Old Town La Quinta

The closest good dinner to most La Quinta rentals

Old Town La Quinta is a compact block of restaurants, patios and small shops at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains, a short distance from the Cove. It was built as a walkable core rather than grown into one: a couple of lanes, passages between the buildings, outdoor tables at nearly every door.

That layout is what makes it work for a group. Nobody has to settle on one restaurant before leaving the house. You park once and sort it out on foot, which is harder than it sounds anywhere else in these towns, where dinner usually means committing to a specific address and a specific parking lot before you go.

It is small, and it does not pretend otherwise. This is not El Paseo. A few blocks is the entire thing, and you will have seen all of it in one evening.

November through April on the patios is the entire point

The mountains sit directly behind the buildings, and the light on that rock face at the end of the day is why people stay at the table longer than they meant to. Through the cool months the evenings here are about as good as outdoor dining gets in California, and the patios stay full because of it.

Summer is another matter. The outdoor seating is unusable through the hottest months, some places pull back their hours, and the block goes quiet. If you are here in July, eat at the house and come into Old Town earlier in the day instead.

There is a farmers market in Old Town during the cool season, usually Sunday mornings, which is worth building a trip around if you plan to cook.

Weekend evenings in high season fill up. Reserve, or eat early. Patio tables turn over more slowly than indoor ones do, so a table taken at seven may still be taken well after eight.