Sunset Magazine, You Screwed Up

I’m a big fan of Sunset magazine, but when I got the most recent issue, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. Truthfully, it’s just about two little things about which I know a lot about. Date shakes and burgers. I love them both. Profusely. So, I have to disagree with the editor’s top pick’s in the July 2011 Sunset issue’s piece, “The West’s Best Road Food.” Are the best shakes really at Shield’s Date Garden in Indio? Delicious? Yes. Creamy? Check. Can be paired with a free screening of The Romance and Sex Life of the Date? Absolutely. But they are NOT the best in the desert. That accolade goes to the Windmill Market & Produce in Desert Hot Springs/North Palm Springs on a deserted, almost dirt road, with a sign that reads, “Best Shakes in the Desert” or something like that. It’s true too. I’d drive far, far out of my way to get their date shake, made with REAL dates, I might add, not just date crystals.

Photo by Andrea Gómez Romero for Sunset

Secondly, Manny’s Buckhorn Tavern is listed over Owl Cafe for best burger of the West (ironically these two restaurants make the two best burgers I’ve ever had in my life and they are across the street from each other in San Antonio, NM, which has just that–one street.) OK, it’s not as bad as the date shake mistake, in which Windmill didn’t even get listed, but I’m a little miffed. No burger I’ve ever tasted in my 30 something years of existence has matched the burger perfection that is an Owl Cafe burger. Manny’s is pretty good but…I’m clearly partial to the Owl. Been going since I was about 12 years old after swim meets in Socorro. Damn! I miss that place.