The wristband costs ten dollars. The passport is free. And as of today, Sunday, August 10, there is exactly one week left to use either before Taste of Summer Rancho Mirage closes on Saturday, August 16.
If you live in Mira Vista and have not picked one up yet, the math on how much of this program you can actually reach without leaving your own end of the city is better than the citywide restaurant list makes it look.
What the program actually does
Taste of Summer Rancho Mirage is the Chamber of Commerce's answer to the slowest stretch of the local calendar. The 2026 program brings together approximately 30 participating restaurants and more than 40 local nonprofit organizations in a program designed to strengthen the city's hospitality sector while directing meaningful support to community causes. It runs from Thursday, July 23, through August 16, which means the window you have left is short.
The mechanics are simple. Diners purchase a $10 Taste of Summer wristband, available through the participating nonprofit organizations, then use it to unlock the specials at any restaurant on the list, tracking their stops with a passport. Proceeds benefit organizations including the Joslyn Center, Alzheimer's Coachella Valley, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. The city has also sweetened the pot on its own gift card program: for the duration of Taste of Summer, gift card purchases receive an additional 50 percent from the City, so a $100 purchase yields $150 in spending power.
None of that is unique to Mira Vista. What is worth knowing, if you live inside those gates, is where the actual restaurants sit.
The cluster the citywide list hides
The Taste of Summer directory lists restaurants from the Ritz-Carlton perch above Frank Sinatra Drive down to Waters Cafe inside Agua Caliente Casino on Bob Hope Drive. Read as one long alphabetical list, the program looks spread across the whole city.
It isn't. If you start from Mira Vista, which sits off Dinah Shore Drive in the Mission Hills end of town, most of what's on the list is a five-minute drive along two roads: Dinah Shore Drive itself and the stretch of Highway 111 between Bob Hope Drive and Monterey Avenue.
On Dinah Shore Drive alone, the directory lists:
- Burgers and Beer, 72773 Dinah Shore Drive
- The Slice, 72775 Dinah Shore Drive, a New York-style pizzeria that brings the spirit of New York-style pizzeria dining to the Coachella Valley
- Pinzimini, 71333 Dinah Shore Drive
A few minutes further, along Highway 111 and just off Bob Hope Drive, the same directory lists:
- Las Casuelas Nuevas, 70050 Highway 111
- Catalan, 70026 Highway 111
- California Bistro, 69820 CA-111
- Willie's, 69830 Highway 111
- Pastry Swan, 70225 Highway 111
- OSF, 71743 Highway 111
- Joyce's Sushi and Capriotti's, both at 36101 Bob Hope Drive
- Sibon, 40101 Monterey Avenue
- Ben & Jerry's, Yard House, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and Cheers Coffee, all inside The River at 71800 Highway 111
That's a dozen participating stops without crossing Bob Hope Drive going the other direction toward the Ritz-Carlton or the casino corridor. The program's own design rewards exactly this kind of short-radius exploring: the participating restaurants represent the diversity of Rancho Mirage's dining scene, from casual neighborhood destinations to upscale resort experiences, and the passport gives diners a reason to branch out rather than spending the summer going to the same few places.
What makes this stretch worth noting is the mix of cuisines packed into a few blocks. Las Casuelas Nuevas serves the kind of Mexican menu the Coachella Valley has long been known for, just off Highway 111. A few blocks north on Dinah Shore Drive, The Slice brings New York-style pizzeria dining to the same corridor, with a menu of pizza, pasta, calzones and other favorites served in a relaxed atmosphere. A passport that sends you to both in the same week is doing exactly what a passport is for.
Why the Chamber built it this way
The program exists because summer is hard on restaurant staffing and traffic, not because anyone thought the desert needed another food event. Anyone who has spent a summer in the Coachella Valley knows that August is not exactly the easiest time to convince people to leave the air conditioning, and for local restaurants, summer can mean fewer seasonal residents, fewer visitors and slower dining traffic.
"This is a fun way for the community to win because they get to visit their favorite restaurants or try new ones, nonprofits win because they're raising some much-needed money, but it just feels like a fun community food fest for everyone."
That's Katie Slimko-Tuvell, president and CEO of the Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce, describing the program in July. Her point holds up when you look at who benefits from a Mira Vista household picking two or three stops on Dinah Shore Drive instead of driving the length of Highway 111. The restaurant gets the visit during its slowest month. The nonprofit that sold the wristband gets the ten dollars. And the household gets an excuse to try Pinzimini or The Slice instead of defaulting to the same order at the same table.
The logistics, briefly
If you haven't bought a wristband, you can pick one up at the Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce office at 71905 Highway 111, Suite E, which sits across the street from The River, or through any of the participating nonprofits selling them directly. Wristbands purchased online through the Chamber still require an in-person pickup at that office; wristbands purchased through a specific nonprofit are picked up from that organization instead.
The passport itself is designed to be used more than once. Wristband holders are welcome to return and use the same wristband again and again during the event period, so there's no reason to try to hit every stop on one outing. Two or three visits along the Dinah Shore corridor over the final week accomplishes more than a single ambitious night trying to cover the whole city.
One week left
Today is Sunday, August 10. The program closes Saturday, August 16, which leaves six more days. For a Mira Vista household, that's realistically two or three dinners out, not a summer-long project. The restaurants worth checking first are the ones already a few minutes from the gate, on Dinah Shore Drive and the near end of Highway 111, where a Mexican menu at Las Casuelas Nuevas sits close enough to New York-style pizza at The Slice that trying both doesn't require planning around traffic on the far side of town.
Local flavor is one of the reasons people choose to put down roots in this part of Rancho Mirage in the first place. If you're a Mira Vista homeowner who's ever wondered what that kind of neighborhood loyalty is worth on paper, The Downs Team offers a complimentary home valuation any time you're curious, no wristband required.
