November 11, 2016
Palm Desert, California – I was in town for a cycling event and was looking for someplace that served pasta. Having done an Internet search beforehand, this place, it turned out, was not far from where I would be staying. After talking with the lady behind the desk at the hotel, I learned that customers told her they really liked their food. So that’s dinner solved, then.
Mario Del Guidice and his family moved to Palm Springs in 1972. He soon opened his first restaurant there. Del Guidice and his sons now operate seven locations of Mario’s Italian Café in the Coachella Valley, all of them award-winning restaurants. According to the website, they use “old-world family recipes” in preparing their meals.
It was after 8pm when I arrived, later than I would prefer to be having dinner. But was I hungry and had a big day scheduled for tomorrow. So I went on in.
Take-out order placement and pick-up are immediately inside as you enter. A flat-screen TV hangs above the order area. Once inside, I noticed the Best in Valley awards, which they’ve won every year since 2007, proudly displayed in the waiting area. Turn right for dining in.
In the main dining area you’ll see booths upholstered in a wine-bottle pattern with burgundy leather uppers around the perimeter of the restaurant. Tables and chairs run down the middle. Chairs also have the wine bottle upholstery. Murals on the walls are painted with scenes from Italy. The placemats have a map of Italy. The ceiling is painted with several re-creations, including Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam”. Usually Italian favorites will be playing softly over the speakers. Al fresco dining is available on the patio.
My server arrived and I gave him my order. Tonight that would include Linguini al Pesto (dinner special $12.95), an individual salad ($2.95) with no tomatoes, and a side order of sausage ($4.95). Dinner at an Italian restaurant is not complete without wine. I chose the Frescobaldi Rémole ($7/glass), an Italian red wine.
Since there were only a few people in the restaurant at this hour, my salad arrived quickly. I had asked for no tomatoes on the salad but there they were. My server missed that but promptly rectified it. Other than that, the salad is topped with croutons and two kinds of shredded cheese. A house-made creamy garlic dressing comes in a container on the side. (Mario’s has other types of dressing available.) The dressing is light on the garlic so it complemented, not overpowered, everything else. It was delicious! Shredded cheese makes the difference in this salad, but maybe ¼ less cheese would make it even better.
As I was finishing the last couple of forkfuls of the salad, the rest of my meal arrived. Well, all except for the sausage. My server missed that, too. I had to remind him about it. When he brought it to my table, I had to juggle items to get everything within reach. There were quite a few plates and bowls to work with.
The homemade sausage comes in a bowl, swimming in a thick marinara sauce. You get two plump links. A knife comes with it. The marinara did not overdo it with the tomato, which I appreciated. This allowed the other spices to boldly come through. Sausage links were firm and full of spices themselves. The sausage with Mario’s’ marinara is just about perfect. Mario’s should sell their sauces. Some of the sausage made it from its bowl onto my plate of linguini.
The linguini was perfectly cooked and had a buttery flavor. I really loved seeing and especially tasting the roasted pine nuts and minced garlic in the pesto. To add just a bit more flavor, a shake or two of Parmesan cheese from the shaker on the table filled the bill. A spoon comes with the dish to help twirl the pasta. I ended up getting two types of linguini by taking a little of the linguini that had not yet been mixed with the pesto and eating it with some of the marinara-covered sausage.
Dinner dishes come with garlic bread. It was toasted, buttery, garlicky, and soft. Just the right amount of garlic and butter. Wow! It didn’t know something as simple as garlic bread could be this good. I told my server it was probably the best garlic bread I’ve ever had. It went very well with the sausage and marinara. When I thought no one was looking, I actually took some of the garlic bread and dunked it in the marinara sauce.
In between the sausage, the linguini, and the bread, I sipped the wine. It was lighter than I expected, which was good. Not quite a full-bodied wine. I found it paired much better with the marinara and sausage than with the linguini and pesto. It really brought out the spices in the marinara.
After the meal, I contemplated dessert. Oreo Fudge cheesecake ($4.95) caught my attention. I didn’t need it, but it looked so good on the dessert menu that I had to have it. I was not disappointed. As you might expect, it has an Oreo cookie crust. Oreo cookies are embedded inside. Ribbons of homemade fudge syrup are drizzled across the cheesecake and on the comma-shaped dish on which it is served. It is topped with a chocolate covered Oreo cookie that looks like it crash-landed into the slice. Icing on the cake, so to speak, is a dollop of whipped cream. You might think something this decadent would have a sweetness level to match. It didn’t. It also didn’t last long. I almost ordered another slice to go.
This was a pretty big meal. I ended up taking some of the pasta and one of the sausage links to go. I was looking forward to tasting everything the next day once all the spices had had a chance to mix overnight.
Their old world recipes have made Mario’s a new favorite spot for me in Palm Desert. With seven locations around the Coachella Valley, you should be able to find one close by where you are staying next time you visit the area. Some locations offer entertainment on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.
Mario’s Italian Café – 4.75 forks. Very highly recommended. Pizza lovers welcome!