Arturo’s Great Tastes

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Longtime Italian restaurant at Bally’s offers highly sophisticated fine dining

By Frank Gabriel

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Sep. 7, 2011

ATLANTIC CITY — Although our region  possesses an abundance of Italian-American restaurants, many of them quite excellent, there are only a handful we would characterize as authentically Italian. 

Some of that has to do with the collective palate of Americans, seldom as adventurous as that of diners in Europe. 

Throw in an abundant availability of protein — particularly beef — in the New World, and you begin to understand the subtle differences between these two closely related cuisines. 

Straddling the fine line that separates them might be the most difficult trick of all for a restauranteur to pull off. 

A notable exception to that general rule is Arturo’s, the longtime Italian venue at Bally’s in Atlantic City. 

While their extensive menu covers all the standards diners have come to expect, it also stretches to showcase a wide variety of food which is not often to be found regionally. 

The room itself, pale white with an azure ceiling, creates an initial visual impression not unlike visiting a museum. Wide windows at the far end providing a glittering view of the beach and boards, making for a highly sophisticated fine-dining atmosphere. 

Seriously fine dining, with plenty of subtle, white-glove touches — stuff that’s all but disappeared in much of the modern restaurant world: meticulous removal of all silverware after each item, repeated decrumbing of the table and gracious, unhurried food. 

Like the restaurant equivalent of a deep, relaxing sigh, artfully crafted to remove customers from the worries and cares of reality for a few, precious hours. 

Arriving first from the kitchen on our recent visit were two items on the facility’s “Taste of Arturo’s” portion of the menu. 

Tapas-inspired, these were slightly smaller than standard apps. 

Langoustines della casa brought five halved pieces of Mediterranean spiny lobster. A topping of herb-laden bread crumbs were fragrant from pungent oregano. Barely cooked, the langoustines — one of nature’s most inherently delicate seafoods — remained soft and dewy. Pure and simple, with plenty of clean white tail meat, they hadn’t been overly fussed. 

A great sense of restraint on the part of the chef to let this rare crustacean’s amazing flavor profile speak all for itself. 

If you’ve never sampled langoustine, Arturo’s is worth visiting for that reason alone. 

Next up were corn and truffle cheese stuffed arancini. Five large balls of a rice/corn/cheese blend, golden brown.  

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