Palm Springs’ celebrated 4 Saints, Juniper Table, High Bar and Window Bar debut new food and beverage menus from newly minted Executive Chef Troy Thompson and Lead Bartender Mary Valdez. The duo’s arrival and revamped menus, set against the backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains, build on the buzz surrounding the four bar and culinary concepts within Kimpton The Rowan Palm Springs.
In his new role, Thompson marries his love of simple, seasonal preparations and clean, Mediterranean flavors with native Coachella Valley ingredients including oro blanco grapefruit, prickly pear and wild juniper, further honing 4 Saints’ elevated take on desert dining. New additions to the menu at the rooftop restaurant are seasonal vegetable preparations such as Charred Broccolini with minted red quinoa salad, heirloom tomato, melted tomato jam and Cedar-Roasted Carrots with glazed honey, cumin, sorrel emulsion; shareable, Mediterranean-inspired small plates like Crispy Spanish Octopus with minted pea, blue potato salad, yuzu, greens; and entrees like Local Superior Lamb with roasted spaghetti squash, cippolini onions and Confit Duck Strozzapreti with San Marzano tomatoes, maitake mushrooms, fresh basil.
Thompson has evolved the all-day menu at the property’s ground-level eatery Juniper Table to include the Impossible Burger with roasted garlic vegenaise, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, potato bun, fries—also available on Window Bar’s bar bites menu—and dinner specials like Yogurt-Marinated Chicken with hominy succotash, summer corn grits.
Thompson’s 30-year career includes executive chef positions at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and The Beverly Hilton Hotel. In 2007 he founded a hospitality business called T.N.T. Global Inc. and consulted for a wide range of clients, from Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Hotel to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Most recently, he was executive chef at the Majestic Hotel in Yosemite.
Valdez comes to Palm Springs from Outpost in Santa Barbara with an affinity for distilled agave spirits and tiki cocktails. Working with Beverage Director Andy Nelson, Valdez is shaking up the beverage menus at the lobby-adjacent Window Bar, rooftop High Bar and 4 Saints with a “farm-to-bar” approach, utilizing California produce at its peak to make house-made fruit syrups and shrubs.
At 4 Saints’ adjacent poolside High Bar—the only rooftop bar in Palm Springs—there’s a focus on tiki, agave and produce-focused cocktails such as the Island Vibes with Banks 5 Island Rum, Pusser’s British Navy Rum, Banane du Brésil, fresh lemon, homemade macadamia orgeat, Drink Your Greens with El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Sotol Por Siempre, cucumber, roasted jalapeno, pineapple, fresh lime, and Tom Kha-Lada with vodka, lemongrass, yuzu, kaffir lime, ginger, coconut.
