Billy Reed's, the 1975 restaurant and bakery at 1800 N. Palm Canyon Drive, is heading into its first holiday season under owners Josh Jennings and Michael Levey. That season runs on a deadline. Thanksgiving orders close Sunday, November 22, with pickup on Tuesday the 24th or Wednesday the 25th.
It's a small calendar for a big change. Billy Reed's has changed hands before and come back to its founders. This time the business and the land sold together, to buyers who started out as customers. The holiday menu is the first public look at what they kept.
Fifty-One Years, Three Sets of Hands
Most of the coverage this year treated the sale as the end of a single unbroken run. The restaurant's history is longer and more interesting than that. Palm Springs Life's history of the desert's oldest restaurants says Reed "Billy" Gardner and Robbie Lemley opened Billy Reed's Restaurant & Bakery in 1975. They built it on award-winning recipes from Billy's grandmother, who taught him to bake. In 1987 the two leased the restaurant to another operator for 25 years and kept the property. In 2012 they took it back, and Billy went back to baking the cakes and pies each day.
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Billy Gardner and Robbie Lemley open the restaurant and bakery |
| 1987 | Restaurant leased to another operator; founders keep the property |
| 2012 | Founders take the restaurant back; Billy returns to daily baking |
| December 2025 | Business and nearly two-acre property listed for sale at $7.5 million |
| June 2026 | Sale in escrow while the liquor license transfers |
| By August 4, 2026 | Josh Jennings and Michael Levey reported as the new owners |
Through every earlier change, the founders kept the ground under the building, and that's how they were able to take the restaurant back in 2012. NBC Palm Springs reported in December 2025 that the $7.5 million sale package included the nearly two-acre property. The Palm Springs Tribune also reported that the property was part of the sale. For the first time since 1975, neither the dining room nor the land beneath it belongs to the founders. Whatever the restaurant becomes now is up to Jennings and Levey.
What the Buyers Said They Would Keep
The handoff took most of the year. The Desert Sun reported in June that two buyers had agreed to purchase the restaurant and that the property was in escrow while the liquor license transferred. The restaurant stayed open through escrow, according to NBC Palm Springs.
That same NBC report laid out the buyers' plan in specific terms. Longtime staff, familiar menu favorites and the nostalgic atmosphere would stay. The new team also planned to bring back menu items that had disappeared over the years. The pair said their connection to Billy Reed's goes back years, with family memories and long traditions behind the decision. Billy Reed told the station he planned to stop by often.
By early August, KESQ was calling Jennings and Levey the owners. Jennings described the sale from the customer's side of the counter:
"So many people around the world were shocked and terrified when it went on the market, and we are in that same group. So to be able to be the ones to help keep it going for the next 50 is a huge honor."
Two weeks later, KESQ's Eye on the Desert segment went straight to the desserts. The owners said they would keep the tradition and history while bringing new plans to the restaurant. Both stations reported that the owners hoped to host a community celebration for regulars and newcomers.
The Order Book Runs on Its Own Calendar
The holiday menu is where those promises turn into prices. The restaurant's Holiday Feasts 2026 page offers four meals, each sold per person with a minimum order for four. Everything is cooked in-house for you to reheat at home.
| Meal | Per person | Smallest order, four people | What comes with it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | $65 | $260 | Roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, creamed corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, mixed green salad, winter squash soup, house dinner rolls, pumpkin pie |
| Beef | $95 | $380 | Certified Angus Beef boneless prime rib, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, asparagus, house au jus, horseradish sauce, salad, soup, rolls, pumpkin pie |
| Pork | $65 | $260 | Pork rack braised in apple juice and stuffed with Spanish chorizo mousse and dried fruit, creamed spinach, green beans, Roquefort polenta, pear chutney, salad, soup, rolls, pumpkin pie |
| Pasta | $85 | $340 | Pumpkin ravioli with orange marinara, Beyond Meatloaf, green beans, creamed corn, salad, soup, rolls, fruit tart |
The turkey and the pork cost the same, $65 a person. The pasta meal runs $20 more and the prime rib $30 more. The pasta meal is also the only one that swaps pumpkin pie for a fruit tart.
The deadlines leave little room:
- Thanksgiving orders are due by Sunday, November 22, for pickup Tuesday, November 24, or Wednesday, November 25.
- Christmas orders are due by Monday, December 21, for pickup Wednesday, December 23, or Thursday, December 24.
- Orders are taken at the host stand or by phone at (760) 325-1946.
From this post's Thursday publish date, that leaves 10 days to order turkey. Both pickup windows land before the holiday itself, so the meal sits in your refrigerator for a day or two before it reaches the table.
The Bakery That Came With the Deed
Three of the four holiday meals end with the same pumpkin pie, and that matters here. The restaurant was founded as a bakery as much as a dining room, and its full name on its own site is still Billy Reed's Restaurant, Bakery, and Bar. Palm Springs Life singled out the coconut-pineapple and carrot cakes as must-tries and called the peach pie one of the biggest hits, made with juicy, ripe fruit.
The restaurant's regular menu lists handmade daily pastries, plus whole cakes and pies to go. The lineup includes:
- Pies: fresh strawberry, apple, cherry, seasonal pumpkin, buttermilk
- Cakes: coconut-pineapple, chocolate fudge, carrot, rum, strawberry, German chocolate, cheesecakes
The savory side of that menu reads like a 1975 supper club: Yankee pot roast, meatloaf and a roast turkey dinner. Palm Springs Life described the room as dark wood with stained-glass accents and compared its feel to Cheers. That's the atmosphere the buyers told NBC they meant to keep. Their first Thanksgiving menu is pot-roast-and-pie territory with a few newer touches, like the chorizo-stuffed pork rack and a Beyond Meatloaf option.
A Thinner North Palm Canyon This Fall
Billy Reed's sits in the Uptown corridor on North Palm Canyon Drive, and this year that stretch lost two restaurants. Palm Springs Bites reported in August that Trio had closed after 17 years. Trio was at 707 N. Palm Canyon Drive. Saffron Restaurant & Lounge, the modern Persian restaurant from chef and co-owner Sev Nazarian and co-owner Ashley Stein, served its last night at 1107 N. Palm Canyon Drive on Saturday, October 3. Saffron's site lists its next address as 777 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 101, with a planned December 2026 reopening.
So two longtime dinner spots on North Palm Canyon left this year: one closed, one is moving downtown. In the same months, the oldest restaurant on that stretch changed owners, kept its name and kept taking holiday orders. The holiday page was posted in late September, while Saffron was still announcing its move. For anyone hosting near the top of North Palm Canyon this season, the November 22 order date is the one to remember.
Holiday tables in Palm Springs often fill up with houseguests who end up wanting to see the neighborhood once the pie is gone. At Richie Usher Realty Group, we know these streets one landmark at a time, from the 1975 bakery on North Palm Canyon to the hillside modernism of Little Tuscany. If those conversations turn to what a Little Tuscany home could look like for you, we'd love to talk after Thanksgiving.
