When we last spoke with Chef Michael Hung (ex-Faith & Flower in DTLA) he was the Executive Chef of The Colony Club restaurant located inside The Colony Palms Hotel and SO.PA at L’Horizon Palm Springs. Chef Michael is now surfing the culinary waves at the Palm Springs Surf Club, a destination water oasis in the desert.
“Discover a destination in Greater Palm Springs like no other at The Palm Springs Surf Club featuring a state-of-the-art wave technology catering to surfers of all levels. Enjoy resort-style amenities, captivating waterpark attractions, and savor meticulously crafted chef-driven dining options.”
Chef Michael Hung oversees the soon to debut Navigator, the ultimate dining experience at the Palm Springs Surf Club. Navigator features indoor and outdoor seating offering breathtaking views of the surf and mountains where guests indulge in a curated artisanal menu featuring the cuisine of the famous surf regions around the globe. The bar offers TVs and a craft cocktail program, complemented by an extensive wine list.”
Also on Chef Michael’s menu is Drifters, the poolside oasis at the Palm Springs Surf Club. “Drifters offers outdoor dining with a creative beverage program to cater to surfing enthusiasts with a healthy twist from early morning until late at night, featuring delightful breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. The full bar serves specialty cocktails and provides TVs for entertainment and additional desert views.”
Chef Michael Hung is one of the noteworthy chefs (25 high profile chefs for each night) for the upcoming Manhattan Beach Food & Wine Festival in Manhattan Village set for the evenings of Friday, October 11th and Saturday, October 12th.
Chef Michael Hung takes a break from his busy kitchens to join us.
Hi, I'm Sherry Yard, the Los Angeles Advisory Board for Career through Colleen, New York's program. When I want the absolute best in food 411, I listen to the SoCal restaurant show right here on AM830KLAA. And welcome back. It is the SoCal restaurant show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon right here on AM830KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball 2025, and also the local home for Las Vegas Raiders football. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Glad to have you out there, and we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce. As we mentioned earlier, it is Fall Food Festival season, and there definitely is a lot going on out there. We're particularly showcasing the Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival, which is coming up next Friday and Saturday evening in Manhattan Beach. It is a benefit for the careers through culinary arts program, which you hear me talking about on the show quite often, a very worthy cause, and a very exciting lineup of chefs, because it's 25 high-profile chefs Friday night, and then another 25 high-profile chefs for Saturday night. And speaking of high-profile chefs, one of the Friday night participants is no stranger to the SoCal restaurant show. That being Chef Michael Hung, he has a new association out in the Greater Palm Springs area. When we last spoke with him, he was the executive chef for the Colony Club restaurant, located at the Colony Palm's Hotel, and also SOPA at La Horizon Palm Springs. And it is a pleasure to welcome Chef Michael Hung back to the SoCal restaurant show. Good morning, Michael. Good morning, Andy. Thanks for having me, Doc. Chef Michael, you are always welcome on the SoCal restaurant show. Now, Chef Michael, you relocated to Palm Springs a couple of years ago from Los Angeles. You had had a very high-profile restaurant in downtown LA called Faith and Flower, which garnered a lot of wonderful reviews. What attracted you initially to the Greater Palm Springs area? Because Chef Michael is, I think you'll agree, it's a very different lifestyle than urban Los Angeles. It is absolutely a different lifestyle. And, you know, I think that's what I was looking for. I had lived in major metropolitan areas my whole life, and I think it was time for me to slow down a little bit. And coming out to Palm Springs, I've been out here on a couple occasions just for leisure travel. It was always so welcoming. The weather, most of the time, is great. And then, of course, just the views, the vistas, the mountains, the desert, you know, all that nature really, I think it really creates a different sensibility within yourself that I was craving, particularly after the pandemic. Yeah, Chef Michael, obviously, the pandemic changed everything. And what's nice about the Greater Palm Springs area is there's a lot of variety out there, but it's a little bit more relaxed. It's a little bit of a slower pace. And interestingly enough, you know, you're not the only Los Angeles area-based chef that's made the move out there, which is kind of interesting to note. Yeah, right now the desert is really in a growth phase. Just the local population alone has been growing, particularly in the eastern cities in the valley. So Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indio, those are picking up pace in terms of, you know, people just moving to the area to live and stay year round. So it's not, to me, it's not surprising. It's actually very exciting and reminds me of when I first moved to downtown LA. When I opened Faith and Flower, you know, we were one of the anchor restaurants in downtown and that was just a huge time of building of growth. You know, they were, I think, at one point, we counted 36 cranes in the sky. Oh, wow. And it feels a little bit like that out here. Of course, not at the same rapid pace, but there's definitely some growth happening. Well, and there's a lot of redevelopment going on in, excuse me, the city