Roy's Restaurant in Rancho Mirage

I suspect most people have already heard of or even had the pleasure of eating at one of the 33 Roy's Restaurants . If you've watched Chef Masters on T.V. you may have seen him there as one of the contestants. If you've not heard of Roy Yamaguchi, pay attention to this post and make sure you create an opportunity to enjoy a dinner experience at one of his restaurants.



Born and raised in Japan, Roy moved to New York to attend the Culinary Institute of America, graduating at the age of 19. Roy was executive chef of several restaurants before opening his first restaurant in 1984.

Honored early in his career with the prestigious James Beard "Best Pacific Northwest Chef" Award, Yamaguchi has hosted six seasons of the PBS-TV show, Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi seen on more than 300 stations in all 50 states, as well as in over 60 countries. Equally notable, he was a featured chef on the acclaimed TV Food Network program, My Country, My Kitchen which takes viewers back to his roots in Japan.

Yamaguchi has also published three cookbooks; Roy’s Fish and Seafood, Roy’s Feasts from Hawaii and Hawaii Cooks: Flavors from Roy’s Pacific Rim Kitche.

Since I'd already known about Roy Yamaguchi, how could I be there and not go for dinner. Our server, James, was charming, patient and had wonderful suggestions. Share my dinner experience with me.

One of my very favourite things that were packed with a punch. They lasted about 3 minutes in total.



Clever - now I definitely would like a martini... or two. I was moderately concerned about how sweet a Hawaiian martini would be but found myself pleasantly surprised that it wasn't over the top.



We perused the menu. You can have a look at it HERE

The Maui Wowie Shrimp Salad is wonderful as a starter salad and would be welcomed as a lunch entree.



Lobster Bisque was recommended by James (our attentive waiter). He told us it was his favourite. The bisque was flavourful and extremely light to the pallet. Again, I was surprised - my expectation was a heavier, creamy soup.



Have you tried Butterfish? I never had and now know how it gets it's name. The fish is entirely delicate and something you want to stay on your plate for a long time.




It was unfortunate that Roy wasn't at the location the night we were there. I mean, didn't someone tell him we were coming?? :) The atmosphere is low lighting with an open kitchen and fun interactive staff. At no time did we ever feel rushed to leave and our waiter made a point of making sure we were happy every step of the way. Top it all off with a really wonderful dining experience, I "get" why Roy's is a successful restaurant.