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Dining Around The Desert: Luna’s Bar & Grill, Indio

A new restaurant located at the Canopy at Citrus in Indio

Michael and I have recently enjoyed several meals with some of our Griffin Ranch neighbors at a brand new spot right by the Ralph’s on Jefferson and 50th in the still under construction, Canopy at Citrus.

Luna’s Bar & Grill features a diverse menu with something for everyone without being overwhelming.

For appetizers, we’ve shared a Traditional Caesar, a Burrata Flatbread salad with field greens, fresh burrata, shaved prosciutto and a balsamic vinaigrette, and Crispy Calamari with a sweet chili dipping sauce. The Flatbread was great, and we’d have that again.

For my main course, I stuck with the Ahi Tuna Stack with avocado, cucumber, mango, soy vinaigrette, and sriracha aioli. Great presentation and very flavorful. Michael had the Boxer (Meat Lovers) Pizza with mozzarella, applewood smoked bacon, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon and gave it excellent reviews.

Our friends had everything from California Sanddabs, Chicken Picatta, the Luna’s Burger with applewood smoked bacon, melted blue cheese crumbles, caramelized onions, lettuce, and spicy mayo on a brioche bun to Rigatoni Bolognese, and the Greek Gourmet Pizza with pesto, mozzarella, grilled chicken, artichokes, spinach, and caramelized onions.

Luna’s has a nice bar with a handful of signature drinks. I tried the Cucumber Martini, and our friends tried the Spicy Watermelon Margarita and the Blackberry Margarita. They have a nice wine list as well.

Everyone had nothing but good things to say about their meals, and it’s sure to become a local’s favorite. It’s reasonably priced, the service is attentive, and they put out a consistently fresh, tasty, and well-made product.

LUNAS BAR & GRILL
HOURS OF OPERATION
Lunch: 11:30am-3:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm-9:00pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Take Out available 12:00am-9:00pm
* reservations are highly recommended.
Phone: 442-400-3827
Address: 49830 Jefferson St, Suite 100, Indio, CA 92201

From Sheri Dettman
In Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog, Dining Around The Desert

Laura & Steve Sabahi, CA

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
My husband and I recently purchased a new home in La Quinta where we had the pleasure of working with Kayla Cunard! She was extremely knowledgeable of the market and a fantastic resource to us as we explored the area. I felt Kayla listened to our wants and did a great job of leading us to our dream location. We were able to confidently count on her throughout the entire process which was a huge help being that we were 500 miles away. Without a doubt we would chose to work with Kayla again in the future.

From Sheri Dettman
In Buyer Client Testimonials

Dug Sharpe, CA

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My husband and I recently made the move from the Pacific Northwest to the Coachella Valley.

We were very fortunate to have found Lisa Fein Blodgett of Sheri Dettman and Associates to help us through the transition.

Coming from a completely different climate to a desert setting can be quite daunting when you know very little about a desert living.

Lisa was beyond patient with us. She took the time to get to know us and she listened to our wants and needs.

She took the time to explain the pros and cons of the neighborhoods we were looking in and guided us to areas that would fit our needs and desired lifestyle.

We never felt like we were asking a dumb or silly question. No matter what we threw at her, she did the research and gave us honest and relevant answers.

Lisa was an advocate for us from the first time we met her all the way through the buying process and even took the extra time to answer some questions after the sale was complete.

Between the two of us, my husband and I have bought 6 properties in our lives and we know how important an honest and reliable real estate agent is in this process. Lisa exceeded all of our expectations and we would recommend her to anyone who is looking for real estate professional.

Thank you, Lisa!

From Sheri Dettman
In Buyer Client Testimonials

Rich and Louise Brown, CA

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Our agent, Lisa Blodgett, was everything a client could ask for in a realtor. She was personable, informed, and enthusiastic about our search for a new home. When we were stonewalled by the mishandled purchase of our home in Vallejo, she was upbeat about the obstacles and patient about the process. She is the most effective professional in the business

From Sheri Dettman
In Buyer Client Testimonials

A New York Times Bestseller Reflects on the Heat of the Desert

Reflections on the seemingly inhospitable yet magical nature of the desert, especially in summer.

