"It's Not You, It's Me"

Spencer's, 701 W. Baristo Road (in fact, Baristo dead ends in front of the restaurant) Palm Springs  760-323-1003

Every time that we go to a restaurant new to us, I approach the place with enthusiasim, eager to try their food.  Being somewhat of a controlling personality, I've probably also Googled the menu and know what I'm going to order before we leave the house. 

Such was the case with Spencer's.

The outdoor, roofless room

The sommelier lady passed by frequently; she and Richie had an extended discussion about which red wine for his 10-oz steak with porcini dust, garli mashed potatoes and roast broccoli ($39.)  The garlic kind of threw everything off a bit - a merlot would be too soft, but a hearty red would over power the porcini.  She brought a sample of the wine she recommended; he sipped it, made a face and said, "I don't like it" and ordered a Rodney Strong Cabrnet.

Lobster Potstickers below; Wellington sandwiches above

Continuing my quest for The Perfect Caesar Salad, I orderd it ($11) to come before the lobster pot stickers ($14) and "Wellington" sandwiches ($13.)

The Steak


I definitely didn't like the salad presentation and I wish now that Richie had gotten a shot of it for you.  A group of long, romaine lettuce leaves contained in a U-shaped - what?  It tasted like cardboard but looked like Parmesan cheese.  It wasn't. 


The lobster pot stickers were plentiful (six instead of Roy's three) and the Wellington sandwiches of slow-cooked beef with a creamy mushroom sauce, horseradish  and pate were beautifully presented.  I could only manage one of thoem; Richie had the other for lunch the next day.  God bless hotel rooms with mini-refrigerators. 

The pot stickers all by themselves, no sauce, were flavorful enough.  I discovered this next day when I ate them for lunch.  The soy-ginger-jalapeno sauce had to be naked soy sauce, because that's what it tasted like.  The red sauce on the plate was a "chili aioli" (mayo) and if they'd "painted" with the soy sauce and served the chili aioli on the side it would have worked out better.

Dinner and drinks, $120 plus $24 tip.

I was curious about Spencer's; we went to Spencer's and now I know about Spencer's.  Case closed.