Palm Springs Life / Desert Guide / August 2010 / World Cuisine and Mediterranean Luxury

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World Cuisine and Mediterranean Luxury

Bellatrix At The Classic Club

With a commanding view of the Classic Club’s championship 18-hole golf course and Little Chocolate Mountains beyond, Bellatrix restaurant offers a stunning location on the second floor of the Tuscan-styled clubhouse. Owned by The H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation and managed by Troon Golf, Bellatrix specializes in weddings, charitable golf, social, community, and business events, placing itself in the matrix of sought-after locales.

Bellatrix offers a balance of steaks, burgers, fresh fish and other American classics, with Mediterranean and Asian flavors to compose a varied world cuisine. Banquet and special-event menus are flexible, creative, and well priced with group food and beverage packages.

Executive Chef Gregg Monette has collaborated with some of the finest chefs in the world, including Roy Yamaguchi, founder of Roy’s Restaurants. Combining fresh ingredients and allowing flavors to harmonize naturally is a technique Monette learned during his training in France and experience in New York and Pebble Beach.
Extensive wines complement the Bellatrix menu with an array of California chardonnays, pinot noirs, and cabernets, including 34 selections by the glass. In addition to great California vintners are elegant boutique wineries like Summerland in Santa Barbara and Domaine Drouhin from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. A full selection of specialty cocktails and beers are available, as well as an appetizing bar menu.

Offering gracious atmosphere with sun-warm walls, generous dark wood armchairs, and sandalwood linen tables, Bellatrix’s Mediterranean decor flows from wine-themed paintings to the wood-and-glass walled wine cellar; a blue velvet curtain separates the dining room from a wood-paneled bar. A covered terrace and outdoor seating, accessed from several arched glass doorways, wraps around the restaurant.

Open for lunch daily from 11 a.m. and dinner Tuesday through Saturday beginning at 5 p.m. Banquet facilities are available for pre-booked special events. Classic Club’s award winning golf course is designed by Arnold Palmer and was recognized in 2009 by Golfweek as #8 in the State of California “America’s Best Courses.”

Shown in photo below: A few examples of the elegant cuisine created by Executive Chef Gregg Monette from the extensive menu at Bellatrix, clockwise from bottom left — a starter of Ahi Poki, pickled ginger and cucumber salad with wasabi tobiko caviar; USDA Prime Grade Barrel-Cut Filet Mignon with Grilled Jumbo Shrimp over spinach, peas, asparagus, lump crab, and lemon-butter risotto; Seared Chilean Sea Bass with jade pesto, jasmine rice, shrimp shumai, and lemon-soy vinaigrette; and Crunchy Sea Bass Taco, red onion and cabbage slaw, chipotle cream, and smashed avocado in a warm flour tortilla. The suggested wines are Nickel & Nickel Medina Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Chardonnay, 2007; and Mumm, Napa, Brut Prestige Sparkling Wine. Wines also shown are DANA, Dana Estates, St. Helena, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006, and Caymus Vineyards, Napa Valley, Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007.

Bellatrix At The Classic Club
75200 Classic Club Blvd.
Palm Desert, CA 92211
760-601-3690
www.classicclubgolf.com