City Wok, the made-to-order restaurant founded by Stuart Davis, has closed its doors in Palm Desert after 35 years of serving the Coachella Valley. Davis reported that the closure happened about three weeks before it became public, and the restaurant had served thousands of customers over the decades it operated locally.
Early reports on the closure referred to the restaurant as “CityWalk,” but the business is officially named City Wok, according to NBC Palm Springs. The Studio City restaurant opened more than 31 years before the Uken Report's April 2021 article, and City Wok expanded into the desert in 1995, per the Uken Report. The restaurant spent 26 years at Cook Street and Country Club Drive near the JW Marriott before relocating in May 2021 to a larger space with an outdoor patio and full bar at The Shops at Palm Desert, a move prompted by changing economics at the original location during the pandemic, according to the Coachella Valley Independent.
City Wok's Local Legacy
The Los Angeles Times declared City Wok's Kung Pao Chicken the best outside of Chinatown, according to reporting from Coachella Valley.
Community Support During the Pandemic
During the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, Davis kept the Palm Desert location open for takeout and provided free meals to frontline workers. That community involvement dates back further still: in January 2012, Davis testified before the Palm Desert Planning Commission alongside other local restaurant owners to oppose a proposed drive-through ATM on Country Club Drive, according to Palm Desert Patch. The commission ultimately voted 5-0 to deny the bank's permit.
Part of a Broader Wave of Desert Closures
City Wok's exit lands amid a string of major restaurant shutdowns across the Coachella Valley this month. Red Lobster in Palm Desert closed after 14 years and TRIO in Uptown Palm Springs closed after 17 years, both departures reported by Patch.
City Wok began with a location in Studio City. Davis has said he plans to shift his attention to his other franchises and new projects, and NBC Palm Springs reports it will sit down exclusively with him later this week to discuss his decision to close the Palm Desert restaurant, its history in the valley, and what comes next.
