“Island” Rescue

The Penney features an attractive seating area in Rancho Mirage.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY DESERT ISLAND COUNTRY CLUB

I have passed through the security gate at Desert Island Country Club many times over the past 20 years but never noticed the clubhouse immediately off to the right of the community’s entrance — until my fellow art lover friend Deborah Page invited me to dine there last Wednesday with the club’s new owner, Miguel Nelson.

“You have to meet Miguel,” she insisted. “He has a new vision for this place, and he loves art like us.”

Desert Island opened in 1971, after Thunderbird Country Club member L.L. “Red” Oakes drilled a well that created the oasis, located at the corner of Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope drives in Rancho Mirage. Desmond Muirhead, one of golf’s best-known architects, designed the championship course and populated the 160-acre property with hundreds of palm trees.

Nelson, a Tucson, Arizona native who lives in Santa Monica and owns private event spaces in L.A. with his wife, Sherry Walsh, bought Desert Island last December and has since opened it to the public.

Last month, he revealed the club’s new dining concept, The Penney, named for the late desert landscape painter and one-time Desert Island resident Frederick Doyle Penney.

One of his still-life paintings of potted black-eyed Susans welcomes guests to the restaurant. This is where Page and I met Nelson for dinner. He was waiting for us at the far corner table, outside on the terrace, under misters, enjoying the view of the lake and mountains. A lightly amplified soundtrack added a hip texture to the space.

After a round of cocktails, which emerged from the swanky sunken bar, we indulged in a meal prepared by chef Jon Butler, who previously worked at Mr. Lyons Steakhouse in Palm Springs and several fine restaurants in Europe and Los Angeles.