A much better Palm Desert dining experience

Last year, we stayed at the Palm Desert Embassy Suites on our way back home from Tucson. We’re here again, this time on our way to Tucson (let no one claim that we’re in a rut!), but fortunately, we did much better for dinner this time than last.

We dined at No-Da-Te, chosen by the scientific method of taking the first Asian restaurant we saw while walking down El Paseo. The salad, miso soup, and sashimi were excellent; the chicken teriyaki was only OK. I’d go back, but only for the fish.

Earlier today, we’d eaten at the Mountain Crossing Restaurant in Tehachapi; it was a fairly typical coffee shop — the people were very friendly, the food was OK (if a bit greasy). We were in Tehachapi because we decided to avoid the Grapevine — instead, we got off I-5 at SR 58 and took it all the way to SR 14, which brought us down to SR 138, which eventually met I-15, then I-215, and finally I-10. The way we went was 10 miles longer than the obvious route over the Grapevine, but most of it was also more relaxing. And, thanks to the miracle of XM, we had things to listen to the whole way, mostly Radio Hanukkah (I especially enjoyed the “Lights of Broadway” this morning), even though we were on the wrong side of the mountains for LA stations much of the time.