We first tasted Workshop Kitchen and Bar about 5 years ago when there was a group of us in Palm Springs for Coachella. I’m pretty sure Jax found it in her Where Chefs Eat book (I’m pretty sure that’s how we found everything then). We rolled up after a long journey flying in from London and Australia followed by a roadtrip down from LA, so needless to say, we were exhausted. But it didn’t stop us dragging our exhausted assess out for a great meal.
So this trip, Jax and I were determined to get back into the restaurant for a second, non-exhausted, go at the menu. I would suggest during peak season that you book a table. Though the restaurant is a decent size with booths, a community table and an outside area it fills up. Without a reservation, we ended up at the community table, not the end of the world but not really my preference.
Like a lot of restaurants here in California they offer a small plates, pizza & large plates with which are designed for sharing. Everything looked amazing but we decided to stay in the smalls & pizza to maximize the amount we could taste.
* octopus carpaccio: this looked like an amazing octopus pizza. It came with pickled mini cauliflower fleurettes and red capsicum- it was surprising how much these lifted the already delicious flavour
* braised pork cheek fries: super dooper shoe string fries (I would have preferred fat cut ones) with red curry sauce and braised big cheek. The curry sauce was really light, I think I could have had a stack more sauce with this.
* roasted brussel sprouts: a dish you can’t go wrong with, especially when you add chorizo
* bloomsdale spinach: beautifully presented, probably the prettiest on the menu. It had persian cucumber thinly sliced and bougainvillea petals and young beet chips. I
m not sure flavour wise how much he petals & beet chips added but they looked great and changed the texture
* pizza: I’m pretty sure this was pepperoni and mushroom. It’s a really nice pizza; good base and good toppings. However, for me, the Bestia base is the best I have had since I got to California.
The verdict: Workshop Kitchen & Bar is still great food and totally worth going back to with bigger group so we can try more of the menu.
After a meal that good the only thing left was for us to head back to Ace Hotel & Swim Club, crack open some can wine (yes apparently that’s a thing) fro the well stocked mini bar and sit in front of a completely unnecessary fire. Ace has got these fire pits all over the grounds with comfy chairs around them, so even though it was 35 degree (95F) we were taking advantage of it. Of course it was way too hot so we only lasted 1 wine can before having to head over to the sun bed by the pool to ‘cool off’.
Jilltopia 
This looks great, those fries have my name on them! I love the fact that the restaurant looks really chilled but the food is still really good.
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