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12 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | NOVEMBER 2022 Resident Restaurant Reviews Recently the committee has been asked to resume reviewing local restaurants. We decided it would be great if we tossed this to the community for input. We sent out an alert blast asking residents to submit reviews on local-ish restaurants. Happily, we have had a number of responses so without further ado we present Resident Restaurant Reviews! By Rod Lewis, Resident A recent visit to Soboba resort last month proved to be another real surprise for us. First off, the casino and restaurants are all non- smoking! What a pleasure to walk into a building with no smell of smoke. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch in The Fairway Café. The menu is varied with appetizers, salads, sandwiches and main entrees. Prices are reasonable from $12-24. The ambiance is on par with any other upscale dinning spot. The outdoor patio looks over a beautiful golf course. They have booths and tables for seating with some banquettes. We have dined here on several occasions and the food and service is well above expected. We opted for the scampi and calamari appetizer as well as Cuban sliders, both on the appetizer menu. The portions are huge, we ate both as a main course. The scampi and calamari appetizer is served with a delicious garlic aioli, sweet chili sauce, fried jalapeno slices and lemon. The Cuban sliders were on small sourdough rolls with smoked ham, carnitas, Dijon mustard sauce, jack cheese and a slice of pickle. Both were out of town delicious. Service was prompt and accommodating with a discount of 10% with a Soboba veterans players card! On other visits we have had burgers, fish and chips, breakfast, and various sandwiches all served with a different garnish. Their fries are the best too! The food is served hot and always with the sauces on the side, including the beef dip sandwich which is enough for two. We have never been here on the weekend so we cannot comment on the crowds that they may have but lunch time is usually not that crowded weekdays and we have always been accommodated. Fairway CAfE at Soboba By Clare Mendez, Resident Ahh… Thanksgiving Day is approaching. My number two son and his wife will undoubtedly have the extended family and a splatter of friends over for a feast. Historically, my son cooked two turkeys: one smoked and one deep fried, keeping the oven available to prepare or keep the side dishes warm. Never have I seen him serve a conventional oven-roasted turkey. Although I had dreams of large family gatherings at my house with the perfectly glazed, roasted turkey as the centerpiece of the meal, it never happened at our house in California as the rest of my family lived in far-away states. Cooking a turkey for my family of three was a ridiculous notion. My son, I must add, is an excellent chef. He took a few cooking courses (by necessity) and they really paid off. Also, I have never hosted Thanksgiving dinner as I am a notoriously bad cook. To this day, my sons quiver when I offer to make something as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich. All they remember is standing over the trash can or sink scraping off the burnt side of the bread when I made the attempt, to once more, to cook one perfectly golden brown grilled cheese sandwich. As I told them, "it puts hair on your chest". At Thanksgiving, I noted, timing is everything. Now that's a whole new skill set that I also have yet to master. Going back to the burnt grilled cheese sandwiches, timing is probably just as important when serving up just one item. Still, it eludes me. Best if I leave the large holiday meals up to someone else. We, in turn, will be gracious guests and bring the store bought pies and help to cleanup afterwards while everyone else is reclining with a cocktail or glass of wine. I like thirst-quenchers of the alcohol type too, but I also love the time I have with my grandkids so when they ask me if I will play with them, the answer is yes. For me, Thanksgiving is about the time spent with family and friends playing and laughing and of course, eavesdropping on all the conversations. As far as I know, no one in my family holds a grudge so we are able to all sit down and share a meal without snarling at another family member or worse, not come at all because they cannot let bygones be bygones. If there is a good time to say you are sorry for some misgiving, this is the day. On a side note, either I have learned a few culinary skills over my half century of cooking, or my husband is a saint for complimenting me after every meal. He knows, no doubt, that I will sulk, stomp away, and give him the silent treatment if he doesn't do so with conviction. Thanksgiving Day Feast

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