Phillip and I arrive at the date garden just as the sun has dipped low enough to begin turning green farm fields gold.
The weather is perfect, a string quartet is playing, and long tables set with fresh flowers have been placed underneath the palm trees.
Date Night
This is Yuma’s Date Night. Held a few times a year, the evening includes a gourmet dinner by Chef Alex Trujillo with dates in every course, a drink ticket, live music, and a walking tour of Imperial Date Gardens, which hosts the event in conjunction with the Yuma Visitors Bureau (YVB).
Imperial Date Gardens is technically located in California. But it’s just 25 minutes from Downtown Yuma and part of the same agricultural region. As I’ve mentioned before, Yuma is so close to the California border, you can cross it by accident.
Mark Briones from the YVB welcomes everyone as they arrive, letting us know how the evening will go – and that there are date beer (!) samples at the bar.
Of course, we have to try that. Then we find seats, while servers make the rounds with appetizers.
Between bites of bruschetta, bacon-wrapped dates, and corn fritters, Phillip chats with the people sitting next to us. I watch the sky through the dark silhouettes of palm fronds, as it turns more intensely pink by the moment.
Tour
Before dinner is the tour, and it, fittingly, begins next to a date palm.
Imperial Date Gardens expert Raul Peraza shares the history of their acres and acres of trees, which are all descended from 9 that came from Morocco and were planted here in 1935.
He explains how they are hand pollinated and de-thorned by skilled workers on specialized cranes with a platform that wraps around the tree trunks, allowing them to access every side. The fruit is thinned and covered with bags to protect it without pesticides.
We move inside the warehouse where the dates are sorted, packed, and frozen. Since freezing doesn’t negatively affect the flavor or texture, any date you purchase has probably been previously frozen.
When we walk back outside, the sunset has given way to blue twilight. Our path is lit by string lights and our table by candlelight. The Silver Strings Quartet resumes playing a mix of classics and show tunes and pop songs.
Drinks
Phillip goes to get us drinks. He brings me something pink he says is a margarita, but actually tastes like lemonade. (Did he pick up the wrong glass?)
We both prefer the date beer we had sampled earlier, Brother Dewey’s by College Street Brewhouse in Lake Havasu City, which is kinda crazy since I’m not usually even a beer drinker.
Dinner
Each night has a fixed menu that typically remains the same all season. While they can accommodate for food allergies with advanced notice, the nature of eating a catered meal in the middle of a date grove means no one’s going to ask you how done you like your meat, for example.
The deal is basically that they just keep bringing you awesome food from a highly regarded chef. Besides the key ingredient of the dates, we had no idea what we’d be eating until after the tour when Chef Lucy Sedano came out to announce the menu.
First was an elegantly presented cucumber-spinach salad with dates, tomatoes, feta, and housemade vinaigrette.
For the entree, we’re served a full plate with both a pancetta-wrapped filet mignon in wine sauce and a marinated chicken breast, along with asparagus atop bleu cheese mashed potatoes.
It was followed by a delightful date bread pudding. The meal finished with a Kahlua date shake, served in a champagne flute.
Every bite was delicious. It got a little sweet (even for my sweet tooth), but definitely melt-in-your mouth good.
As people filter out, we were each given a small box of dates, so we could savor the tastes of the region a bit longer.
It was a gorgeous evening with amazing food and definitely worth the trip.
– More Date Info –
Imperial Date Gardens
- Store sells bulk dates and other local products, as well as date shakes.
- Open Monday to Friday, 8am – 5pm.
- Free tours may be offered seasonally (not during summer).
- Address sometimes listed as Winterhaven, sometimes Bard or Imperial Valley.
Date Night Tickets
- Yuma Date Nights will resume this fall.
- Tickets for Date Night and other Visit Yuma tours are scheduled to go on sale November 1.
- Date Night tickets tend to go fast, so plan to purchase them in advance.
- Watch for updates on visityuma.com or sign up for their newsletter.
Edited to remove Bard Valley Date Growers Association, who is no longer part of the event.
We were guests of Yuma Visitors Bureau. Thank you to Linda Morgan, Steven Hennig, and the Visit Yuma team!