of Palm Springs proper. I think the big Indian casino out there has contributed a lot to the development of the area in terms of bringing new and younger people into the area and giving them a reason to come back. Absolutely, absolutely. I think the tribes do a great job in just kind of fostering and stewarding the desert in general. They're not really allowing overgrowth, overdevelopment, but they are considered about how they allow the region to grow so that it doesn't, so it doesn't overwhelm, you know, existing infrastructure. And it also doesn't take land away from some of their community. Well, and also this just magnificent museum and center that they've opened in downtown Palm Springs that was years in the making that I know no expense was spared. I've not actually gotten to see the interior of it yet. I've seen a lot of pictures, but, you know, again, what a magnificent attraction to have right there in downtown Palm Springs. Pretty incredible. It is incredible. And my favorite part, I haven't been on inside myself, but their promenade is a really great spot to just kind of at night for me to walk through when it's late and decompressed. Well, you know, the fountains and the landscaping. And as you mentioned, the Agua Caliente tribe, they are stewards of the environment. They own a lot of property in the area, and they've maintained a lot of their wilderness areas as wilderness areas that guests, you know, by appointment and they want to control access. But, you know, they're hiking and all kinds of opportunities to kind of enjoy their great outdoors. So, again, wonderful to have them there. Now, Chef Michael, you have kind of shifted a little bit, and you have a great new association that we can talk about. You might say you've gone surfing in Palm Springs. You're now the executive chef at the Palm Springs Surf Club. Before we talk about some of your specific outlets and what you're going to be doing in terms of expanding and revitalizing the food service there, just let our listeners know what the Palm Springs Surf Club is. Because Michael, I might have my geography a little off, but I don't think Palm Springs is close to any ocean I know. No, no, it is not. We have actually brought the beach to the desert. The surf pool is something that was, for me, a marvel and the thing that made the park special. There's only three functioning surf pools in the United States, and ours is the highest level of technology and the highest level of customization. So, really a state of the art. And just to see the surfers, just an example, yesterday we had a youth surfing competition with 52 of the best surfers under the age of at least 16 that came to the property. And these kids were phenomenal. And the incredible thing about the surf pool is that you can kind of eat a wave which you don't get in the ocean. So, in terms of practice, the kids are able to practice the same moves over and over and again, and they really just developed so much faster than any kind of sports in my generation. Michael, I'm not an engineer. In lay terms, can you explain how they can duplicate ocean waves in an artificial pool? That's a great question. The technology is what we call a pneumatic technology, and essentially it is a series of vacuum pumps. And those pumps lift the water up at one end of the pool and then force it down so that it creates that wave. And if we have 16 of these vacuum outlets, these engines, and I think the incredible thing to me is our pool is 3 million gallons. Every gallon is 4 pounds, so we have 16 electric motors that are lifting and dropping 12 million pounds of water with each wave. So, to see that kind of technology and action is really impressive. Michael, it takes your breath away. I mean, I can't even fathom how they can do this. And you know, you say, you know, it's state of the art. Yeah, this is pretty sophisticated stuff. We can get seven foot waves with a full barrel. So, you know, stuff that you're seeing in Hawaii and some of the best surf regions of the world, and we're able to replicate a lot of that. Again, just absolutely incredible. Now, when we come back from our top of the hour of break, we're going to talk about what you're doing in food and beverage. But just kind of completing the package for a guest. What other amenities are available at the Palm Springs Surf Club other than the surf experience? Because I understand there's some other water attractions, and it's definitely family-focused. That is correct. We have the water park, and on the water park has, I believe, three adult slides, two kids' slides. Additionally, we have an island pool that is surrounded by a lazy river. We have a splash pad. We have cabanas that people can enjoy watching the surf or watching, you know, different sports games on our Gemotron TVs. And then, of course, we have the three restaurant outlets. So, there's a lot of stuff to do, both for families, for, you know, surfers from any level of beginner to professional. We love to see our locals come in, particularly during the summer, and just kind of cool off in the heat. You know, right now, we are working on a few things for Halloween, for Thanksgiving, that are really geared towards the families. So, fun things in the future. But, ladies and gentlemen, we're speaking with Executive Chef Michael Hung, quite a fine dining background, who now is orchestrating all the food service at the Palm Springs Surf Club. When we come back from our top of the hour break, we're going to talk about it because, you know, Chef Michael is there to really make his own culinary waves, which we will talk about. It is the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. It's our top of the hour break. Give us a minute. We'll be back.
