3 days ago
Two Local Musicians Just Opened a Sprawling Restaurant and Music Venue in Yucca Valley
Just north of Palm Springs and the Greater Coachella Valley is the Morongo Basin, with a network of gateway cities like Joshua Tree, Pioneertown, and Twentynine Palms. It's also the location for Mojave Gold, a new live music venue, restaurant, and bar founded by locals and a regional boutique hotel group. Mojave Gold opened on May 31 in Yucca Valley, featuring a sustainable menu and local sourcing by former Workshop Kitchen + Bar chef de cuisine Beren Ekine-Huett.
'When we were thinking of opening this place, we asked, 'What does our area need?'' says co-founder Cooper Gillespie. 'Usually, when we want to go out for a nicer meal, we have to go to Palm Springs or the Kitchen In The Desert [in Twentynine Palms]. We felt like our area needed something new, but a place where the community can feel welcome. Mojave Gold straddles that balance between elevated dining, but also [stay] affordable for folks.'
Mojave Gold clocks in at 7,000 square feet with a 500-person capacity concert venue. Co-founder Greg Gordon says they used reclaimed wood from the Hollywood Bowl and incorporated the historic material into the structure of the main venue, including chairs with the Bowl's original seat numbers. The entire building holds 125 diners in a formal dining room, with an additional bar area and a lounge lined with snake wallpaper and velvet curtains. After live shows, staff will serve late-night bites. The menu will eventually expand to brunch by August, and then lunch.
Gillespie and Gordon were impressed by Ekine-Huett's approach to sustainability, and Mojave Gold will have a zero-waste kitchen. 'Her philosophy of the kitchen is inspired,' says Gordon. 'We wanted twists on classics and to be the place where you come every week.' Starters include pub cheese and pretzels, lamb meatballs with chimichurri, grilled cabbage with a smoked Gouda fondue, bacon-wrapped dates, and a cactus citrus ceviche. Mains consist of pan-seared salmon with lemon butter sauce, steak frites, grass-fed burger, eggplant lasagna, and Jidori chicken chermoula. A smoked date sticky toffee pudding, seasonal sorbets, and citrus olive oil cake finish the meal.
Mojave Gold's full bar is equipped to handle the crowds and mixes up inventive cocktails. Order the Wildflower Sour with Hendrick's Gin, lemon, hibiscus crystals, and lemon. The venue's namesake drink is a combination of Rancho de la Luna Mezcal, lemon, chile-honey, gold flecks, and Velvet Falernum syrup. They put the same energy into their non-alcoholic menu with the Prickly Pop full of lime, agave, soda, and prickly pear.
Co-Founder Brookelyn Fox (who owns Foxden Hospitality with husband Dale) designed the space, which embodies a fun combination of 1970s glam with disco balls plus gold-plated vinyl on the ceiling; natural desert tones and complementary art; and the slightly rugged feel of a modern saloon with reclaimed wood. There's even an outdoor lounge with a fireplace.
The region's best-known live music venue is Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace, which has been operating since 1982 in adjacent Pioneertown. Pappy's has seen some notable acts grace its stage over the years, including Paul McCartney, Peaches, Vampire Weekend, and Queens of the Stone Age. It's a music collaboration as Gillespie and Gordon are bandmates in the psych-pop band Landroid. Longtime Echoplex booker Liz Garo already has Mojave Gold's shows lined up for June, including Salton Sea punk rock band Throw Rag.
Mojave Gold is open Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at 56193 29 Palms Highway, Yucca Valley, CA, 92284.
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