.
