I was so busy during the holidays that I wasn’t able to post much, but I will try my best to post everyday other than the weekends. Happy 2014 everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year with delicious eats and cooking projects. My resolution is to try new cuisines, cook more, eat healthier when possible, indulge when possible, and focus more on the blog.
Before the craziness of the holidays, my bf “G”and I shopped ’til we dropped at the Cabazon outlets and decided to pay a visit to the Morongo Casino since it’s just right down the street and also because he had a voucher to the Serrano Cafe Restaurant.
Serrano Cafe serves up American cuisines for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s located just inside the casino near the Sage – The Spa on the first floor. Their specialties include their Herd Roasted Prime Rib, Filet Mignon, Grilled Salmon, and salads. They also have signature drinks such as Mandarin Martini, Orange Cream, Malibu Lifesaver, Caramel Apple Martini, Ultimate Cosmopolitan just to name a few and a good amount of fine wine list like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Rose Blush, as well as select coffee and tea. There’s also no shortage of beer as they offer domestic ones as well.
We were spoiled and was able to try a huge variety from their menu from their appetizers, main dish, and desserts. Glad we worked up an appetite from all the walking and shopping. No wonder they say shop til you drop! I was glad the restaurant served complementary sourdough bread with butter to keep us from being too hungry, but we made sure to not eat all of it because there was more to come!
For starters, we couldn’t decide whether to choose the Chicken Wings or Chicken strips but “G” convinced me that chicken strips was the way to go since we don’t have to deal with bones. They also had Chicken Quesadilla which I didn’t really care for since I could easily make that at home. The strips were not what I was expecting. I expected it to be meaty chicken strips that’s been fried to crunchy goodness, but instead we got McDonald-ish nuggets made with mystery meat disguised with fried batter. I was really disappointed…
It was a super cold and windy day at Cabazon so I was craving their soup of the day which happened to be the Chicken Tortilla Soup! Just my luck! I just love that soup and that crunch from the tortilla strips makes it that much more awesome so I just couldn’t say no. The soup was very satisfying because it was soothing,warm, hearty and not salty but I do wish there were more chunks of chicken and corn.
From the entree selections, “G” ordered the Twin Port Chops $14.95 which is made with red potatoes, sauteed spinach, and with a side of apple sauce. I took a bite of the pork and I thought it was flavorful. He really liked it and almost finished the whole plate! Having apple sauce with pork chops was foreign to me until “G” and I made pork chops for dinner one day and we had it with a side of applesauce. That was such a strange combination but after trying it, the two just pairs so well together.
I was thinking of going all out and order the Filet Mignon $21.95 which is a 6 oz. Char-Broiled Filet w/ Demi Glaze served with mashed potatoes and asparagus, but I wasn’t a big fan of it when I tried it elsewhere. Under the Healthy option part of the menu, the Salmon on Greens $15.95 sounded good, but the waitress suggested that the Peppered Grilled Salmon was one of her favorites so took her word. Plus that was what I was thinking of ordering just by reading the description.
The Peppered Grilled Salmon was perfectly seasoned with pepper and wasn’t overwhelming. What I especially like about the dish was the sauteed mushrooms and the tomatoes because it really soaked up the Lemon Caper Sauce which I believe was made from butter and garlic.
After all the food, we were so stuffed but we couldn’t resist the desserts. I can always make room for that 🙂 Everything sounded so good, like the Strawberry Short Cake $6, the Creme Brule $6, NY Cheesecake $6, and the Chocolate Dream Pie $6. The Chocolate Dream Pie was out of the question since my bf is not a fan of chocolate. Originally, only one dessert was allowed for the voucher but the awesome waitress said we could order one each. Without hesitation, I ordered the Strawberry Short Cake with a cup of coffee and my bf ordered the NY Cheesecake so we would be able to share.
The NY Cheesecake was so rich and decadent so it was nice to have a little bite of that and then have a bite of the short cake since it was light, buttery and fluffy. Overall, I have to say the short cake was my favorite, but next time, I would love to try the Creme Brule and the Chocolate Dream Pie.
I never expected a restaurant in a casino to be decent since I didn’t have much good experiences from restaurants in Vegas, but it’s always good to give them a chance. I enjoyed eating here and next time I would consider returning here even without the voucher.
Serano Cafe is located at 49750 Seminole Rd Cabazon, CA 92230 inside of the Morongo Casino and is opened 24 hours.
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