Italica $$-$$$

2 min read

This is my first of what I hope will be many restaurant reviews for our PCMA website.

Italica has a vibe reminding me of an Italian supper club in the 1960s. Italica is not the Italy of peasants stomping grapes or Tuscan farmhouses surrounded by picturesque vineyards. Italica’s walls are a gallery of black and white photographs of glamorous people, mostly Italian movie stars exemplifying La Dolce Vita – the sweet life.

Italica is Italian cuisine all the way. There are no hamburgers on this menu. Italian classics with a modern touch are cooked by a Chef formally trained in French techniques. There is also some theater at Italica such as their version of Penne Alla Vodka – penne rigate, guanciale, house arrabbiata sauce, ricotta, evoo, and pecorino romano. Vodka is added and presented flambé style tableside. Some of the other menu items we have enjoyed include the Crudo, the Polpette, Penne Arrabbiata, and the chicken Milanese.

So far, we have now had several dinners including to two special wine dinners very similar to our Barrel Master dinners here at Trilogy. Both dinners were well worth the $99.00 per person price tag.

We have also had dinner at the bar liking various spritz drinks. When requesting a drink that we recently drank in Italy, the bar tender was more than happy to make an elderberry spritz called a Hugo and a Limoncello spritz, a very popular summer drink.

Italica comes highly recommended by us. It’s great to have it in downtown Indio versus Palm Springs.