Eat Like an Italian
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Il Giardino Palm Springs is the real deal if you like Italian food. This Palm Springs Italian restaurant is located at 333 Indian Canyon, which doesn't have the same foot traffic as Central Palm Canyon, so you might miss it. We advise you not to! The food is fresh, like what you would get at an Italian Mama or Grandmama's home. It's incredible authentic Italian cuisine right here in Palm Springs.
Owners Rosario Cultaro and his wife, Chef Teresa Attardi, are from Novara, a city in Northern Italy near Milan. However, they were originally born in Sicily, a southern Italian.
Let's Talk Food
The menu brings all original family recipes to the kitchen. Chef Teresa learned to cook from her aunt, making traditional home-style Sicilian food. Because Sicily is close to the sea, many dishes feature seafood and pasta like ravioli. All are very simple and healthy. Because they also lived in the north, she mixes in regional northern dishes like risottos and polenta.
It's the little things that can count. Novara is famous for gorgonzola, so the owners still order their cheese from their cousins in Italy.
When you look at an Italian menu, you’ll see that it’s divided into several sections, one for each course. You don’t have to order every course, but the general rule of thumb is to order at least two (and you can split one). So a couple, for example, might share one antipasti, order individual primi, and then share a secondi. The wonderful thing is it's not in a straightjacket of starter, main course, and dessert like most restaurants.
Antipasti
Antipasti is a colorful and delicious way to set the stage for a coming feast. It means before the meal. There is a variety of choices to begin and get your appetite working.
Try the Polpette Al Sugo, beef and pork meatballs in tomato sauce. This classic Italian recipe is often made on Sunday with the family. You can pair it with homemade focaccia bread topped with chopped tomato, basil, and garlic. Or there's the ciabatta garlic bread with mozzarella cheese.
For the vegetarian, order the oven-baked eggplant roll filled with capellini pasta, mozzarella, and tomato basil.
Insalate
Enjoy authentic Italian salads at Il Giardino.
The burrata cheese with grilled tomato, red and golden beets, EVOO, and a drizzle of Modena balsamic is delicious. The La Caprese salad is also a favorite with fresh Fior di Latte ("the flower of the milk"), mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil, EVOO, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Be sure to pair all those excellent ingredients in one bite. Remember, you can also share a salad.
Primi
Primi is your first dish and usually includes a selection of pastas. It's generally a smaller portion than a traditional American-size entrée. Don't hesitate to ask your waiter for a recommendation about what to eat.
This Palm Springs Italian restaurant makes all its sauces in-house. The Ravioli Della Nonna (grandmother) is a homemade ricotta-filled ravioli with a ragu of ground beef and pork. The recipe is from the owner's grandmother, thus the name. The Cannelloni Florentina is oven-baked, thin-rolled house-made pasta filled with spinach, a mixture of ground beef and pork, ricotta cheese, tomato sauce, and béchamel.
For vegetarians, order the potato gnocchi served with homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella. Angel hair pasta in tomato sauce with cappers, Kalamata olives, and wine is also available. Feel free to ask your waiter for other options that are not on the menu.
Their salsiccia, or house-made sausage used in the recipes, combines Sicilian and Northern. The salsiccia is the family recipe from Sicily, and the Chef adds cream as they do in Novara, a Northern Italian city where they lived for 24 years. Taste this when ordering the Penne Crema E Salsiccia Della Casa. It is penne pasta with salsiccia house-made sausage, cream sauce, mushrooms, and grana padano cheese. This cheese has a similar taste to parmesan but isn't as crumbly.
There's always the classic lasagna, which is a house favorite.
Secondi
The main dish consists of meat, fish, or vegetables. Il Giardino offers sea bass, veal, New Zealand lamb, salmon, chicken, shrimp, and steak.
The Branzino Al Forno is a popular crispy, tasty baked sea bass in fresh lemon sauce. The Cotoletta Di Pollo Valdostana is a chicken cutlet encrusted in breadcrumbs and baked in the oven and served with tomato sauce, bacon, and homemade spaghetti with pesto. Other choices include filet mignon, veal scaloppini piccata, baked salmon, and sautéed shrimp with cheese tortellini.
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Sautéed shrimp, lightly spicy sauce, cheese tortellini
Italian Dessert
Every week, a special mini-off menu and special dessert are served. Owner and Chef Teresa makes tiramisu, a coffee and custard dessert.
Or try the cannoli with ricotta cream stuffed in a crispy shell, just as Chef Teresa learned to prepare in the tradition of Sicily.
