In 2020 Palm Desert let restaurants build dining decks in the public right of way. Six years on, two of those decks are still in use. One sits outside Kitchen 86 on El Paseo. The other belongs to Little Bar on the Highway 111 frontage road. Under the current program, both would have to come down by June 30, 2027.
On Oct. 8 the City Council told staff to keep building a permanent program to replace the temporary one. In that study session, Palm Desert began planning El Paseo and Highway 111 as two different kinds of street. The way the fall's restaurant changes have landed follows the same divide.
Two Decks Out of a 2020 Idea
Last spring there were three participants. According to The Palm Desert Post's June 11 report, Piero's PizzaVino on El Paseo had already taken its deck down by choice, Kitchen 86 was fully compliant and expected to keep going, and Little Bar was working through a compliance question with the city. That night the council voted 4-1 to extend the temporary program through June 30, 2027, and asked staff to draft a permanent replacement.
Little Bar owner Skip Paige spoke at that meeting. He told the council he had carried the correct insurance and paid the city's fees every year since building the deck in 2021. "People like what I have," he said, as quoted in the Post. "And I want the deck." In October, Little Bar was still one of the two restaurants using public right of way.
Patios that sit wholly on private property are not part of this question. They stay permitted whatever the council decides. Only seating built out into public space is at stake.
What the Council Looked At on Oct. 8
The permanent version works differently from the pandemic decks. A restaurant that wanted to put tables on the public sidewalk in front of it would have to build a replacement walkway out in the street, usually across parking spaces. The Palm Desert Post's account of the study session says the goal is to keep seating attached to the restaurant so servers never cross a public sidewalk. Deputy Director of Development Services Carlos Flores said that makes alcohol-service rules easier to meet and handles accessibility at the same time.
The city hired a consultant, on a contract worth just under $40,000, to design these walkways with removable pedestal pavers. The consultant delivered three options.
| Design | What it adds | Where it came up |
|---|---|---|
| Option one | Wheel stops at both ends of the walkway | General concept |
| A2 | Wheel stops plus a white stripe and vertical delineator posts | Mayor Evan Trubee and Councilmember Jan Harnik favored it for El Paseo |
| Option three | A ramp, for longer restaurant frontages | Wider storefronts |
Early estimates put a 120-square-foot replacement sidewalk at $12,000 to $21,000, depending on features such as planters and specialty materials. Staff will also decide whether to keep the current annual fee of $7.08 per square foot. The program would run on ongoing, revocable licenses with periodic review, and restaurant operators would draw up their own plans.
Some on the council wanted to see it before deciding. Councilmembers Karina Moreno and Gina Nestande said the layouts were hard to picture. Flores said staff had held off on renderings until the council chose a direction, and had found no examples elsewhere of sidewalks like these built next to moving traffic.
Highway 111 Got Its Own Answer
The part of the discussion that reaches past these two restaurants came from Mayor Pro Tem Joe Pradetto and Councilmember Harnik. They said the frontage road near Little Bar is very different from El Paseo and probably needs its own approach. Pradetto put it this way, per the Post: visitors on that stretch are headed to specific destinations, not strolling from shop to shop.
Geometry is a factor too. The frontage roads use angled parking, so a walkway there could take one more space than the same walkway on El Paseo.
Flores summed up the direction as A2 for El Paseo, with restaurants elsewhere able to join through designs fitted to their own sites. El Paseo would get one standard look suited to a walking street, while each Highway 111 site would be worked out on its own terms.
There was disagreement. Moreno opposed moving ahead and questioned whether two participants justified the staff time.
Moreno argued that the program "has fizzled" and that calling it permanent could mislead restaurant operators, because the state rules behind these setups keep being extended.
Flores also said PizzaVino and Little Bar had both signaled the new approach might not work for them, that Kitchen 86 could relocate its setup, and that no other restaurant had expressed interest. As it stands, the permanent program has one likely participant, on El Paseo.
This Fall's Openings Show the Same Divide
On El Paseo, the newest arrival sits inside a walking-oriented shopping center. Yozu Asian Bistro took over the former Shorebird space at The Shops on El Paseo. The Palm Springs Tribune reported in August that it was set to open Aug. 26, with a menu covering Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Southeast Asian dishes plus sushi, sake and cocktails. The menu was developed by the culinary team behind Mole Mexican Kitchen and Wild Thyme Group. By early September, The Desert Sun was listing Yozu as a new August restaurant on El Paseo. The restaurant's own site gives the address as 73-061 El Paseo, Suite 8.
Highway 111 changed in two ways this fall, and both involve destination stops.
- Red Lobster at Highway 111 and Fred Waring closed in early September. KESQ reported on Aug. 24 that employees expected the last day around Sept. 6 or 7. The restaurant had opened in June 2012.
- One More Bite Dumpling House has been promised for about a year at 73547 Highway 111 in the Jensen's shopping center. KESQ's Oct. 9 story traced the delay to permit paperwork. City records show the Palm Desert permit was created May 1 and issued Aug. 18. At that point the restaurant still needed another fire inspection and a county health inspection. Luyi Deng, who runs the company's social media, told the station the Palm Desert location could open by the end of October.
"Tell them that we are coming," Deng told KESQ. A dumpling house in a Highway 111 shopping center fits the kind of destination stop Pradetto was describing.
What Stays the Same Through Next Summer
Through June 30, 2027, both remaining decks can stay under the extended temporary program. That covers Kitchen 86 on El Paseo and Little Bar on the Highway 111 frontage road.
Staff plans to come back with rules before the temporary program ends. That draft will show whether El Paseo gets A2 walkways with wheel stops, a white stripe and delineator posts, and whether any restaurant other than Kitchen 86 wants to build one. For Highway 111, the case-by-case path means any future curbside seating there will be negotiated one site at a time.
This evening, Thursday, Oct. 29, the city's free Concerts in the Park series wraps up with MJ Vibes at 6 p.m. at Civic Center Park, at the northeast corner of San Pablo Avenue and Fred Waring Drive. Fred Waring runs down to Highway 111 at the corner Red Lobster left empty in September, and from there it is a short drive to either deck.
When the city is deciding what El Paseo's curb will look like, the street's direction matters to anyone who owns a condo or home a few blocks away. If you own near El Paseo or Highway 111 and want to know how the street around you is changing, the Darcey Deetz Team follows these decisions block by block. Request your free home valuation and we'll show you where your property fits in that picture.
