Phil Stefani never really intended to take up permanent residence in the high desert. The San Francisco chef was burned out on the local food scene (and on commuting from his East Bay home to get to work), and he needed a break.
“I had no plans to live here permanently,” Stefani told SFGATE. “It was like, ‘Let’s just go reset.’”
He and his wife headed to their small vacation home near Joshua Tree in 2019. But partway into their six-month plan, the pandemic hit. “The whole world shut down,” he said, “and we had already fallen in love with being here by that time.”
Stefani very quickly found himself in the middle of a restaurant revival that is helping to reshape the character of the high desert by bringing historic businesses like Pioneertown’s Red Dog Saloon back to life…