See Whats Cooking At Fantasy Springs Resort Casinos Weekly Seafood Night

For 15 years, POM Restaurant at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio has offered a weekly BBQ menu every Wednesday. This restaurant has built on that and recently added weekly dinner specials that explore new waters, or at least the delicious sea creatures they call home.

POM now offers Seafood Night on Tuesdays for $49 per person.

Casino executive chef Freddy "Chef Freddy" Rieger and POM chef AJ Atkins say the idea came from Jay Chesterton, vice president of hospitality and food services at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. Adkins and Rieger then stepped in to help prepare another dish and are still tweaking things, but say they've received positive feedback from customers.

"We put our hearts and souls into it," Rieger said. "The chef and servers care more than you think, and you won't get that much seafood for $49."

Dinner is served as a family, with a multi-course meal placed in the center of the table and can be ordered by one or more people. For those not too keen on seafood, Rieger recommends ordering something off the regular menu, but go with someone who will benefit from the seafood specials.

"You have so many different options at your table," says Rieger. "Pretty soon you'll roll up your sleeves, grab a tail and dig."

The first course includes a salad, Hawaiian cakes and steamed shrimp cooked in butter, lemon and herbs. The entree includes steamed crab legs, and guests are given tools like crackers, dividers and picks to make sure no crab legs go to waste.

Entrees also include crab cakes, butterfly shrimp in wine and tartar sauce, Lowcountry coleslaw and Creole rice pilaf. Dessert was a chocolate cake made with fresh whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

All produce comes from California, and Cisco Foods imports certain seafood, such as shrimp and crab. Rieger says he also gets deals on seafood from distributors in New Jersey, which helps keep prices down for customers.

"Everything the boss does from scratch," says Rieger. "All the preparation of the cakes is done on site at our pastry department in the bakery."

Rieger's experience as a chef growing up on the Jersey Shore taught him how to perfect spice blends for his kitchen. For example, the crab cake menu includes jalapenos and peppers, not to add spice, but to ignite the flavors.

“I believe in what we call layered seasoning,” says Rieger. "For example, if you want to make fried shrimp, you have to do the beaten egg, the seasoned flour, and then the seasoned bread flour. That's the most important thing."

The culinary style in the kitchen is also a combination of Adkins' skills learned while traveling in Asia, the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean and various parts of the world. He grew up in Maui, Hawaii, but also learned his cooking at home. Lowcountry coleslaw is a family recipe from Adkins' Native American and African American grandmother, who grew up in Georgia.

“I got a lot of soul food influences from him, I was cooking with my mom on the island and traveling all over the place, so I took a little bit of everything and put it into my repertoire,” Adkins says. "This is how my grandmother tasted food when she was a child."

For chefs, cooking seafood for customers who are happy with the results gives them unparalleled mutual satisfaction.

"In my years of doing so many things and serving restaurants, I've made a living watching people's faces when they're satisfied with their seafood dinner or appetizer," says Rieger. . "It doesn't hurt that I can get shellfish."