Recently in Dining Category

Latin music superstar Pepe Aguilar is among the highlights during Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino's Cinco de Mayo weekend Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5.

The six time Grammy winner will perform Saturday night in the events center. He is extremely popular in the Inland area and his shows always sell out. Tickets are $39, $59 and $79 and are available at the Fantasy Springs box office and www.fantasyspringsresort.com.

The Fresh Grill Buffet will have a special brunch that includes huevos rancheros, chile rellenos, chorizo, baked chilaquiles and vegetable quesadillas. Dinner will feature shrimp fajitas, chicken mole poblano, seared carne asada, braised pork chili verde and crispy pork carnitas. And of course churros and caramel flan will be served for dessert.

The buffet is $14.99 and brunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with dinner running from 3-9 p.m.

On the casino floor there will be special gaming promotions and giveawys and performances from mariachi band Serenata Mexicana.

Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino has decided to keep things traditional for Thanksgiving, with themed menus at Fresh Grill Buffet, The Bistro and POM Restaurant.

Fresh Grill Buffet:
All the usual buffet trimmings plus roast turkey, prime rib, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread stuffing with maple roasted sausage, candied sweet potatoes and pacific cod with lobster sauce. Dessert features pumpkin pie, Italian cheesecake, warm raisin bread pudding and a chocolate fountain.
Price: $25.99

The Bistro:
Choice of soup or salad for $7, then $27 main course includes roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, country style stuffing with maple and sausage, candied sweet potatoes, sauteed asparagus with toasted pecans and cranberry sauce. Dessert is pumpkin pie for $6.

POM Restaurant is offering the same menu as The Bistro with broccoli amandine instead of asparagus.

Fantasy Springs is located at 84-245 Indio Springs Parkway in Indio.

Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 31 POM restaurant at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino will once again have Italian night on Wednesdays from 5-11 p.m.

The family style meal starts with a hand tossed garden salad and homemade garlic sticks.

The entree consists of penne pasta pomodoro served in large bowls that the table can share, chicken parmigiana, meatballs and italian sausage in marinara sauce.

As if that's not enough there are Italian cookies, biscotti and cannolis for dessert.

POM also has a BBQ night on Thursdays from 5-11 p.m.

Served family style, it starts with smokehouse chopped salad and warm cheddar glazed biscuits with apple butter.

Sides include white cheddar mac and cheese, warm bacon-potato salad, southern style slaw and jalapeno corn bread. For an entree guests are served slow roasted beef brisket, barbecue chicken and St. Louis ribs.

All of that is topped off with apple pie and vanilla ice cream.

Italian night and BBQ night family style feasts are $19.95 a person.

Wow, I'm so hungry now.

For more information go to www.fantasyspringsresort.com.

Fantasy Springs Resort Casino

What: The Bistro

Where: 84-245 Indio Springs Pkwy. Indio

Type of food: Steak, seafood and sushi.

Dinner: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. $4.50-$37. Features filet mignon and Chilean seabass.

Beverages: Wine, speciality drinks and dessert martinis.

Information: 800-827-2946, http://www.fantasyspringsresort.com/prod/dining/dining.php#bistro

Fantasy Springs Resort Hotel & Casino

What: The Fresh Grill Buffet

Where: 84-245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio

The spread: Several world stations, including Italian, Asian, American and Latin. There is also a carving station. At each station, diners interact with the chefs, watching favorite dishes being prepared and served.

The Fresh Grill Buffet boasts a large dessert bar featuring a variety of sweet treats. From cookies to flan, pies and cakes and a chocolate dipping fountain, diners can satisfy their sweet tooth. And for those more health conscious, there are several sugar-free options, so you can have your cake and eat it, too.

Breakfast: Not served.

