Sirocco
Taste Italy at The Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa

Enjoying a glass of wine in one of Sirocco’s dining rooms are Executive Chef Livio Massignani and Pastry Chef Margherita Massignani with General Manager Ryan Duffy.

Italy’s regions contain a complexity of cultures that have influenced this ancient country for centuries. Its north, central, and southern cuisines reflect subtle presences of Turkish, Greek, Arabian, African, and European cultures that have woven themselves by conquest, invasion, or proximity into Italy’s culinary fabric. Italy’s gifts of land and sea are the threads from which this tempting tapestry is created.

Named for the North African wind that whips through the Mediterranean, at Sirocco you are invited to explore Italy to your heart’s content. With more than 25 years experience, Chef Livio Massignani and his wife, Pastry Chef Margherita, present authentic cuisine from the northern reaches of Tuscany, their native central Venice, to southern Naples and the Captiva Islands. Guests may order from the menu or from their own memories a dish that translates their dream of Italy. Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. try the Taste of Sirocco for $23.95 that offers a trio of pasta or risottos, dessert, and a glass of select wine.

Seafood such as found in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas, olive oils, fresh garden vegetables and herbs, pastas, gnocchi, raviolis, and sumptuous risottos to naturally aged beef and tender veal, tempered with a light sorbet intermezzo, and finished with a prized fresh fruit gelato or pastry puff drizzled with chocolate and toasted almonds, the Massignanis deliver a bounty of Italian delights.

A Wine Spectator award winner for the past five years, Sirocco’s cellars boast hundreds of top Italian, Californian, and international vintages.

The restaurant, located in the lower level of the hotel’s atrium, overlooks a sparkling lake and Indian Wells Golf Resort greens. Floor-to-ceiling windows are topped with a Tuscan gold valance. Soft glowing candles illuminate a collection of colorful handblown glass bottles. The noiseless carpet crested with grape motifs, gracefully curved armchairs and banquettes in deep wine tones create a gracious elegance. In addition to two main dining areas, the Mistral private dining room seats up to 16.

Sirocco is open nightly from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Reservations are strongly recommended.

SHOWN ABOVE: A few of the exquisite creations of Executive Chef Livio Massignani and Pastry Chef Margherita, clockwise from the bottom — an antipasti Carpaccio Casanova, aged beef tenderloin thinly sliced and topped with baby arrugula, bell peppers, and capers sottoli, shaved Parmiggiano Reggiano, and drizzled with white truffle oil vinaigrette; Panna Cotta alla Veneta, vanilla brandy custard served with melted Italian chocolate and toasted almonds; Carnevale in Venezia for Two, mixed seafood grill of grilled whole lobster, fresh fettuccine in a spicy tomato basil sauce, grilled jumbo prawns, pan-seared medallion of wild sea bass, and crab cake, served with spicy roasted bell pepper sauce and clarified butter. Photographed before a charming sidewalk café tucked away somewhere in Tuscany.

“Experience the subtle nuances of Italy’s ancient, culturally intertwined culinary history.”

MENU HIGHLIGHTS

ANTIPASTI
Carpaccio Casanova — Aged Prime Beef Tenderloin
Gamberetti Piccanti — Spicy Sautéed Shrimp
Tortino Di Granchio Al Forno — Fresh Dungeness Crab Cake
Grigliatina Di Scampi — Grilled Scampi
Insalate and Bruschette Pomodori Con Cipolle Dolci E Gorgonzola — Tomato Salad with candied pecans and Gorgonzola
Granceola All Veneziana — Fresh Daily Catch Crab Meat Salad

PASTE & RISOTTI
Tortelloni Di Zucca Al Burro E Salvia — Pumpkin Ravioli with Butter-Sage Sauce
Tagliolini Vegetariani — Thin Saffron Fettuccine tossed with Grilled Vegetables
Lasagna Del Doge — Lobster Lasagna
Trenette Alla Gondoliera — Saffron Fettuccine tossed with Shrimp, Lobster, and Crab

DESSERTS
I Dolci by Margherita
II Nostro Tiramisú — Coffee and Rum-soaked Ladyfingers layered with Mascarpone and Vanilla Grand Mariner Sauce
Cioccolato Esmeralda — House Specialty Chocolate Mousse
Torta Al Cioccolato E Lamponi — Chocolate Raspberry Marmalade Cake

BEST OF THE CELLAR

RED WINES
Gaja, “Gromis,” Barolo, 2000
Argiano “Solengo,” Super Tuscan, 2004
Showket, Oakville, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004

WHITE WINES
Jermann, Venice, Chardonnay, 2005
Ca’ Del Bosco, Lombardi, Chardonnay, 2003
Pahlmeyer, Napa, Chardonnay, 2005
Grgich Hills, Carneros Selection, 2006

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING WINES
Castello Banfi, Piemonte, Italy, “Brachetto Di Acqui”
Louis Roederer, France, “Cristal,” 2000

SIROCCO
AT THE RENAISSANCE ESMERALDA RESORT & SPA
44-400 INDIAN WELLS LANE
INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA 92210
(760) 773-4444, FAX: (760) 836-1294

More Information - Websites, Maps and Directions

BY PAMELA BIERI
PHOTOGRAPHY: ARTHUR COLEMAN / ASSISTANT: TIM CARTER
FOOD STYLIST: ROLAND BIERI