Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula opens cantina

May 23, 2021 11:45 AM PT

Dishes at the newly opened 1882 Cantina at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula.

Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula opened a new Mexican restaurant, the 1882 Cantina, on May 5. It takes over the space formerly occupied by the hotel’s Lobby Bar & Grill.

The restaurant’s name was inspired by the history of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. In 1882, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur re-established a government relationship with the Pechanga tribe, setting aside 4,000 acres for the Pechanga Indian reservation.

The dishes prepared by chef Andre Alto include dishes inspired by the cuisines of Oaxaca, Baja California and Estado de Mexico. The menu includes 10 mezcals, 30 tequilas and 10 varieties of margaritas featuring spirits from Latin American countries. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. The resort is at 45000 Pechanga Parkway in Temecula. Visit pechanga.com.

Kragen writes about restaurants and San Diego artisan food and drinkmakers for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Pam Kragen

Pam Kragen is the arts and entertainment editor, as well as the chief theater, dining and opera critic, for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She joined the Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater and opera critic. She is the co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera-classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. And in 2022, she was chosen as one of the fellows in the prestigious National Critics Institute, run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterf, Conn.