Nestled up against the mountain in ever-swank Racquet Club Estates, Melvyn's is like an octogenarian party girl that can do a tabletop Lindy without dropping a fully poured dirty martini. On hand are a gang of Brit fashionista showing of their new Trina Turk and fashionable gays talking about their upcoming advertising shoots at the nearby Viceroy. The décor at Melvyn's is half the fun, part funeral parlor and part Liberace, bold enough to preserve the past without feeling the overwhelming need to make every sofa armless, every tabletop marble and every wall some sort of stacked stone like almost every other new Palm Springs eatery.
The Food
A lunch brunch and dinner menu comes two ways, namely heavy and heavier. Appetizers are pure French bistro with dishes like fried brie with jelly, escargot in puffy pastry, Mexican-style Baja crepe stuffed with lobster and Fettuccine for one with bay shrimp cream sauce. Lackluster salads, which anyone under 200-lbs will be too full to consume following an appetizer, are best skipped for a homemade gazpacho or French onion soup. Main course is a classic Chicken Napoleon topped with mozzarella béchamel sauce, roasted rack of lamb for two carved tableside or Sinatra’s favorite Steak Diane with red wine demi-glaze.
Last Word
The music in the lounge, which is often muted by complaining guests, slowly gets turned-up throughout the night as even local come to rediscover this still retro and thoroughly chic boutique lounge.
