Gabino's — Restaurant in Palm Springs

Okay, this is touted as one of those hip hole-in-the-wall (almost literally) places where the food is so good and the experience so "unique" it blows your multi-colored socks off. Let's start off by first saying it's a pleasure to find someplace, anyplace in the Coachella Valley that doesn't cater to octogenerian taste buds. (How many bland food places can one region support, by the way? Apparently hundreds. Even many of the Hispanic restaurants are boring.) Another plus is that you order at a counter and don't have to suffer (and pay a tip to) yet another disinterested wait staff. Parking @ Gabino's is a challenge. Seating is very limited, outside, overlooks an alleyway (think dumpster-forward not quiant Paris), and uncomfortable (but, hey, it's lunch, not a cruise ship pool deck, so toughen up). The problem with the seating area is when the entitled new mom in her sun-eclipsing BMW SUV pulls into the parking spot with her front bumper a foot from where you're sitting and leaves the engine running while proceeding to raise the curtain for her broadcast-to-the-back-row psuedo-modest performance of moving into the backseat with her madonna child to breast feed (the only problem about which I have is the engine smell and heat being sent my way, and, yeah, probably also the entitled attitude, but at least while she was expanding her carbon footprint she didn't have any hypocritical Save the Planet stickers on her suburban assault vehicle). So let's (at long last) get to the crepes. They are unique, different from any others I've had. The crepe dough is cooked to a crispy-ish finish with cheese fried on the outside. Tasty, but a little greasy. The filling (the pesto chicken) is also tasty, but the way the crepe is served, folded into a triangle and offered in a cup more like a sno-cone, the pesto chicken tends to get pushed into one portion of the crepe while the add-ons, which bring needed flavor, are pushed to the other. So only a few bites of the crepe, eaten the way it is served, give you the full taste; the other bites are either mostly lettuce and dressing or mostly chicken-pesto (which is dry and lacking flavor compexity). You could, I suppose, deconstruct the crepe and go at it with knife and fork, but this isn't a plate-and-utensil setting, and could possibly probably draw the ire of the Gabino's faithful, of which there seems to be many. I'm just not going to be...

Who really wants to get up and dressed just to have breakfast while visiting or living here?

We PS full timers have a treasure among us. It is GABINO'S Creperie on the corner of Indian Canyon and Palm Canyon.

Upon the recommendation of friends we decided to give this Creperie a shot for breakfast and ordered online (easy peasy) for a takeout of the seasonal turkey salad and the breakfast turkey sausage crepe.

Scheduled pick up was 9:35. I was there at 9:36 and it was waiting for me at the window for quick pickup.

OH...M...GEE! The breakfast crepe which includes a sausage, egg, cheese, avocado, (and we ordered it in the jalapeno crepe), is "L4,D4,K4" ( to LIVE for, DIE for, and possibly KILL for! (new non-snooty foodie rating of AWESOME,)

Aaaaand, it's "HANDY" meaning you can actually hand hold it and eat it without making a mess. Really? Avocado in THIS heat? No mess, no fuss & absolute palate nirvana!

We opted to "plate" our culinary treasures. Look at the enormous proportions. (No wonder America has an obesity problem, but as a couple we are down with this.) Hungry as we are in the morning, the two of us still couldn't completely finish our plates...

It is well worth the money, preparation time, and quick drive to create a new Saturday (or Sunday) morning tradition. For those of us who live here (and visitors), this may very well become YOUR next Saturday morning tradition!

Bon appetit from the...

We are here visiting PS for a weekend. Had to make a trip to Gabino's as I saw it being recommended and mentioned by so many. Verdict: it did not disappoint!!

We came around 2:40pm on a Saturday. No line at all I assumed the rush hour was over and they were about to close shop for 3pm.

Food: I got bbq chicken and hubby chicken Caesar. We also asked for jalapeños. The staff who took our order mentioned they no longer put jalapeños in the crepe instead they now just throw on as a topping (which is a must add! It adds so much flavor and the kick kinda offsets the richness) First reaction was how big these are! Huge portions (spoilers I didn't finish mine) which justifies the $15 price. The texture of the Parmesan crisp inside the crepe wow just amazing so unctuous! The bbq chicken was a bit too sweet for me next time I'll try a different one. On the other hand I liked hubby's chicken Caesar better and he gave it 10/10! They did not skimp on the chicken either. Definitely more than I preferred but again hubby loved it. Overall we were very satisfied and impressed. Will definitely come again if we are in PS.

Staffs were very friendly. We sat in the back next to the parking lot. It was quiet then so we enjoyed it but I can see during peak hours it'll be a little annoying if a lot cars. But they have a few tables in the alley...