Lunch: 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. $12.99

Diner: Dinner: Sunday through Thursday, 4-9 p.m. $17.99

Specialty meals: Seafood, 4-9 p.m. Friday; Prime Rib Buffet, 4-9 p.m. Saturday. Both are $22.99; Sunday Brunch, 10 a.m. -3:30 p.m. $21.99

Membership perks: Enrollment in Fantasy Rewards includes the chance to earn comps toward free meals. Higher level members (black and blue cards) get $2 and $5 off at the buffet.

Beverages: Fountain drinks are included. Alcoholic beverages available for an added charge.

Information: 800-827-2946, www.fantasyspringsresort.com

Joy Asian Cuisine is the newest restaurant at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio.

The restaurant, which features Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai dishes, replaced Players Steakhouse and opened this fall.

The dark wood and leather upholstered chairs and booths of the steakhouse are gone in favor of sleeker décor and a brighter setting. Warm light emanates from candles places in a small glass votive filled with red beads at each table. Koi fish and bamboo stalks are etched onto the frosted glass windows that separate the quiet dining area from the hustle and bustle of the casino.

I went to the restaurant for dinner recently and sat at a table in the bar area. Being an early weekday evening, it was on the quiet side.

The menu has a wide selection of food and every dish can be made vegetarian style as well, an area where Chef Dayu Zhang has a lot of expertise. He was formerly the executive chef at Jin Gingxuan Restaurant in his native Jilin, China, where he developed 200 ways to cook tofu and bean curd.

At lunch time, the restaurant serves "street fare" that includes varieties of Barbecue Rice that can include pork, chicken or roast duck for $10-$12. Other lunch specials include Chinese food standards such as Kung Pao Chicken and Beef and Broccoli served with a spring roll and fried rice.

The staff has tried all of the dishes on the menu and my server was incredibly helpful in narrowing down my choices.

After considering the Crispy Salt and Pepper Calamari ($7.50) and the wild appetizer item of Marinated Jellyfish ($8.50), I started with an order of Vegetable Spring Rolls ($5), which came in an order of two with sweet and sour sauce on the side. The spring rolls were light and crispy and not soggy with grease.

The entrees are served family style at the restaurant and if you're dining alone, there's plenty to take home for another meal.

I went with the clay pot dish of Green Curry Chicken ($14.50). It's labeled as spicy on the menu and while it had a nice kick, it was definitely manageable heat. The mingling flavors of coconut and ginger enhanced the dish but the stars were actually the green onions and traditional onions in the dish, soaking up the other flavors. The chicken was breaded and lightly pan fried, served in a clay pot that was sizzling when it was brought to the table.

In addition to the food, one of the standout features of the restaurant was the courteous and knowledgeable staff. A manager, busboy and hostess working stopped by to ask how everything was and not in an overwhelming nor annoying way. My server was incredibly helpful when trying to choose from the menu. He also recommended the General Tso's chicken and Pad Thai among his favorite entrees.

He also gave me an invaluable tip--try the Chocolate Cheesecake Doughnuts ($8 for 3) for dessert.

They're not shaped like traditional doughnuts but rather oversized doughnut holes. There's a fried dough exterior dusted with cinnamon and sugar. The inside is creamy with classic cheesecake and swirls of chocolate sauce. However, the best part was splitting the doughnut in half and putting a spoonful of raspberry sauce on top. That dessert could very well have inspired the name of the restaurant.

The Press-Enterprise pays for all dining profile meals.

Reach Vanessa Franko at 951-368-9575, vfranko@PE.com

JOY ASIAN CUISINE

Where: Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84-245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio.

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Entrees: $10-$47

Beverages: Full bar

Reservations: Accepted, available through www.opentable.com

Information: 800-827-2946

On the Web: www.fantasysprings resort.com

Lique is not pronounced "li-cue."

It's not "li-kway."

It's pronounced "lick," as in what you do to the ice cream on your cone at this '50s-themed ice cream shop.

Although it is tucked away in a corner of Fantasy Springs casino, the brightly colored pink and orange sign of Lique immediately pops out from the casino setting. And that is just the beginning of your trip back in time. The wall behind the counter is covered in red, blue, yellow and purple tiles. The booths are vinyl strips of red, blue and white. The funky light fixtures add a burst of color.

