The Indy Endorsement: The Zin Bites at Zin American Bistro
Source: CV Independent | June 9, 2014
What: The Zin Bites
Where: Zin American Bistro, 198 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
How much: $9
Contact: 760-322-6300; pszin.com
Why: The zin in the sauce.
This is a story of second chances.
Several months back, we took a friend who was visiting Palm Springs out to dinner at Zin American Bistro. While the service and the ambiance were top-notch, the food was decidedly unremarkable. I’d tell you what we had … but I can’t remember what we had. It was not a terrible meal, but it was a meal that left us underwhelmed and not exactly rushing to return.
Shortly after that experience, I had a conversation with a fellow foodie; our lackluster Zin experience came up.
“Well, did you try the Zin Bites?” the foodie inquired?
We hadn’t.
“Well, you have to at least go back for those,” he said, before adding, “Really,” and explaining that the Bites were, essentially, miniature beef Wellingtons.
It sounded yummy. I made a mental note.
Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago, when I was studying the various menus for Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Ten Days Week. I noticed that these Zin Bites (usually available for $9) were one of the first-course offerings on Zin American Bistro’s $26 prix-fixe menu; second courses included impressive offerings like a ribeye.
$26 for mini beef Wellingtons, a steak and dessert? Yes. It was time to give Zin a second chance.
Boy, are we glad we did.
The ribeye was nice (and a great deal)—but without a doubt, the best part of my meal was that plate of four Bites. The Zin Bites themselves—each including a tiny piece of filet mignon surrounded by goat cheese and wrapped lovingly in pastry—were great. However, the maroon zinfandel-reduction/shallot sauce took the Bites from great tooh my gosh, we need to order another plate of these.
However, we held off on ordering another round. Instead, we returned to Zin for another Restaurant Week meal several days later—making it the only restaurant we visited twice over that 10-day period.
Zin American Bistro is now on our list of regular restaurants. Thank goodness for second chances—and thank goodness for those fantastic Zin Bites.
Written by Jimmy Boegle