mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food. Kirk is feeling a bit under the weather and so Cathy will blog today about when she ate here -and took photos- not too long ago, so that all of you may have a small diversion from the charred world out there.
Hello again. This is a little different post about a meal I ate. I won’t be mentioning prices nor have a photo of the menu. I took the photos of food with no flash also..and apologize for the poor quality…but hopefully you will vicariously enjoy the meal as much as we did. I will mostly just talk about the food.
Valley View Casino is located in Valley Center and has what I consider the best buffet of all the Casinos in San Diego County. I haven’t blogged about it, just enjoyed it many times over. Much, much higher quality food. Fortunately, the Casino did survive the wild fires and is still open for business. About a week before the fires, The Mister and I met with a dear friend for a special birthday meal at the Black and Blue Steakhouse located within the casino. We all ordered what we wanted, and then some. 
I ordered iced tea as a beverage…and-wow- the best iced tea ever. The cubes of frozen tea ensured that the flavor would never be dilute, and the sides of freshly squeezed lemon juice and simple syrup in carafes so that you could flavor the tea to your liking were such an elegant, fancy touch.
The fresh lemonade beverage (not pictured) was the best lemonade I have ever tasted. It was made with the simple syrup and fresh squeezed juice, of course. 
We ordered several appetizers and side dishes as well as a couple of main course, again, adhering to the "there are no rules" rule of life…
On the left, lobster ravioli. These are quite large, although only two…that piece in the center top is just a piece of lobster… the pasta is fresh made, the lobster was sweet and juicy and the sauce was a tomato cream with basil and capers.
On the right, calamari with three sauces for dipping. The portion size was quite large and the squid was fired to perfection with a light crust. The sauce on the left had roe in it and was salty; I liked it the best. The center sauce was more of an oily pesto and not too garlic-y and the one on the right had a hot kick to it that overwhelmed the flavor of the breading, which had a light spice and was interspersed with fried capers…
Above, two crab cakes with barely any filler, lightly fried so the crust was crisp served atop several swirled salty spicy sauces and with a fresh aoili.
One person came around with a basket of fresh baked (-in the wood burning oven- which is also used to make pizza, which I will order next time) breads with a choice of sweet, savory and just plain white…and served with European unsalted butter, topped with olive oil, sea salt and fresh chervil. 
The Cesar salad was very large and, of course, made with crisp Romaine lettuces and a fresh made garlic-y Cesar dressing and served with wonderful olive oiled croutons and fresh made, delicate crisped Parmesan shreds.
The lobster salad…micro greens on top, lots of lobster-fresh cooked, as in still warm-, a layer of fresh grapefruit wedges, tomato and avocado, topped with a citrus vinaigrette. Oh. My. Yes.
Side orders of steak fries and double creamed spinach. The best fried potatoes I have ever had. Perfectly crispy, potato flavors, not too hot nor too cold. This was served with a ramekin of ketchup and a teensy serving spoon. The creamed spinach was made with fresh spinach and real cream..of course.
The herb crusted halibut here on the left was cooked perfectly, was flavorful and juicy and served with broccoli rabe which was sauteed perfectly in a light lemon garlic herb sauce. 
The 18 ounce rib eye steak, cooked perfectly rare/medium rare and served with horseradish, baked tomatoes and garlic and a small salad.
More side dishes included the macaroni and (blue) cheese (um…excellent…I don’t know what else to say…) and the best onion rings, ever. The buttermilk based crust on the whole, sweet onion slices was seasoned 
perfectly with a salt and pepper.
As I said, this was a special birthday and the reason for the splurge. This dessert plate came out…mostly wonderful tasting fresh fruit surrounding a chocolate bottomed cherry mousse cake. Even the raspberry puree was fresh and wonderful tasting.(Cindy was kind enough to share) 
You must understand the birthday plate was at least 12 inches across, and this platter with hot fudge, wedges of fresh baked nutty brownie atop about a pint of really really good vanilla gelato, topped with vanilla whipped cream was at least 12 inches in diameter. We all shared.
This meal was one of the best ever, food and friend-wise.
Black and Blue -The place for steak- inside Valley View Casino 16300 Nyemii Pass, Valley Center 92082 (760)291-2130