Tod Goldberg Palm Springs Life Magazine

ILLUSTRATION BY NASH WEERASEKERA

This is the time of year when concerned relatives call to check in. We saw that you’re living in the hottest place on the planet. Are you okay?

No, we’re not. No normal person chooses to stay in the desert all summer. You have to want the heat.

A FEW MONTHS AGO, I went on a ride-along with a Joshua Tree park ranger. The desert air was still cool, at least when I climbed into the ranger’s SUV at around 9 o’clock in the morning. By noon, it was just under 80 degrees. Which is nothing for me. I don’t even put on shorts until it’s 85, and even then, it’s a production. Tourists wear shorts when it’s 72, but desert rats, we cherish the two months or so of the year that we actually get to wear a pair of pants.

“Grab a bottle of water,” the ranger said. We’d parked a good 5 miles off the main road and were going to hike across a flat expanse of sand and creosote toward a place I’d only heard talk of: a ravine filled with domestic relics that were washed away by a flood sometime last century.

“I’m good,” I said.

“Grab a bottle of water,” she urged again, “you don’t realize how hot it is and how far you’re going to be walking.”

Ever dutiful, particularly when a woman with a gun has orders for me, I took a bottle. Fifteen minutes later, I was a little dizzy and breathless, sweating through my jeans; if I’d closed my eyes and turned in a circle, I’d have never found my way back out of the desert. You could die out here, I thought. And of course, if there’s one universal truth about this desert life, it is that despite the beauty and solemnity of the desert, despite the resorts and golf courses, despite Coachella and Stagecoach and the film festival, despite the man-made lakes and surf parks proposed across the valley, this is a cruel and forbidding place if you happen to be outside and without water for too long. It’s not that you could die — you would.

After another 10 minutes or so, we came upon the relics of an old mining district homestead. A sealed well. A gutted refrigerator. The skeleton of a stove. Scattered cups and plates. “How did people live out here?” I asked.

The park ranger shrugged. “Not easily.” She looked at me. “You feeling OK?”

“You were right,” I said. I guzzled down my water. The park ranger nodded. She was wearing a full uniform, body armor, a gun — all that, and she hadn’t broken a sweat. I looked like I’d hiked through the desert wearing an entire rack of clothing from Banana Republic: moderately fashionable if totally inappropriate.

On the way back, the ranger gave me her bottle, too.

The heat has always been cathartic, the arrival of summer a forced slowdown.

I’VE FREQUENTLY THOUGHT about that day in Joshua Tree, not because I was ever in any real danger, but because of how many people make the same mistakes every day. If you aren’t from here, you just don’t know how quickly things can turn south.

We moved to the desert when I was 13. My family had been vacationing here since the 1950s, when both sets of grandparents fled the harsh winters of Longview and Walla Walla, Washington, for Palm Springs and golf, buying homes at Canyon Country Club and renting condos at Villa Alejo. Later, my mother, who yearned for a life of perpetual sunshine, would grow tired of the Bay Area fog and fly south for a life under palm trees.

For me, the heat has always been cathartic, the arrival of summer a forced slowdown, a system reset, a time to reevaluate, to see the world for what it is. So when it came time for me to figure out where I wanted to live for the rest of my life — after college and a decade split between Los Angeles and Las Vegas — I felt pulled back to the desert.

To set roots in sand is, of course, a foolish premise on its face, but I think of what Joan Didion said about living in California: “The apparent ease of California life is an illusion, and those who believe the illusion real live here in only the most temporary way.” I wanted something permanent.

A FEW YEARS AGO, when The Rolling Stones performed at Desert Trip, I remember Mick Jagger standing on the edge of the stage, a swirling 90-degree wind kicking up around him, and announcing, “This is a bit like singing into a hair dryer.” It was October. Fall. The onset of what we call winter. Mick would never last a summer here.

