Where: POM at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84-245 Indio Springs Pkwy., Indio “There’s nothing wrong I can find with seafood.” Seafood Nights “Over the years of making so much and serving in restaurants, I get a charge from watching people’s faces when they’re happy with their seafood dinners or appetizers,” Rieger said.

“The seasoning is pretty much how my grandmother would season food growing up.”įor the chefs, cooking seafood for customers who enjoy the results brings them unrivaled mutual satisfaction. “I got a lot of the soul food cooking influence from her, from the island cooking with my mother and traveling all over, so I took a little bit of everything and put it in my repertoire,” Adkins said. The Lowcountry coleslaw is a family recipe from Adkins’ African American and Native American grandmother who grew up in Georgia. He grew up in Maui, Hawaii, but also picked up his cooking skills at home.

The culinary styles in the kitchen are also a combination of Adkins’ skills acquired from traveling to Asia, the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean and various locations around the world. “If you’re going to make fried shrimp, for example, you have to make an egg wash, seasoned flour and then you have to make seasoned breadcrumbs. “I believe in what we call layering seasoning,” Rieger said. For example, the menu’s crab cakes contain jalapeños and bell peppers, not to increase the spicy levels, but to awaken the flavors. Rieger’s experience as a chef raised on the Jersey coast has taught him how to perfect the seasoning blends for his meals. “All the baking is done on the premises with our pastry division at the pastry shop.” “Everything else the chefs make from scratch,” Rieger said.

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