Gotta Drank(&Gamble)! Cielo at Morongo Casino

Banning has it all put together pretty well, a few minutes before Morongo off the 10 is a large shopping and eating center with Best Buy, Wal-Mart, BBQ and whatnot then just past the Holiday Inn and airport is Morongo Casino. It's a strange sight to see as it's the tallest building by far in more or less the middle of nothing besides small housing developments, farms, mountains and giant windmills. But the place looks new and clean besides the indoor smoking. You've got the glitz of slot machines and neon signs, several restaurants, table play in the middle and a High Stakes room. We ventured to the joint a couple times over the weekend to partake in the buffet, Friday night you can get  1 lb T-Bone steak while Saturday and Sunday there's Prime Rib! If you sign up for their free rewards, you get an automatic $5 off so you're a fool not to. The offerings were quite expansive with salad, sushi, Italian, Asian, carved meats and more. It was a 30 minute wait for steaks but there were plenty of other delicious options. One of them being the Turkey Pot Pie. Good lord I'm getting hungry just thinking about it now! I'm not sure if I'll ever have a better plate of buffet food than the one of Turkey Pot Pie, steamed vegetables, stuffing and Prime Rib I cannonballed on Saturday.

After feasting we headed up to the 26th or 27th floor to Cielo, their skyhigh steak house. You know me, I love eating/dranking up high and have done so now in places like Oklahoma City, Portland, Seattle and Calgary. It's a nice spot and wasn't too crowded yet as we sipped on Old Fashions and watched trains go by, cars run four way stops, people floating in the lazy river and wondered what life was like out here. Down on the floor we played a few slots where you could pick from Garfield, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Britney Spears and THE PHANTOM machines. I would have slammed some evil and some slots but it was already taken...We lost a few bucks playing roulette on a computerized set up but it was fun. All in a pretty nice place and I would definitely return if there was a musical act coming through I was into. Upcoming acts Melissa Etheridge and Incubus do not qualify.