There is nothing more beautiful to me than the desert at about 10 o’clock at night, deep into July, when the temperature slides below 105 for the first time. I like to get into my car, put the top down, turn up the AC, fill the stereo with old Kyuss songs, and drive the empty streets. Everything is still, yet somehow the air feels like an animate object you have to cut through. Sometimes I’ll just roll, following the road where it takes me — into the darkness outside of Whitewater or up past Lake Cahuilla or through the old-money neighborhoods of Palm Springs, the ghost of Cary Grant cruising beside me, the stars flicking above like memories, the laws against light pollution good for these haunted nights.

On nights like these, the heat is a companion, but not an easy one. And it’s certainly no illusion. There’s always a moment of pure euphoria when you turn off the car’s AC and the heat drops in front of you like a wall; you realize that technology has made the world easier. But the desert is always waiting, just the same, for you to make the wrong move.

Joan Didion also said, “Stories travel at night in the desert.” A desert life is hard. It’s that duality that makes me love this place, this desert the tourists will never really know, when you park your car at the side of the road, hear the yowling of coyotes in the distance, and recognize that you are in a timeless place of savage, incessant, fluid, dry, and somehow welcome heat.

From Sheri Dettman
In Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog, Lifestyles & Things To Do

Dave Morton, CA

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
 Thank you Sheri and her support staff for helping us find a great deal in Palm Desert. We have purchased several homes in our years and this was smooth sailing from the start. It was very beneficial to be kept informed as it was a probate issue. We felt that Shari literally held our hand through the whole process. Very professional!!

From Sheri Dettman
In Buyer Client Testimonials

Why Home Buyers Should Use A Local Realtor

Why Home Buyers Should Use A Local Realtor

This to us seems like a no-brainer, yet time and time again, we see out-of-the-area agents attempting to represent clients in an area that they are not familiar with, and it’s a great disservice to the client. If a person is selling their home, they will not use someone who is not local and an expert in their area, so why would they do it when purchasing?

Where my team is located, in the Palm Springs area, this problem came to a head during the past couple of years. The proximity to Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego makes it appealing to agents who want a weekend in the desert combined with showing a few homes. And now that the market is so slow, there are a lot of hungry agents out there looking for any way to generate some income.

As a Realtor, you have a fiduciary duty to your clients; this practice certainly does not support that duty. I’ve lived in Newport Beach, Los Angeles, etc.…but if I had a client that wanted to purchase property in those areas, I would refer the client to an agent in that area as that’s the right thing to do.

Unless the agent has a vacation home in the area, knows it well, and consistently and recently sells homes there, or perhaps recently lived here and then moved away, there is no way that they will know all the intricacies involved. They don’t know the pros and cons of each City, development, golf course, orientation of the property, vendors, amenities, and rental rules, to name a few, not to mention the culture of each community. Heck, even agents that are located locally may not know these things, which is why you want experienced representation. As a Buyer, you need to know these things to make an informed decision.

In addition, the chances of them driving 2 hours to come out and then 2 hours back for the home inspection, any additional inspections, walk-throughs, and dozens of other things that might come up are slim in our experience. And guess who they ask to do their job for them? This is another reason that local agents don’t care to work with out-of-the-area agents. Not only do they not know the local market, they also may not do their job.

Today, I showed one of my listings for an out-of-the-area agent and his clients. The agent was a very pleasant guy, but he knew nothing about the community that my listing was in, had never been there before, was 15 minutes late because he was relying on GPS to get him there, and didn’t know where the entrance was. I felt terrible for his clients. Luckily for them, I do know everything about the community, and they and their agent had a lot of questions that I was happy to supply them with. However, those Buyers will be out of luck on any of the homes he was showing them where the Listing Agent was not there.

If you are an out-of-the-area agent, send us your buyers, and we’ll take excellent care of them and send you a referral fee.

If you are a Buyer with a friend who is a Realtor that you want to be part of the deal, have them contact us. We’ll take care of you and your Realtor friend. You’ll get the representation you deserve and your friend will have done the right thing by you and get a referral fee.

From Sheri Dettman
In Info For Buyers, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog
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