Delis in the Desert--and Marilyn too!
Pastrami, chicken soup--and a controversial statue
It never rains in Southern California—until it does. And then it doesn’t want to stop. We live in the land of extremes—and that has always been so, but the extremes are only getting more so: Three years of drought followed by an atmospheric river combined with a bomb cyclone. But rather than wait to see if we needed to build an ark (we didn’t!), we skedaddled to the desert a few days ago—Palm Desert, to be exact, about 2 1/2 hours due east of our house. Truthfully we’d planned the trip before the rains hit, but it seemed timely. A hot tub for a bum knee and a new Jewish deli to try right round the corner from our motel. And a side trip to catch a glimpse of an enormous and controversial Marilyn Monroe statue! Who could resist?
My husband Jeff had just completed a PhotowalksTV episode about Palm Desert (see link to video at the bottom of this post, or click here) located about 15 miles from the better-known Palm Springs, and kept talking about how excited he was to order his favorite menu item—grilled cheese on rye—at a second branch of our favorite desert deli, Shermans, after admiring the giraffes, zebras and jaguars at The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens.
If you’ve read past editions of my newsletter and/or watched Jeff’s YouTube channel, you might have noticed that we’re both a little obsessed with the food of Jewish delis—Jeff because he grew up visiting them in New York City and me because, well, I didn’t grow up with them in my hometown of Palo Alto (though now delis and bagel shops seem to be springing up all over the San Francisco Bay Area). Sadly, some of the most iconic delis—including Carnegie and Stage in New York and Greenblatt’s and Juniors in Los Angeles—have disappeared in recent years. So we’re super-excited when a new deli is born, as one was last year in Palm Desert.
The owner, Jay Rubinstein, a former actor turned restaurant entrepreneur, opened the restaurant in March with wife Vanessa. Two years into a pandemic wouldn’t seem to be an auspicious time to launch a new eatery, especially a deli, but the restaurant—spacious with an outdoor patio, comfortable booths, a modern bar, and walls filled with black-and-white pictures of old New York—seemed to be thriving. We ended up returning four times since it was only a couple of blocks from our motel—and who doesn’t dream of living round the corner from the neighborhood deli?
I went for classic Jewish comfort food, with a bowl of matzo ball soup, a half turkey sandwich and a fruit salad on one visit, mushroom beef barley soup, matzo brei and a latke on another, while Jeff had grilled cheese, of course! There are plenty of other choices—many familiar deli dishes, like corned beef hash, salami and eggs, and whitefish salad. But there’s also new takes on old standards, such as Lox Benedict and brisket quesadillas.
And for dessert? Jeff opted for his favorite black-and white cookie, while I ogled the chocolate eclairs and cheesecake, then settled for a bite of the cookie.
Black-and-whites, though a classic deli cookie, don’t get me that excited—unless they’re right out of the oven, which seldom happens, or you make them yourself (hint to self: future cookie post!). But I’ll take a bowl of matzo ball soup any day of the week! And having a cheery red-haired server, Crystal, taking our order—even offering a sample of the sweet and sour cabbage soup (delish!)—was a big plus.
Although there are many fine places to dine in the area (Eater Los Angeles recommended 19 “essential” Palm Springs restaurants not long ago), we wouldn’t be deterred from our deli dive, also visiting the Palm Desert outpost of Sherman’s Deli & Bakery, open since 2002 (compared to the original, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year!). We ate inside, elbow to elbow with other diners, probably not the best choice when a new strain of Covid is surging, but hunger won out over caution. Our veteran server was efficient and the pastrami on double-baked rye perfect.
Palm Desert is quite different from Palm Springs, a place to relax, to soak away your troubles, and to shop or browse at tony stores at shopping centers like El Paseo, if you’re so inclined. We stopped in Palm Springs on our way out of town, hoping to take in a highly recommended bagel shop, Townie Bagels, which sadly closed just minutes before we got there.
Its website, which of course we failed to check, notes that the shop closes early when it runs out of bagels, apparently a regular occurrence, which speaks to the quality of the product but isn't encouraging for late planners. According to Eater LA, its bagels, water-boiled (as all good bagels should be!), are some of the best in Southern California. We’ll just have to take their word for it this time, but we hope to be back for a sample soon.
We deviated from our deli fixation and split a turkey burger and fries at Tyler’s, then wandered around Palm Springs, enjoying some examples of the mid-century modern architecture that characterizes this city, ending our walk at the “Forever Marilyn” statue by Seward Johnson, in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum, both an example of mid-century modern architecture and a repository of a fascinating architecture and design collection. Johnson created a series of large-than-life statues based on familiar images, including an homage to Grant Wood’s American Gothic and an embracing couple that came to symbolize the end of World War II.
The 26-foot-tall Marilyn statue “epitomizes fame,” the commentary near the artwork states. In an interview published in Life magazine the day before she died and referenced in a Smithsonian article, Marilyn revealed her ambivalence about fame, something she’d courted most of her life but that ultimately may have hastened her death at age 36.
“It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who is she—who is she, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe?”
More than 60 years after her death, fascination with Marilyn continues in Palm Springs and elsewhere. Those of us who are not famous enjoy gawking and contemplating the exuberant star, immortalized and frozen in time in the scene from The Seven Year Itch, then retreating to our anonymous lives and wondering at the quest for fame and its costs.
We haven’t got it, will never get it, tell ourselves we’d never want it. But if circumstances were different, would we? Unanswerable, I think, for most of us.
Meanwhile, we take the path of least resistance. Some—though not all—of our woes can be healed, at least for a day or two, with a walk in the desert and a bowl of matzo ball soup! If only it were always that simple.
For more about Palm Desert, please check out Jeff’s PhotowalksTV episode below.
Thanks so very much for reading, subscribing, commenting and sharing.
See you next time.
Ruth
I had to smile at Jeff checking out the menu. I assume it was research, since anyone who reads your Newsletter/ posts or Jeff's posts, already knew he'd have a grilled cheese and a black and white cookie. The soup looks fabulous and I would have had to try the cheesecake. Thanks for another lovely piece on food and places I miss.
Just catching up on posts! Question - what is a black and white cookie? And that Grilled Cheese looks amazing - Jefferson and I share an obsession for Grilled Cheese AND Ice Cream :)