Wally's Desert Turtle, Palm Springs

If you’re going to do expensive, this is probably the most expensive, certainly the most ostentatious, restaurant in the desert. But it has the food to match. The oft-awarded continental menu includes seared filet of Loch Duart salmon, with braised salsify, balsamic reduction and fried shallots; sautéed imported Dover sole, served amandine or meuniere, and roasted Colorado rack of lamb with herb potato pancake, garlic confit and ratatouille, fresh rosemary and thyme jus. But this is a place to see and be seen, and it’s difficult to concentrate on the food, what with the beveled mirrors on the ceilings reflecting off the beveled mirrors on the pillars, and the huge hand-painted murals vying for attention.

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