Bison

Valley Center, California, April 6, 2011—

LINDSEY BOOKED TONIGHT'S ROOM on Priceline, and didn't notice the hotel wasn't actually in Ramona but was instead in this gambling center on the La Jolla reservation. So we wound up eating on site, because there was really no alternative beyond driving another sixty miles or so.

I contented myself with a single order: the eight-ounce bison steak, grilled (over gas-fired ceramic bricks, I suspect), served with a Bordelaise sauce, three or four overcooked asparagus spears, and an odd, gloppy savory bread pudding with mushrooms set on a bed of arugula. It was okay, nothing to write home about.

Pinot grigio; Rhone (unremarkable save for relatively low prices)

Fiore at Harrah's Rincon, 777 Harrah's Rincon Way, Valley Center; (760) 751-3100