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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cI had no plans to live here permanently,\u201d Stefani told SFGATE. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Let\u2019s just go reset.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He and his wife headed to their small vacation home near Joshua Tree<\/a> in 2019. But partway into their six-month plan, the pandemic hit. \u201cThe whole world shut down,\u201d he said, \u201cand we had already fallen in love with being here by that time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chef partner Phil Stefani at Red Dog Saloon in Pioneertown, Calif., on May 18, 2026.<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n Stefani\u00a0very 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\u2019s Red Dog Saloon<\/a> back to life.<\/p>\n \u201cSan Francisco is like this vortex,\u201d he explained, \u201cand if you tap into it, it\u2019ll give, give, give, give, give until it doesn\u2019t give anymore. And it had stopped giving for me, I think, probably years before I actually realized it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Joshua Tree is also a very powerful energy vortex that I think if you are tapped into it and you have no expectations and you come down here for the right reasons, it\u2019ll show you the way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A Joshua tree stands at attention at sunset.<\/p>\n Rohit Arora\/500px\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Now, the Bay Area native, who started the popular Cosmic American Voodoo Van food truck in SF, is a chef partner at Red Dog and the Copper Room in Yucca Valley, two beloved restaurants with long legacies in the high desert. While the Copper Room went through many iterations over the years \u2014 a 1950s Rat Pack hangout<\/a> and a local dive among them \u2014 Red Dog was always Red Dog … until it wasn\u2019t. While the saloon was one of Pioneertown\u2019s original buildings and the first-ever restaurant in town, it suffered two huge fires and had been closed for something like 30 years before reopening in its current iteration.<\/p>\n Pioneertown was founded in 1946 by Hollywood investors who sought to create a town specifically designed as a shooting location for Westerns<\/a>. But it wouldn\u2019t just be a movie set. It would be a functioning town where casts and crews could live while filming and where others, some who ran the town\u2019s businesses and some who just wanted to feel like they were living in the Old West, could take up permanent residence. Among its founding investors: legendary screen cowboys Gene\u00a0Autry and Roy Rogers.<\/p>\n Red Dog Saloon dates back to 1948, the second business to officially open in town, according to \u201cPioneertown, USA: The Definitive History of Pioneertown, CA: Where the Old West Lives Again\u201d<\/a> by Kenneth Gentry. Original owners Al\u00a0Lipps and Don Kokx used a historic wooden bar from a saloon in Oatman, Arizona, that burned down in 1909. Their place would be a film set during the day and a watering hole at night; actress and singer Dazzlin\u2019\u00a0Dallas Morley would often perform there.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Red Dog Saloon in Pioneertown, Calif., once allowed cowboys to ride in on their horses and order beers for both humans and animals.<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n It became an instant draw, not just for its offerings but for its sense of wildness. Cowboys were welcome at the bar, but so were their horses. \u201cThe San Bernardino County Mounted Posse would ride their horses up to Pioneertown and directly into the Red Dog Saloon on an annual visit,\u201d Gentry wrote. \u201cTheir routine was simple: Ride to Pioneertown, ride into the saloon, hitch the horses at bar, order the horses a pitcher of beer, order themselves a beer… and then watch Dazzlin\u2019 Dallas!\u201d<\/p>\n The saloon survived a huge fire in 1959, but it wasn\u2019t so lucky in 1966. A kitchen blaze burned Red Dog to the ground in a matter of hours. \u201cIt was nearly impossible to extinguish the flames as the building was constructed out of old railroad ties which were heavy with combustible oils,\u201d Gentry wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the owners at the time rebuilt and reopened that same year, Pioneertown\u2019s population was declining, and it was in its last gasps as a filming location. The Pioneertown Corporation, which had founded and incorporated the town, had disbanded in 1964, leaving the area in its current iteration as an unincorporated community within San Bernardino County. Red Dog closed its doors in 1974 and, despite a few failed attempts to reopen, stayed shuttered until 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A view of Red Dog Saloon in Pioneertown, Calif., on May 18, 2026.<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n Ben Loescher of LA architecture firm Terrain, which owns Red Dog, partnered with Mike and Matt French to reopen the saloon. The brothers, through their hospitality company Life & Times, had opened the rehabbed Pioneertown Motel in 2018. (Loescher is also responsible for the Mane Street Historic Overlay, a multiyear preservation and oversight plan<\/a> to protect Pioneertown from overdevelopment.