A New Restaurant Opens In Downtown Palm Springs

Lulu California Bistro served its first breakfast this morning, and the community couldn’t wait to show their excitement. It’s located on Palm Canyon Drive at Arenas and can hold almost 500 people.

More than 60 people enjoyed the first breakfast served at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Susan Unger used to live in Palm Springs and is now visiting.

“I think Lulu is gonna be a fantastic addition to downtown Palm Springs,” said Unger.

Lulu received a $100,000 reimbursement as part of a city stimulus program that was passed last year because they met the deadline of opening by Aug. 15.

General Manager Willie Rhine says a lot of hard work was put into this project.

“This has been three years in the planning and about six or seven months of construction, so we’ve finally made it. It’s exciting,” said Rhine.

Jerry Keller and his wife, Barbara, are the owners of Aqua Pazza and now Lulu California Bistro. Managers and staff interviewed over 1,000 workers and hired more than 175 people, bringing some old employees from Aqua Pazza to help set the standard.

Keller says it was a long time coming for the opening and an exciting time for everyone.

“We’re opening on a very difficult economic week, and I think we can help to make a lot of people happy without spending a lot of money, which is what we do for a living,” added Keller.

Palm Springs residents like Kerry Hendrix think the restaurant will be great for the community.

“With them hiring as many people as they’ve hired, it’s gonna really boost our economy here in Palm Springs and it looks great for our job market,” said Hendrix.

Sid Craig also lives in Palm Springs and said he loved the food.

“I loved the meal. I asked for the hashbrowns to be crisp, they were crisp they weren’t burned, the eggs were delicious, the bacon was crisp but it wasn’t oily, just, the food was delicious,” said Craig.

For Lulu, this busy morning brought happy workers, happy customers and a lot of positive feedback.