Le Vallauris Wine Dinner
Wines of the Santa Barbara County
Celebrating Babcock Winery !
Hosted by Master Sommelier Reggie Narito Jr
Executive Chef Jean Paul Lair
Wine Dinner
Mise en Bouche
Dungeness Blue Crab and Corn Cappuccino
2014 Sauvignon Blanc, Simpatico, Estate Grown, Sta. Rita Hills
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Appetizer
Hudson Valley Duck Foie Gras and Oregon Chanterelle Ravioli
With Truffle Parmesan Creamy sauce
2014 Chardonnay, The Limit, Radian Vineyard-Block 31, Sta. Rita Hills
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Main Course
Seared Venison Tournedos sauce Poivrade
or
Roasted Chilean Sea Bass on Braised Rainbow
Carrot and Asparagus
2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, Block 15, Estelle Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley
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Stuffed Pear with Bleu d’Auvergne and Walnut
Slice of Heaven, Rita’s Crown Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills
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Dessert
Lime and Pineapple Parfait
2013 Late Harvest Pinot Gris, Naughty Little Nectar, Estate Grown, Sta. Rita Hills
Price: $96.00 plus gratuity & tax
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The patio seats 150 people, but retains the intimate feeling of dining at a friend’s elegant home. Indoors, the Spanish adobe walls are a gentle green, accented by rich red upholstered chairs and banquette seating. In keeping with French tradition, Le Vallauris’ menu is handwritten on to a board presented to your table on an easel, like a painting. And Le Vallauris’ menu of French, Mediterranean, and Californian cuisine is indeed a work of art: Items change by the day and season, and include gourmet offerings like red beet raspberry gazpacho, duck breast with white port reduction, grilled lamb loin with mint garlic olive oil ratatouille, and Grand Marnier soufflé with vanilla créme anglaise. Le Vallauris’ classy yet approachable atmosphere derives from the happy memories that inhabit its abode. The restaurant is snug inside a 1927 Mediterranean/Spanish Revival three-bedroom house is surrounded by a wall made of native stone. And if these walls could talk, the stories they would tell … before it was open to the public, grand parties here sparkled with names like Lena Horne, Patti Page, Buddy Rogers, Desi Arnez, Lucille Ball, Peggy Lee, Sophie Tucker, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Mary Martin, Mae West, and many more. If you inhale deeply in the lounge area, you could almost make out the fragrance of General Patton’s cigars he often smoke here. Le Vallauris’ history begins in 1908, when pioneers Dr. Harry Coffman and wife Nellie purchased the property across the street, near where the 
The Coffman’s marriage quickly dissolved when the entrepreneurial and bull-headed Nellie decided in 1915 that Palm Springs appealed to a much wider audience than merely the ill. She actively promoted a “no invalid” policy for The Desert Inn that excluded those afflicted with any communicable disease whatsoever. The good doctor moved his practice down The Coachella Valley rather than butt heads with his tough-as-nails wife. After all, you don’t mess with a woman who, as a young girl, had migrated with her family from Indiana to Texas in an open ox wagon. By the 1920s, Nellie’s iron-willed vision made The Desert Inn famous around the world. She alone was almost solely responsible for putting Palm Springs on the tourist map. Hollywood celebrities peppered the inn, the Vanderbilt and Hearst families used it for vacations, and even 
The fabled Desert Inn finally closed its doors in 1955, a few years after Nellie’s death. Its historic structures were completely razed in 1967 to make way for the megalithic eyesore that was the Desert Fashion Plaza shopping mall. The only legacy still standing from The Desert Inn era is the home built by Nellie’s son George B. Roberson in 1927 – the same year The Desert Inn reopened in all its Spanish stucco glory. Roberson and his half-brother, O. Earl Coffman managed the inn alongside their mother/boss for more than 40 years. Le Vallauris inhabits the actual home where George and his family spent many happy decades watching Palm Springs boom and mature into a major destination. The pioneering Nellie was beloved by all of Palm Springs, and everyone called her Mother Coffman. A local school is now named in her honor. Nellie, George, and Earl (pictured below) are all buried just a few blocks from Le Vallauris, in the Welwood Murray Cemetery on West Chino Drive. You can almost feel them smiling as you sit down to eat at the magnificent restaurant they helped make possible. %20and%20George%20Roberson.jpg)
Le Vallauris is located at 385 West Tahquitz Way, just behind downtown Palm Springs. It’s open seven days a week from 11:30AM to 2:30PM, and from 5PM to 10:30PM. Starting October 14th, Executive Chef Jean Paul Lair will personally teach cooking classes on every second Monday at 10:30AM.
Le Vallauris Restaurant 