Atlantic City Weekly

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GALLOWAY TWP. — Throughout the last several decades, Friday night’s seafood buffet at Galloway Township’s Dolce (formerly Marriott) Seaview Resort has been one of the region’s true dining destinations.

Along with an obvious cornucopia of culinary delights, the golf and conference center’s setting and ambiance combine to create an absolutely peerless experience.

We visited recently and were immediately reminded just how precious Seaview’s real estate remains. Traversing the immaculate property near sundown, its eastern horizon was a spectacular vista.

Remember the old Streisand comedy On a Clear Day You Can See Forever? Here, it’s more like on a clear evening you can see Brigantine, hovering in the distance many miles away.

After a brief jaunt over a series of gently rolling hills, one arrives at the main entrance to the facility. A sense of timelessness and history prevails, which only makes sense considering the property’s nearly 100-year legacy.

Seaview was founded in 1914 by Clarence H. Geist a Philadelphia businessman and avid golfer who reportedly spent $1.5 million dollars to create his exclusive dream club at the shore. Ponder that one for awhile — $1.5 million in pre-World War I currency. Gulp. In the decades following, luminaries as diverse as President Warren G. Harding, entertainer Bing Crosby and golf greats Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead all graced the resort.

Within the main dining space, just to the entrance’s left side, tantalizing aromas of raw seafood instantly entice. Presented in large, ice-filled metal buckets, are oysters and clams on the half shell, steamed shrimp and on this night, stone crab claws. That Floridian favorite was a real surprise treat, and also reminds us that executive chef Sean Kinoshita’s most sincere objective is to obtain and utilize the freshest, in-season items, like those oysters and clams, both wild-harvested from waters just offshore. Also included at this initial station was a caviar and sushi display, the latter filled by a colorful variety of rolls, sashimi and accoutrements. Five composed salads — Cajun crawfish, citrus poached rock shrimp, tomato/onion/cucumber, German potato with Berkshire bacon, and whole-wheat pasta with roasted chicken — rounded out the L-shaped service platform.

Kinoshita also mentions that the buffet, a Herculean undertaking, requires the work of seven staff members working since noon on Friday. This is an element that separates Dolce’s offerings from those at most other buffets. Because they are dealing largely with delicate seafood, virtually everything you will see has to be prepared as close to service as possible. It’s a bit of a gastronomic tightrope walk, but the results are obviously worthwhile.

Like one of this evening’s featured items, sauteed black bass.  Kinoshita seemed particularly stoked by the fact that this sustainable item — unlike so-called Chilean seabass — was of local Atlantic origin. The firm white fish was accompanied by a show-stealing Jersey corn succotash, creamy, rich and pleasantly devoid of traditional lima bean.

Making the buffet a particular value is the inclusion with each admission of a whole, steamed lobster. Delivered to-order, the crustacean arrived well drained of excess liquid, still pleasantly hot. Close cousins king crab legs, however, are provided in unlimited portions as a standard element of the buffet. Along with, on this evening, jumbo lump crab cakes, crunchy fried shrimp, steamed clams and oregano bread crumb-crusted grouper with pencil-point asparagus.