Best restaurants Palm Springs: 10 new places to check out in 2025
Several new restaurants, bars, bakeries, cafes and other eateries opened across the Coachella Valley this year. Here’s a look at a few.
A new Cathedral City cafe serves up French and Italian sandwiches and sweets, influenced by the home countries of its owners.For some customers, listening to the banter behind the counter is half the fun of a visit. “You have to feel like home,” one of the owners says.
“Bonjour, monsieur!” Candice Levy calls to a customer entering Les Filles Cafe & More on a Tuesday morning.
The cafe, which has been open for about three months in Cathedral City, has a steady stream of customers enjoying its French and Italian fares throughout the morning. Its four seating areas are filled at 9 a.m. Levy stands behind the register while her wife, Paola Balbini, prepares sandwiches made on freshly baked focaccia and baguettes.
Les Filles is filled with chatter — much of it coming from Levy and Balbini themselves. Some customers listen in on their banter rather than speaking with each other. They let customers taste test some of their goods, like cookies or pistachio butter.
Levy is French and Balbini is Italian. While both were on vacation, they met 18 years ago at a lesbian-friendly bar across the street from where Les Filles now sits. They lived in France for 10 years, then moved to the United States.
When they decided to open a business, the choice of what kind was an easy one.
“We wanted to do everything French or Italian,” Levy said.
The display cases are filled with decadent French and Italian pastries — from cornettos and cannolis to croissants and pain au chocolat. Items imported from France and Italy like coffee beans, chips, cookies and drinks line the shelves.
“If you don’t see, it’s because we already ate. That’s why,” Levy said. “Like my drink Orangina, I love it. That’s why, no more. Done.”
Walking into Les Filles feels like you’ve somehow teleported to Europe from Cathedral City. And that was Levy’s goal when she dreamed it up — to give customers an authentic taste of Italy and France. She said she wanted to share their food with the Coachella Valley.
“She bought me this: ‘Dreams don’t walk unless you do’ you know?” Levy said, pointing to a sign her wife got her. “So that’s my dream — I always wanted to open something and especially here in America.”
Levy has about 35 years of experience in hospitality management and felt like she missed out on important events like birthdays, Christmas and New Year’s while working in the industry. The cafe, which closes at 3 p.m. on the days it’s open, allows her to spend more time with her wife and their 13-year-old son.
Bambini is only at the cafe to offer Levy a helping hand. She constructed it with her mom and it took about three months to get it ready to open. She said she has already accomplished her dreams — being a web designer and mother. It was Levy’s turn.
“She likes to eat. She likes (to) taste — too much maybe,” Levy said. “And for now, yeah, she’s helping me out and after we will see.”
“Now I’m stuck!” Balbini interjected. “Until we will be very good.”
Like at authentic cafes located in Italy or France, customers won’t find coffee flavoring, mustard, mayonnaise or ketchup at Les Filles. Balbini said if an Italian came and saw her put mustard with mortadella, they would think “Ah, they are not Italian. It’s just for money.”
But she said they aren’t doing it for money. They simply love to share their cuisine.
Their sandwiches are made up of ingredients imported from France or Italy, like their olive oil that is made at Bambini’s home in Italy. Customers can order authentic sandwiches like the “Le Parisien” filled with ham, french butter and gruyere or the focaccia caprese filled with mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and oregano.
Levy said they don’t operate like other businesses in America. They tell customers “no.”
She recalled one customer who wanted to add spicy salami to their order of “Le Parisien.” Levy declined because she felt it would muddle the flavor. The customer, after trying it, agreed.
“That’s exactly the way we eat in Italy or in France, exactly the same way,” Levy said. “People (who) travel sometime in France or Italy — they recognize the flavor.”
And Levy said customers are pleased to have something new and different in the valley. They’ve ordered more tables because they need additional seating. She wanted it to become a spot for locals, somewhere they could drop by during their lunch break or after shopping at the grocery store.
“We wanted to do for locals, especially. If we have tourists, we happy,” she said. “But more for local people because like this we can interact with people, you know.”
Bambini said they want to make a happy environment for customers — even if it means putting flowers she doesn’t like on the tables.
“You have to feel like home. You want to dance, you want to singing, you want to do bad words — (ask) how can we say this in Italian?” Bambini said. “Come, don’t be shy.”
Levy said she’s enjoying being her own boss and interacting with customers.
“I’m happy because it worked and people like (the cafe),” she said. “That’s the most important.”
Bambini said “it’s like magic” when Italians tell her their cafe is better than some places in Italy.
“Like this, you don’t have to take the flight, go in Italy and come back — it’s less expensive (to) come to us,” she said.
Les Filles is located in the same plaza as Target and Trader Joe’s at 67-730 East Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 103 in Cathedral City. It’s open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Ani Gasparyan covers the western Coachella Valley cities of Desert Hot Springs and Cathedral City. Reach her at ani.gasparyan@desertsun.com.
Dining and Cooking