The only thing not bursting with color is the black and white checkered derby hats that the waitresses wear.

Lique offers a variety of ice cream flavors great for "liqueing" on a cone or eating out of a bowl. The traditional flavors of chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream, and chocolate chip cookie dough are offered in single or double scoops to satisfy any size craving.

Want more than a scoop? Lique ice cream parlor at Fantasy Springs casino in Indio features specialty sundaes, too (above).

If you are looking for something with more pizazz, try one of the specialty sundaes. The Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae has peanut butter cup ice cream, warm brownie chunks, chopped peanuts, hot fudge and hot caramel. It's topped with whipped cream. The Jitters Sundae has Kona coffee ice cream, crushed biscotti, chocolate syrup, cocoa powder and whipped cream.

In the mood for something in liquid form? Try an ice cream float or shake. The Cherry Coke float is Coca Cola with scoops of black cherry vanilla ice cream. Or for something more traditional, try the Root Beer Float.

One cannot live on ice cream alone, so that is why Lique's motto is "ice cream and more." Lique has a limited hot food menu to satisfy those needs. The Burger is a third of a pound of Angus beef topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, cheese and sauce. The quarter-pound all beef hot dog can be jazzed up with chili or cheese.

But who are we kidding? Lique is not about burgers and hot dogs. It's really all about the ice cream. And Lique has enough variety and quality to make it worth a visit.

Casino dining

What: Lique - Ice Cream and More

Where: Fantasy Springs Resort Hotel & Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Drive, Indio

Hours: Sunday - Saturday 10 a.m.-5 a.m.

Entrees: $2.50-$6.99

Beverages: Soft drinks

Information: 1-800-827-2946, www.fantasyspringsresort.com

In an elegant space cast in layers of earth tones, Fantasy Springs Resort Casino's POM puts a splendid spin on each of its straightforward dishes.

It's all about embellishment.

For example, you can get crab cakes all over the place these days. They're usually fried from frozen and dressed up with a couple of sauces. And fries? No big deal.

But at POM, crab cakes for lunch become a trio of crab-cake sliders served on mini-brioche buns with snap-crisp shoestrings.

Cheesecake for dessert? Sure, everyone's got it, usually with a glop of fruit goo on top to hide how routine it is.

At POM, no assembly-line cheesecake allowed. How about creme-brulee cheesecake, complete with that "burnished" caramel glaze on top?

The menu is full of such embellishments:

Mozzarella sticks? Nope. Try Mozzarella Lollipops with chili-pepper tomato coulis.
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A vodka martini with a lemon twist

The Panko Fried Shrimp features a delicate crust and a spicy slaw.

The Cuban Pork Panini takes the street-corner fare up a notch.

The Indian Fry Bread you ate at the county fair is nothing like POM's version.

Chocolate Lovin' Spoon Cake (above) is a popular POM dessert.

The setting is also something of a surprise. You can walk right past the entrance amid the "buzz-whir-ch-ching" of the casino.

Stride down a stairway into the main room or out onto the patio for music and evening desert air.

The bar features an adventuresome array of mixed drinks and diverse selections of wines, liqueurs and the hard stuff.

On the evening we visited, the wait staff was chipper and attentive. And Alice Cooper had just dined there, signing autographs for the crew and sharing road stories, so the place was still buzzing.

POM

WHERE: Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio. Off Interstate 10, Golf Center Parkway off ramp.

HOURS: Breakfast: 6 a.m.-11:30 a.m.; Lunch: 12 p.m.-4 p.m.; Dinner: 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Late Dinner: 11 p.m.-2 a.m. (Friday, Saturday on weekly basis, and Sunday during holiday weekend).

PRICES: Entrees $10-$26 dinner; $8-$18 lunch.

INFORMATION: 800-827-2946 or www.fantasyspringsresort.com