Desert Dispatch: The Most Popular Restaurants in Town plus Pride and Thanksgiving

📬 The November 2025 Issue

Welcome to the November issue of Desert Dispatch 🌵✨ This month we’re celebrating two powerful forces that define our desert life — gratitude and pride. As the season settles in, we pause to be thankful for this place, its people, and the vibrant spirit that makes Palm Springs shine 🌈💛 Here’s to a month of reflection, celebration, and community — and to being both thankful and proud 🙏🏽🌴

Peter Daut Finding on Love ❤️ & Pride 🏳️‍🌈 in the Desert 🌵

Palm Springs Pride 🌈 is more than a parade: it’s a celebration of love, resilience, and community. And this year, one of the city’s most familiar faces is leading the way. KESQ anchor Peter Daut, named Community Grand Marshal for Pride 2025, opens up about finding home, love, and purpose in the desert he’s cherished since childhood. From meeting his husband here on Halloween night 🎃 to embracing the peace and vibrancy that define Palm Springs, Peter’s story is one of gratitude, visibility, and joy.

👉 Read the full interview: Peter Daut: Finding Home, Love, and Pride in Palm Springs

Peter’s Desert Shortlist 🌵

A few local favorites that never miss — from mountain views to hidden gems that capture the true spirit of Palm Springs:

• Palm Springs Aerial Tramway – For that unforgettable view above the desert floor.

• John Henry’s Café – A cozy locals’ spot with classic charm and unforgettable pork chops.

• Blackbook – Where the cocktails are strong, the music’s good, and everyone feels welcome.

• Rooster and the Pig – Come hungry... and open-hearted. You might just meet the love of your life here ❤️

• Piero’s Pizza Vino – Perfect for a laid-back night out and a glass (or two) of red on El Paseo.

Full Palm Springs Pride Coverage Below

🗞️ Palm Springs Now: The Big Stories

🚡 Tourism and Recreation

• Vacation rental numbers dropping. Read more.

• Desert Hot Springs plans to welcome tourists along Highway 62. Read more.

🏗️ Development and Infrastructure

• Senior housing complex opens on Palm Canyon Drive. Read more.

• Palm Springs commissioners raise concerns about proposed 104-unit development. Read more.

• Developer eyeing vacant property in Racquet Club area. Read more.

🎭 Arts and Culture

• Food and Wine Festival returns to Palm Springs Stadium. Read more.

• Robin Thicke to headline Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival. Read more.

• Bighorn Sheep are doing well in Coachella Valley. Read more.

🌈 Desert Pride: Be Heard in Palm Springs

🌈 Every November, the desert lights up with one of the most joyful, inclusive celebrations in the country: Palm Springs Pride. This year’s theme, Be Heard, captures the spirit of a community that’s always found its voice beneath the San Jacinto Mountains.

👉 Everything you need to know is right here.

And don’t miss our sidebar piece tracing how it all began. From a single dinner in 1986 to a celebration that now draws more than 200,000 people downtown each November.
📖 Read the history of Pride in Palm Springs.

The desert has always been a place of reinvention. Pride reminds us it’s also a place where everyone belongs.

🤠 It’s not our first rodeo.  Actually, the second annual Desert Rodeo is coming back in April after selling out this year.  Passes are on sale now.

🍺 Mickey’s Irish Sports Bar & Grill closed after a short run on the corner of Indian Canyon Drive and Baristo Road.  No word on what’s going in there.  Too bad they couldn’t make it to St. Patrick’s Day.

🍝 La Bottega didn’t last long at 540 S Palm Canyon Drive, but you still get their great pasta through their catering business. 🍷 We hear sommelier Jen Carter’s Vinophile Events is taking over the space. 

🍽️ Grand Central on La Plaza closed, and Hunny’s is ready open.  My, things come and go so quickly, here!

If you know anything happening in Palm Springs, drop us a line. Email us

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Thank you 🙏 for supporting this issue of Desert Dispatch: Being Thankful and Proud.
It reminds us how gratitude and pride can live side by side. Gratitude for where we are, and pride in how far we’ve come. Here’s to everyone building something meaningful in this wide, sunlit place we call home.

See you next month,
Jason and Troy

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