Dining at TRIO Palm Springs
Recently my uncle was in town for a visit and we asked him where he wanted to go. I was pretty surprised when he mentioned Mt. San Jacinto as I didn’t think the it was well known outside of the state. Turns out it’s a key part of a Peter Gabriel song that happened to be one of his favorites. Happy for an excuse to head toward Palm Springs I drove the family out there one Saturday. We planned to catch a ride on the aerial tramway, hike a bit and enjoy the crisp winter day. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the tram station and found out the wait was 3 hours! The last time I had been there I didn’t have to wait at all. Ok, it was about 15 years ago…Luckily my uncle was happy just to get a glimpse of the mountain and didn’t mind not going to the top. So we snapped a pic of him next to the sign and, since it was lunchtime, decided to take him to our favorite restaurant in town – TRIO.
TRIO Palm Springs is located next to the Shag Store and its walls are covered in his artwork. I must admit that’s what first drew me to the spot. If they’ve got such great taste in art surely the food must be good? I’m happy to say it very much is. It’s absolutely delicious. The restaurant’s signature is its 3 course pre-fixe menu – offering an app, entree and dessert for a reasonable price ($19.99 the last time I visited) daily from 11am-6pm. It’s the perfect trio (wink, wink).
On the pre-fixe menu a wide variety of appetizers are offered but I can’t seem to stray from my favorite seafood salad.
The ceviche is fresh made with large chunks of fish, lots of avocado and a good dose of flavor. Light and refreshing with a citrus kick it pairs perfectly with the handmade tortilla chips.
Now, I do vary the entrees when I visit and this time opted for the Harris Ranch Skirt Steak.
The steak is marinated in a sweat chili soy sauce, topped with chimichurri sauce and accompanied by fries. Not only is it generously portioned but it’s absolutely delicious. The steak was super tender and had a slightly sweet slightly spicy essence that was nicely offset by the chimichurri sauce and the fries were fresh and perfectly seasoned. It was so delicious and filling that I barely had room for dessert.
Not such a bad thing because dessert is the weakest part of the menu. Only three are offered (a brownie, bread pudding or ice cream sundae) and they’re nothing special. This time I opted for the sundae and it was simply vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Perfectly adequate but nothing to write home about.
But who cares about dessert when the rest of the menu is so good? TRIO is my favorite dining spot in Palm Springs and I look forward to visiting whenever I’m in town. Hmm, what excuse could I make to head out there this weekend?