And the choices of excellent restaurants in Palm Springs continues to expand!

Last night I had dinner at the recently opened, "Serious Food and Drink" in downtown Palm Springs.  The restaurant, which opened where Hamburger Mary's once was, offers diners what they call, "comfort food for the sophisticated palate".  I believe they deliver just this.

Since I hadn't eaten in over an hour, I started out with an appetizer...that was a joke.  Not the appetizer part.  Anyway, I started with the "Quack Stack", a well portioned serving of fries (cooked in duck fat) topped with shredded duck confit and duck hollandaise sauce.  I've heard of fries fried in duck fat before but never had them.  Man were they amazing, and with the crispy shredded duck and duck hollandaise on top, no ketchup required.  They were so good that I felt if I did ask for ketchup, the chef would rush out and slap me...like really hard too.

A learning Moment:  I didn't know what "confit" was so I looked it up.  " Confit (French, pronounced [kɔ̃fi] or in English "con-fee") is a cooking term for when food is cooked in grease, oil or sugar water (syrup), at a lower temperature than deep frying. While deep frying typically takes place at temperatures between 325 (163°C) and 450°F (232°C), confit preparations are done much lower—an oil temperature of around 200°F (93°C), sometimes even cooler.

For dinner, I had the Salmon Wellington which is citrus glazed salmon served with a dijon horseradish cream sauce.  Again, a spectacularly flavorful dish that you couldn't find elsewhere.  And that is what Palm Springs eateries are becoming.  It seems like restaurants can't get away with a plain ol burger or salad or steak anymore.  What restaurants are doing is becoming more and more creative and adventurous.  A few examples of this on Serious Food and Drink menu follow:

Their hamburger is an 8 oz burger with sweet onion-bacon jam, special sauce on a house made brioche bun with your choice of bleu, havarti or smoked gouda cheese.

Their braised lamb shank is served with fennel potato mash and a port wine-rosemary reduction and orange gremolata.  I have no idea what any of that means, but I'm guessing its really good.

Serious Food and Drink is located at 415 N. Palm Canyon Dr. in downtown.  I highly recommend this place.  Click here to learn more...