By Michael Klein
photo: The Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority
Top-notch food and entertainment. Sumptuous decor. Free-spending clientele. The East Coast's hottest late-night scene.
That was Atlantic City back in the late '40s and '50s, when the 500 Club and Copa Room were king and the Rat Pack roamed the Jersey Shore. A half-century later, it's the vibe of Atlantic City once again.
Though the world-famous boardwalk is still a collection of honky-tonk arcades and cheap shops by the Atlantic Ocean, the town's 12 casinos have been upping the ante on glitz and glamour. And perhaps taking inspiration from – or looking to compete with – their desert brethren in Las Vegas, they've also been turning up the heat in the kitchen. The last few years have seen the debuts of dozens of high-profile eateries helmed by headliner chefs.
Michael Mina, Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay (courtesy of Borgata)
photo: Borgata
In late June, the action centered around the Borgata's quarter-billion-dollar expansion, which brought forth Bobby Flay Steak, a sleek, David Rockwell–designed meatery; SeaBlue, a stylish seafooder from Michael Mina; and Wolfgang Puck American Grille, featuring a blazing open grill.
"I had been asked many times to do a restaurant here," Puck said recently. "But the Borgata promised to do it right." The casino provided most of the money and staff, which the celeb chefs train.
Last winter, Gallagher's Steak House, a branch of the NYC veteran, opened in Resorts, while Caesars added Mia, an ambitious Italian from Chris Scarduzio and Le Bec-Fin founder Georges Perrier, the team that owns Brasserie Perrier in Philadelphia.
The Tropicana got into the game in 2004 with the Quarter at Tropicana, a $245 million retail/dining complex that's home to Carmine's, a branch of the popular New York City family-style Italian; Cuba Libre, a Latin by way of Philadelphia; and an outpost of the Palm steakhouse, among others.
The feeding frenzy will continue this fall and winter, when 10 destinations are scheduled to debut on the new Pier at Caesars, a $200 million dining/shopping complex jutting into the Atlantic. The restaurant lineup, due to begin opening in September, will include spin-offs of the Philadelphia hits Buddakan (a Pan-Asian) and The Continental (a martini bar/small-plater), both from restaurateur Stephen Starr; a version of Boston's Eclectic eatery Sonsie; and Vino Noir (a wine bar). On tap for January is a sibling to Jeffrey Chodorow's Vegas fave, rumjungle, a tropical-themed nightclub. The Pier will also house a tony mall (think Burberry, Gucci, Louis Vuitton) as well as – shades of Vegas – a wedding chapel, due this winter.
All the high-end dining action represents something of a sea change for this shore resort. For most of the quarter century since the advent of gambling in A.C., casinos regarded fine dining only in terms of comps for high rollers. But "food no longer takes a backseat," observes Victor Tiffany, the Borgata's vice president of food and beverage. The reason is clear: "We expect to make money," says Tiffany. Las Vegas casino operators who've brought in big-name restaurants have been doing just that for a dozen years.
The Borgata began raising the A.C. culinary stakes at its 2003 opening, when it unveiled restaurants including the elegant Italian Specchio and Ombra, a grottolike wine bar, both from Luke Palladino; Suilan, an upscale Chinese-French fusion specialist from innovative Philly chef Susanna Foo; and a branch of New York–based Old Homestead steakhouse. The restaurants, operated by the casino under licensing deals, have finished squarely in the black, Tiffany says.
Clientele at these swank restaurants – where most entrees are north of $30 – is anything but the casino-bus crowd. On a recent Saturday night, the dining rooms drew a mix ranging from New Yorkers to Asian tourists to weekending Philadelphians who own vacation homes in the posh communities of Longport and Margate.
Indeed, while Atlantic City may not yet have as much star-chef wattage as Sin City – where renowned French chef Guy Savoy recently set up shop, joining luminaries like Daniel Boulud (Daniel Boulud Brasserie), Thomas Keller (Bouchon), Nobu Matsuhisa (Nobu), Joël Robuchon (Joël Robuchon at the Mansion, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon) and a host of others – it does trump desert-bound Vegas in terms of easy access. More than a quarter of the nation's population is within a day's drive of A.C. It's a shade over two hours down the Garden State Parkway from New York City and an hour down the Atlantic City Expressway from Philly.
Outside of the casinos, new dining choices for those heading to A.C. are decidedly more modest, with one exception. July Fourth weekend saw the debut of Sofia, a splashy Greek-Med downbeach in Margate.
Not that everyone seeks out Atlantic City and environs for highbrow eats. The casinos, looking to lure Asian gamblers from New York, Philadelphia and the Far East, are even waging war over noodles. After the Atlantic City Hilton, the town's smallest casino, opened a reasonably priced noodle bar, Bally's Park Place, Borgata, Caesars, Showboat, Trump Taj Mahal and Tropicana followed suit.
Texas Hold 'Em with a side of mai fun? Sounds like something even the Rat Pack could have gotten into.