Pizza in Rancho Mirage

Satisfying meals and handcrafted beer intersect with premium sports viewing at Lamppost Pizza and Backstreet Brewery, founded in 1976 by Angelo Barro and his sons, Dan and Tom. Today, the franchise welcomes patrons to 37 locations in three states, and the philosophy remains the same at all of them. Seven big-screen TVs broadcast football, basketball, and baseball games from around the leagues to entertain patrons sipping small-batch draft beers brewed onsite. Fans munch on traditional sports-viewing snacks, such as jalapeño poppers, potato skins, and deep-fried depth charts. Chefs also prepare heartier entrees including garlic-chicken pasta, Pesto Supreme pizzas covered with artichoke hearts, and The Linebacker, a pizza loaded with pepperoni, salami, ground beef, sausage, and two types of bacon.

While the sun spends most of its day in the sky, it still finds time to hang out in The Riviera Tanning Spa, teaching five different levels of Ergoline tanning beds how to bronze bodies with color that looks like it came from the star itself. From the Ambition bed’s beginner-friendly 120-watt bulbs to the Excellence 800’s simmering 520-watt heaters, tanners of all levels can boost golden hues in as little as 10 minutes. Thanks to their large facility, Riveria can accommodate a high influx of individuals without requiring appointments. Their Autobronzer system also reduced peaked appearances without UV exposure, spraying skin with three levels of sunless solutions that add color that won’t run, streak, or turn blue when placed under a black light.

It's almost a tradition now: seasoned staff members of Krony's Pizza love the business so much that they open their own location. After three decades, this rite of passage has brought Krony's third location from its home in upstate New York to the West coast. Amid bright orange walls and checkered floors, homemade pizzas depart the oven steaming in white, pink, or red sauce beside hot subs, hearty wraps, and fresh salads. The eatery's free WiFi allows easy access to email or pointers on protecting the roof of one's mouth from impatient chomping on too-hot pizza.

Continuing the Italian tradition of pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice), Pizzeria Venti hand-tosses a handful of oven-baked, circular pies teeming with trans-fat-free toppings. Like a repertory theater, Venti's homespun crust acts as a stage for more than 20 pizza performances. The pillowy crusts are pedestals for varieties such as house-made italian sausage, seasoned with fennel, fresh basil, and herbs ($3.50 for a slice) or chicken vesuvio which touts a roasted breast of chicken, mushrooms, black olives and garlic ($4.75 per slice). Though pizza prevails as Venti's main attraction, the menu is also stocked with baked pastas ($6.50+), salads ($6+), and soups ($3+) to create a culinary lineup that is more well-rounded than a reconstructed Humpty Dumpty.

Armed with recipes from their Sicilian family members, Larry and Rose Lepley opened their first Mama Rose’s Pizzeria in Huntingdon Beach in 1976—partly with the help of kids from the neighborhood, who cleaned and painted in exchange for pizza. After the unassuming restaurant began to win local awards, the Lepleys and their five children opened a second location. Their son Joe eventually took over the business, moving the bustling pizza joint to Murrieta, where it continues to serve the same family recipes it has since the beginning. Mama Rose's took first place in the Press-Enterprise's 2012 Readers' Choice Awards for Best Slice of Pizza—a slice available with a traditional sturdy Sicilian crust or with a gluten-free base. In addition to meatballs, sausage, and olives, diners can also add ingredients such as breaded eggplant, cashews, and salami.

Beyond pizza, there are toasted sandwiches, pasta dinners, and breadsticks topped with house-made garlic butter and kisses blown from an Italian grandmother. A more recent additiion to the menu is a selection of wines from Leoness Cellars in Temecula, chosen to pair well with such desserts as a sticky apple pizza and New York–style cheesecake.