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal was, let\u2019s make this look and more importantly feel the way that Pioneertown and the Red Dog did\u201d back in its heyday, Mike French told SFGATE via phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the high desert alone, there\u2019s just all this amazing old Hollywood history that when we showed up was, in our opinion, kind of under-celebrated,\u201d he added. \u201cPeople know about the Joshua Tree Inn and Gram Parsons<\/a> and Pioneertown, of course, but diving a little bit deeper into these stories, I was surprised at how cool and interesting and quirky some of this stuff was that wasn\u2019t readily available.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Red Dog Saloon\u2019s small stage has hosted huge musical acts, with the most recent one being Jason Momoa\u2019s band Oof Tatat\u00e1, in Pioneertown, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n While the space still had the original bar from its 1966 reconstruction \u2014 complete with years of carvings of patrons\u2019 names, which are still preserved today \u2014 most of the interior was a blank canvas. Now, it\u2019s an homage to the saloon\u2019s film history, with photos of screen cowboys on the walls and a small stage where musical acts perform regularly. (In early June, Jason\u00a0Momoa\u2019s band played a surprise show.)<\/p>\n The Frenches brought in Alperin Enterprises to create the beverage program and LA restaurant group Last Word Hospitality of Found Oyster and Hermon\u2019s fame<\/a> to handle the food. (The same investors reopened the Copper Room in 2022 and are currently working to revive the iconic Lord Fletcher Inn, another Frank Sinatra and Rat Pack favorite<\/a>, in Rancho Mirage. The French brothers are also in the process of opening Miracle Hill, a geothermal bathing experience in a 1913 adobe in Desert Hot Springs.)<\/p>\n Stefani was hired in the summer of 2020. That\u2019s how he found himself opening a restaurant that August, right in the worst of the pandemic restrictions on public gatherings, when it could only operate as a to-go establishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Everything at Red Dog Saloon in Pioneertown, Calif.,\u00a0is scratch-made, from the taco fillings to the tortillas to the salsas.<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n \u201cChef Ari [Kolender], who\u2019s the culinary director of our restaurant crew, had the opening menu, and we\u00a0workshopped that for a few weeks, and then next thing I know, it was like a line down the block,\u201d Stefani said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though the saloon couldn\u2019t serve guests inside until the following summer, the growth was 60% between its first and second years. \u201cIt was just madness,\u201d he added. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t change it for the world. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, even on nights when A-list heartthrobs aren\u2019t doing surprise shows, or renowned street artist Shepard Fairey isn\u2019t playing a DJ set like he did earlier this year, Red Dog is consistently packed with both locals and tourists from LA and SF. They\u2019re there for the entertainment, the barrel-aged cocktails and the Wild West vibe, but also very much for the food. The menu, largely tacos and burgers, is totally scratch-made, from the marinades to the tortillas to the desserts. The \u201cbronco burger\u201d is made with meat ground to Stefani\u2019s specifications and comes with jack cheese, rajas peppers and house-made\u00a0chipotle sauce and ketchup. All the meats for the tacos are long-braised: the chicken in tomato and chili, the carnitas in cider, and the brisket in beer and tomatillos.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chicken tinga tacos on the bar at Red Dog Saloon, which has the names of past guests etched into the wood, in Pioneertown, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n People \u201cfall in love with everything because everything that we do here is from scratch,\u201d Stefani said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe make our own churros that are vegan and gluten-free. We make our own gluten-free corn line cookies. We make our own bu\u00f1uelos.\u201d They also make their own version of the much-missed Choco Taco, which has become Red Dog\u2019s signature dessert. It\u2019s so famous that it has its own billboard on Twentynine Palms Highway.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stay informed, and entertained.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re sold out because we can\u2019t keep up with demand,\u201d Stefani said on the day I visited, crushing my dreams of finally trying one, my third failed attempt to do so. \u201cWe put this billboard up, and we went from doing 100 Choco Tacos a week to doing like 300 a week. … We need a whole facility just to do these Choco Tacos.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A barrel-aged Manhattan at Red Dog Saloon in Pioneertown, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ed Rudolph\/Special to SFGATE<\/p>\n Billboard-famous desserts aside, Red Dog does have an undeniable draw, in part from its unusually interesting setting and in part because of how much it pays tribute to its history.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the greatest thing,\u201d Stefani said. \u201cTo me, this is the greatest place, the most magical place in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phil Stefani never really intended to take up permanent residence in the high desert. 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