Cuistot- Palm Desert

My wife and I celebrated my birthday and Christmas in the desert staying in a family resort home in Rancho La Quinta near the famous resort. I chose this restaurant for THE DINNER and it was so outstanding, we returned on Christmas eve for another stellar complete experience.

I wrote down some notes for a friend of a friend who is the editor of Bon Appetite and gave me some recommendations for consideration for dinners out and asked for feedback:

We chose Cuistot for the birthday dinner in lieu of a few other suggested places such as Morgans [a previous disaster], Il Corso, Jilians [closed on Sundays] and others. Palm Springs was just too far and impractical even with Uber which we used almost every night.

It was perfect. Extra special ambience, more than decent and informed wine service, over the top dedicated table service and a menu that suited out preferences for less meat, fish and fowl in favor of more fresh vegetables, cheeses and signature dishes.

In fact, it was so good, we opted to return on Christmas eve, a tough reservation anywhere in this area and especially in the finer restaurants. They loved us enough to not only create a space, but to honor our request for the table of our choice which we had on this evening in the main dining room of 4 themed rooms, the fireplace room.

Cuistot offered a spacious and more intimate atmosphere with elegance and charm to accompany the sophisticated and finely tuned creative French cuisine prepared by chef/ owner Bernard Dervieux. His bio includes working under Paul Bocuse in Lyon and as executive chef at Beverly Hills Hotel and Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells. He learned well.

I always appreciate a chef who visits the dining room and converses with the guests. Chef Bernard did so and presented himself with dignity and was humble and gracious for our presence.

I asked the right question of our server, “What are the specialties of the chef”. One of which is the mushroom soup that we both ordered and it paired beautifully with the 1997 Williams Selyem River Block Russian River Valley Pinot Noir that we took.

Our dear friend, Burt Williams, an icon in the California history of Pinot Noir. made this wine. I`ve had quite a few bottles of this bottling and this was one of the best.

We also took a 1998 Tattinger Comtes de Champagne that was as good as any CdC I`ve had since 1995 and 1996 and up to and including 2005.


Additionally, we dined at one of 3 locations of a local favorite Mexican restaurant, Pueblo Viejo in Indio and another local favorite fine dining spot, Lavender Bistro in Old Town La Quinta. Both are good in their own respect, but not in the special fine dining category.

Our experience at Cuistot was so superb, we opted to return for Christmas eve asking for the same intimate booth for 2 we shared on the first evening. On our 2nd night, they served a 3 course pre fixe menu with wonderful options including the mushroom soup which we both ordered and again paired with another stellar Williams Selyem Pinot Noir, this time the RRV from the 1992 vintage. Along with a nice bottle of Krug champagne, we drank well again. We had an equally grand evening as we did for our first visit to this restaurant.

Cheers,
Blake

Christmas eve:

Looks lovely. I have not been to Palm Desert in years but never thought of the eastern Coachella Valley as a fine-dining Mecca, I am glad that has changed. Cuistot sounds superb, your special dinner clearly met or exceeded all expectations!

97 Riverblock is a terrific W-S, I have enjoyed several as well. When did Rochioli get added to the vineyard name?

Glenn, the name was added after the sale= 1998. Thanks for mentioning the RB as I failed to include it in the write up and have edited it in. The 97 RRV, although very good is not the RB. The 92 RRV was as good as any I`ve had and still expressing a lot of fruit albeit in the tertiary stage. Its color was dark red. No bricking at all.

have eaten there several times–chef is a Paul Bocuse disciple–even has the kitchen facade looking like the Lyon train station. His fish preparations (Dover sole in a brown butter sauce, for example) are amazing. Love the place. They have some well-priced DRC on the list, too, though I usually bring my own wine.

Alan, I also looked over the wine list and saw some attractive choices at some less than attractive prices. The corkage fee of $25 seems quite reasonable in this day and age especially if the stemware and service is up to par which it was for us.

BTW, we went to Cuistot the first of the 2 nights since our first choices of recommendations, Jillians, was not open on Sundays. We never did get to Jilians, but have heard enough to want to try that during our next visit. Have you and if so, thoughts?

Some years ago we had a weekend home in Santa Rosa Cove, behind the La Quinta Hotel. We ate more meals out than at home and Cuistot was a favorite. It is much larger and offers much more varied food now than was the case then.

Originally it was on El Paseo just east of the present location and was indeed a place for excellent French food. A sidewalk table was just fine provided I didn’t run out of wine !

haven’t tried Jillian’s–will check out some time.

I`d appreciate your feedback when you do.