Larkspur Grill offers a classic twist on modern California cuisine, featuring local and fresh ingredients supported by area farms. Live music, signature cocktails, and a contemporary, light-filled indoor dining room with comfortable, relaxed seating makes Larkspur Grill a great place to meet and mingle in Palm Desert. Located at Hotel Paseo, the Grill boasts a full bar and spacious outdoor patio with stunning views of the San Jacinto Mountains. Larkspur Grill offers guests and locals a fine dining experience for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Gladis Lizarraga — the well-known, local executive chef — is no stranger to this kitchen. She was part of the opening team for the original Hotel Paseo restaurant, AC3. Most recently, she was executive chef at nearby Wildest Restaurant. Under her leadership, it won Palm Springs Life’s Best of the Best in 2022, as well as Open Table Diner’s Choice 2022. During her time at AC3 in Palm Desert, it was named Best New Restaurant in the Valley.

“Enjoying good food and drinking a good wine goes hand in hand with living a pleasant life,” Lizarraga says. “A great chef doesn’t just take the recipe from a cookbook. It’s what he or she adds that makes it contemporary and special.”

Lizarraga spent 12 years in the San Diego area. She worked with celebrity Chef Brian Malarkey at Farmer & The Seahorse in Torrey Pines and at several other award-winning restaurants in the area within the Cohn Restaurant Group.

A native of Mexico, Lizarraga grew up on the Pacific Coast of Mazatlán. A seaside town, Mazatlán cuisine features seafood — especially shrimp — on many of its menus. Lizarraga discovered her love for food as a child while learning to cook in her mother’s kitchen. The women relocated to southern California in part to cultivate her budding interest in cooking and her culinary skills. Her talent and creativity were noticed. Dedicated to crafting innovative menus using fresh, locally sourced ingredients and implementing unique cooking techniques, Lizarraga’s career took off. She and her husband relocated from La Jolla, California, to Palm Springs three years ago. As a parent of two young children, Lizarraga’s plate is more than full. Carrying on her family tradition, the chef now spends special moments in her own kitchen, teaching her son and (soon) her young daughter how to cook and bake.

The menus at Larkspur Grill are mouthwateringly creative. Breakfast boasts a ranchero Benedict, build-your-own omelet or burrito, and a Chobani Greek yogurt parfait with house-made granola, local seasonal berries, and Faby’s honey — fresh from a bee farm in San Bernardino. Lunch items span the globe; a few tantalizing dishes include French onion soup, bacon-wrapped dates, and Paseo fish tacos. “The Larkspur Grill is a great choice for a date night or for visitors to Palm Desert, and the Wagyu beef sliders are out of this world,” Ryan Thomas, marketing and sales director of Hotel Paseo, says.

Dinner is a tempting mix of delectable choices with some reprises from the lunch menu and some unique items. Ahi tuna tartare — featuring pears, mint, jalapeño, pine nuts, quail egg, and lavash — piqued my interest, or you could opt for a 14-ounce Creekstone Farms grilled ribeye. Save room for dessert, as the choices are divine.

Whether you come for the ambiance, the drinks, the view, the layered menu, or the live music — Wednesday to Sunday nights feature groups like Fun with Dick and Jane — an evening at Larkspur Grill will leave your heart and belly full.