Palm Springs' Familiar Restaurant Addresses Have New Names This Fall

When did you last drive down South Indian Canyon Drive and register the old IHOP? It's the planned home of Guamúchil's second location. The former Mario's Italian on South Sunrise Way serves Sardinian pinse now. The poolside room at the Avalon that used to be Chi Chi is Marlowe's, and the dining room at Living Out where Alice B. served its biscuits belongs to Gertie's.

Most of this season's openings went into spaces Palm Springs already knew, a few blocks from where you'd expect them. Only a few came with a brand-new building. That makes the useful version of a fall restaurant guide less a list of discoveries and more an updated key to addresses you already drive past.

Old address, new sign

Here's the map, matched to the names these rooms used to carry.

Seven of the eight sit on Palm Canyon, Indian Canyon, Tahquitz Canyon or a short drive off them. One room in the table is changing hands for a second time, and one restaurant is leaving Uptown for downtown. The next few sections explain how each of those swaps happened, because that tells you what to expect when you walk in.

Two rooms that changed names without going dark

The smoothest handoffs this fall came inside properties that kept their own operations running.

At the Avalon Hotel & Bungalows, Marlowe's took over the space that used to be Chi Chi. The Palm Springs Tribune reported a Friday, October 30 opening, with chef Jeremy Grossman running a California-inspired restaurant and bar that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Avalon's own Marlowe's page lists it as open daily at 415 S. Belardo Road and says local diners are welcome. You don't need a room key for the pool deck at breakfast.

At 1122 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, the change came gradually. Alice B., from chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, opened in 2023 and was recognized in the 2026 Michelin Guide. During the restaurant's summer closure, Gertie's Salon & Bar began operating in the space. In September, Alice B. announced it would not reopen, and according to the Palm Springs Tribune, Gertie's stayed on permanently under the management of the Living Out residential community. The chefs said their catering business would keep operating in the Coachella Valley.

Gertie's is named for Gertrude Stein's Paris salon and runs as a cocktail bar, restaurant and stage, with live music, cabaret, storytelling, comedy and community events. It welcomes visitors from outside the community. The menu is American comfort food with shareable plates: shrimp cocktail, smoked gouda mac and cheese, the Gertie's Burger, and cheddar buttermilk biscuits with cardamom honey. The biscuits are the dish carried over from Alice B. Gertie's advertises dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m., happy hour from 5 to 6:30, an extended drinks-only happy hour on Thursdays, and complimentary valet. The posted schedule is labeled summer hours, so call 760-537-4311 before planning a Tuesday.

Over on South Sunrise Way, cousins Maurizio Tunis and Patrick Abbate had Those Italian Cousins open by late September in the old Mario's Italian space. The family-owned restaurant serves lunch and dinner from Sardinian and Puglian recipes, with pinse, pasta, meat and fish. The address still means Italian. The cooking now comes from a different region.

Saffron's move puts a Persian menu across from the Renaissance

The longest-distance move of the season starts at 1107 N. Palm Canyon Drive in the Uptown Design District. Saffron Restaurant & Lounge opened there in 2024 and served its last night at that address on October 3.

Its new home, per the Palm Springs Tribune, is 777 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 101, in the former Blame It On Midnight space diagonally across from the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel. Saffron's website projects a December 2026 reopening and says the Persian menu, cocktail program and private dining will all return. The restaurant has said it will post the exact date and hours on its site and social media, and reservations are paused until then.

Chef and co-owner Sev Nazarian, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu, built the menu around ghormeh sabzi, zereshk polo, charcoal-grilled kababs and tahdig. If Saffron was part of your Uptown routine, that dinner is moving from North Palm Canyon to Tahquitz Canyon Way downtown.

More new names along Palm Canyon and Indian Canyon

Several more of this season's names were announced for familiar storefronts. Some of the opening windows reported this fall have already come and gone, so check with each business before you go. Either way, the address is the useful thing to know.

• Guamúchil, 471 S. Indian Canyon Drive. The former IHOP is planned as a second location for Mariscos Guamúchil, the seafood, sushi and taco restaurant from Coachella. The Desert Dispatch reported an early-November target.
• One More Bite Dumpling House, 105 S. Palm Canyon Drive, in the former Antigua space. In October, KESQ reported that permitting had held up both the Palm Springs and Palm Desert locations, with Palm Springs projected about two months after Palm Desert.
• Breakfast Republic, 333 S. Palm Canyon Drive, an all-day breakfast and brunch restaurant that the Desert Dispatch reported in September with an October target.
• Clandestino, which already operates at 175 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 160, is expanding into the adjacent former Francesca's boutique.
• Con Amor, Nina y Leon, with a storefront announced at 1775 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 150, where Over the Rainbow used to be.
• R&B Tea, a franchise at 1717 E. Vista Chino serving bubble tea, milk and fruit teas, specialty drinks and Puffle Waffles, which the Palm Springs Tribune reported as planning an October 29 soft opening.

Four of these six reuse a space with a name you'd recognize. Guamúchil in particular reverses the usual pattern, with a Coachella-born local restaurant moving into a building a national chain once held.

The few names that came with no history

A handful of fall arrivals don't trace back to an old tenant, and they stand out because of it.

Bird opened its first official day on September 26 at 211 E. Palm Canyon Drive, near the south end of the downtown strip. It's a daytime café from F10 Hospitality founder Tara Lazar, pouring Onyx Coffee Lab coffee with pastries at launch, plus sandwiches and salads on the way and a wine-bar program planned for evenings. Out east, the Coachella Valley Independent reported Nothing Bundt Cakes open at 5200 E. Ramon Road, Suite G6.

One day on the updated map

Put the confirmed openings together and a full weekday fits inside a few miles of downtown:

1. Coffee at Bird, 211 E. Palm Canyon Drive, for Onyx coffee and a pastry.
2. Lunch at Those Italian Cousins, 425 S. Sunrise Way, in the room that used to be Mario's.
3. Late afternoon at Marlowe's, 415 S. Belardo Road, which serves all day, every day, beside the Avalon pool.
4. Dinner and a show at Gertie's, 1122 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Wednesday through Sunday, starting with the Alice B. biscuits.

Saffron plans to join that route in December at 777 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, across from the Renaissance.

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