For about a year, a storefront in the Jensen's shopping center on Highway 111 had a sign promising a One More Bite Dumpling House. The steamers never turned on. In October, KESQ reported that the delay had little to do with the kitchen or the lease. According to the owners, the building plans had not been filed with the city when they believed they had.
That storefront fits the pattern of Palm Desert's restaurant news this fall. The changes on El Paseo and Highway 111 took a long time to arrive. A deli spent 16 months finding a smaller room. A new bistro moved into a space another restaurant had left. A Chinese restaurant ended a run of more than three decades. Here is what changed on Palm Desert's restaurant map, and how long each change took.
What a year behind a sign looked like
One More Bite already runs five restaurants, in Loma Linda, Wildomar, San Marcos, Chino and Yucaipa. Its specialty is xiao long bao, the handmade Shanghainese soup dumpling. Luyi Deng runs the company's social media and is married to one of the owners. She told KESQ the Yucaipa location opened in about five months because the company took over an existing restaurant. The two desert locations have taken the longest of any.
The timeline below follows KESQ's October 9 report, which checked the owners' account against city permit records:
- July or August 2025: The company signs leases for a Palm Desert storefront and a second one on South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.
- October 2025: The owners hire an outside draftsman to prepare the building plans and submit the permit applications.
- Early 2026: The owners go to City Hall in person and learn that the plans had not been filed.
- April 2026: The company starts paying rent on both spaces.
- May 1, 2026: Palm Desert creates the permit for 73547 Highway 111.
- August 18, 2026: Palm Desert issues that permit. Next come a fire alarm review, another fire inspection and a county health inspection.
KESQ asked Deng what she wanted people driving past the empty storefronts to know. She answered:
"Tell them that we are coming."
Deng also said city staff in both Palm Desert and Palm Springs had been "wonderful." She added that she regretted putting up signs and posting videos so early. When the company posted an explanation on Instagram, it drew hundreds of likes and comments, most of them supportive.
The October target slipped again. On November 6, KESQ reported that the owners had set a soft opening for Thursday, November 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., at 73547 Highway 111 near San Pablo Avenue. The Palm Springs location is further behind. Its patio drawings were still in corrections in October, partly because the building is the 1951 Oasis Commercial Building, a Class 1 historic site.
J's Deli used its 16 months to get smaller
The other long wait this fall ended on El Paseo. J's Deli closed in the historic One El Paseo building in June 2025. In their Desert Sun interview, owners Jay and Vanessa Rubenstein said they told regulars they would do "something else, somewhere else" and told many of them "we'll be back." About 16 months later they reopened at 73-655 El Paseo, in the former Sweet Basil California Eatery space, less than three-quarters of a mile west of the original.
The new J's is a different restaurant in some ways. The Desert Sun reported that the menu is about 60% shorter and the room has about a third as many seats as the original. The long bar and the big dining room are gone. Rubenstein said the smaller format allows faster service while everything is still made to order. "The food really tastes the same as people remember," he told the paper.
The matzo ball soup and the Reubinski, which combines pastrami and corned beef, are both still on the menu. New additions include chicken schnitzel and braised short rib. The restaurant's online ordering menu lists the Reubinski at $23.50 and the matzah ball soup at $10.50. Some details carried over from the first location, including the vintage photographs on the walls, the black-and-white dining chairs and a smaller dessert case with a similar selection of cakes. The menu still covers breakfast through dinner, from omelets and berry French toast to steak frites, chicken pot pie and baked salmon.
Yozu put its sushi bar upstairs
Yozu Asian Bistro opened at 73-061 El Paseo in late summer, in the former Shorebird space at The Shops on El Paseo. It was announced for an August 26 opening, and The Desert Sun listed it among new restaurants by early September. According to the Palm Springs Tribune, the restaurant comes from the team behind Mole and Wild Thyme Group.
The building has two separate experiences. The main floor serves shareable dishes, including wok-fired shaking beef, Kurobuta pork-belly fried rice, citrus achiote pad thai, Korean fried wings, sticky ribs and pork-belly buns. Upstairs is Cherry Blossoms, an open sushi bar that serves only hand rolls and nigiri, with a curated sake list. On the late-August menu posted to OpenTable, hand rolls run $10 to $11 and cut rolls $15 to $24.
Yozu's OpenTable page takes reservations and lists these hours:
- Sunday and Monday, 4 to 9 p.m.
- Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Yozu opens for lunch five days a week. It is closed for lunch on Sundays and Mondays.
The east end of El Paseo gets an evening spot
Not every change on El Paseo this fall was a restaurant. Patrick Masur opened Rock'N Avenue at 73-730 El Paseo, and The Desert Sun quoted one of his opening videos: "We woke up this side of El Paseo." Despite the rock theme, the room is a sleek lounge with a VIP room. Its walls are covered in screens that show football on weekends and music videos the rest of the week. Each night has a music theme. Monday is country, Tuesday is Latin music, and classic rock plays on Thursdays and Fridays. The full schedule is on Rock'N Avenue's Instagram page.
Retail also arrived on El Paseo. FP Movement, Free People's activewear brand, opened October 1 at 73545 El Paseo in a 2,297-square-foot store. It is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
City Wok ended a run of more than three decades
The longest-running change this fall was a closing. City Wok, the Palm Desert Chinese restaurant, closed in early September. Owner Stuart Davis told NBC Palm Springs on September 28 that it had closed about three weeks earlier. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant gave free meals to frontline workers. Davis told NBC Palm Springs he is now focusing on his other franchises and new projects.
The City Wok name is still around. The Desert Sun reported that the sister restaurant in Studio City is still open, along with counter-service versions at Denver International Airport and a travel center in western Kansas.
What the fall map looks like now
Add it up and Palm Desert lost a restaurant that had been open for more than three decades and gained a deli that came back with fewer seats and a shorter menu. Yozu opened for lunch and dinner with its sushi bar upstairs, and Rock'N Avenue opened as an evening lounge. A dumpling house on Highway 111 set a soft opening date after a year of waiting on permits. The Reubinski is back on El Paseo, at 73-655, less than a mile west of where it used to be.
Restaurant openings and closings change how a street works day to day, and Team Michael pays attention to those changes across the Coachella Valley. If you own a home within walking distance of El Paseo or the Highway 111 corridor and want to know what that location is worth this season, Team Michael Keller Williams Luxury can help. Request your free home valuation and we will walk you through how your block compares.
