Jake’s
Monte Cubano Sandwich – Fresh Turkey, Black Forest Ham, Gruyere, Pickles, Dijon Garlic Aioli on Egg-dipped Brioche
Hummingbird Cake – Banana and Pineapple Spice Cake, Cream Cheese Buttercream
First off, yes, Jake’s Restaurant is named after a West Highland Terrier and secondly, the place is exceedingly popular as a result of both a convenient location less than 50 yards from Cheeky’s and its welcoming outdoor patio, but once one gets past these facts it is actually sort of difficult to gauge exactly what all the fuss is about as the menu differs little from the rest of Palm Springs “Casual American” Cuisine while the service lags far behind in terms of both expediency and numbers.
Closed on both Sunday evenings and all-day Monday with a midday meal as well as Dinner offered on all remaining days, the weekend bringing with it a boozy Brunch beginning at 10am that stretches on to 2:45pm with many guests choosing to linger for hours with blatant disregard for limited seating and the hostess without recourse for the resulting long waits, it was ten minutes prior to a 12:30p reservation that a party of one was told the wait would be “at least fifteen” minutes, the clock finally reaching 12:56 before a seat at the walk-in only Bar was secured, the actual “reservation” at that point left to waste.
Owned and operated by a couple formerly involved in Hospitality and Advertising, this detail making Jake’s general nonchalance about the importance of customer service all the more peculiar, it was thankfully in the hands of a competent Bartender that several patrons found themselves eating Brunch on this particular day, a quickly placed order of one sweet and one savory item seeing both served simultaneously in less than fifteen minutes while he intermittently made drinks and kibitzed with a mother and daughter couple from Australia.
Changing up the Dinner menu seasonally while Brunch remains a standard mash-up of Bennys, Salads and Sandwiches, the most popular of the latter entitled “Monte Cubano” loosely combining the idea of a Cuban and a Monte Cristo by placing both Turkey and Ham amidst Mustard and Pickles with not only the wrong sort of Cheese but Brioche that is not only un-fried but frankly dry, it was with limited interest that the Sandwich was picked at slowly until about 3/4 finished, the last slice of Hummingbird Cake proving far better even though it too was a little dry in comparison to the choices available at Sherman’s.
http://www.jakespalmsprings.com
