The Atlantic City region’s dining scene continues to expand with many new, diverse options.
After laying fallow for most of the last year and half, the Atlantic City region has suddenly sprouted a fresh springtime crop of diverse restaurants.
These aren’t just the standard seasonal open-now-and-close after Labor Day types, either. The vast majority of these eateries will be serious, year-round operators.
Having already featured Luke Palladino’s new Italian spot at Harrah’s, we’ll continue from that end of Absecon Island. Next door to Palladino on Harrah’s upper level is Dos Caminos modern Mexican cuisine, which opened about a month ago. Their menu includes a house signature item, guacamole made to order; plus empanadas, seviche, quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos and entrees.
But for us, their most delightful-sounding offering just might be from the brunch menu, Mexican French toast, with roasted bananas, rum and cajeta caramel. Later this summer, Harrah’s will add our town’s third official upscale burger joint when Bill’s Burger Bar turns on its lights and fires up the grills.
Around the corner, our town’s newest casino, the Golden Nugget, has brought along with it one of the country’s most esteemed seafood franchises. With more than two dozen restaurants, most in coastal areas, the Chart House seems a perfectly natural fit for the Atlantic City market. For us, it’s also a real positive indication that management here intends to turn this neglected property — possessing one of the greatest natural locales imaginable — into a real shore showplace.
An equally intriguing seafood venture will be Harry’s Oyster Bar and Seafood at Bally’s Park Place. Frank Dougherty and Maureen Shay, Atlantic City restaurant royalty if anyone can lay claim to that title, will author their latest enterprise the last week of June. The pair, family operators of local gems Dock’s Oyster House and the Knife and Fork Inn, would appear to have ideal templates and experience for a casino-based fish eatery.
Dougherty’s description — “Our concept for Harry’s was to recreate the type of old-time seafood house that my great-grandfather Harry Dougherty brought to Atlantic City nearly 115 years ago when he started Dock’s” — sounds ideally suited to the locale, the Dennis Hotel’s picturesque courtyard. With an outdoor patio attached, that al fresco atmosphere and food seem wisely paired. Harry’s will provide fare like fresh, seasonal fish, traditional New England lobster rolls, oyster po’boys and more than half-dozen varieties of oyster.
Another option for seafood fans will be Caesars’ Atlantic Grill, also set to open in late June. Described as “a seafood shack for the uptown set,” the restaurant will serve sushi plus raw bar favorites and a variety of grilled fish and meats.
From the non-casino side of the agenda, the Diving Horse Cabaret and Steakhouse will open soon at 9 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The site — formerly the Club Tru/Studio Six complex — was extensively rehabbed by ownership over the course of the last six months. While a definitive schedule was not available as of press time, the Diving Horse has secured the services of Philly executive chef Liam Campbell. Campbell, a veteran of the Latest Dish, Plough and Star, Monk’s and Le Bec Fin, promises “an eclectic flair on the ‘traditional’ American steakhouse” with select prime cuts by the ounce and family-style sides. Another unique aspect: once in business, the Diving Horse will serve its full menu until midnight.
Atlantic City’s historic Gardner’s Basin now plays host to Scales, a new eatery at the site formerly occupied by the Flying Cloud Cafe. Kyle and Jane Williams, owners of the nearby Back Bay Ale House, completed his purchase of this second waterfront property earlier this winter. Fitting the aquatic environs, their menu includes a New Orleans style grilled oyster app, Jersey clam fritters, Caribbean conch salad and mahi-mahi fish tacos.
Moving south on Absecon Island, Gertrude’s restaurant in Ventnor was recently purchased from founders Neil and Karen Elsohn by sous chef Derek Paterno. Paterno, no stranger to Elsohn’s cuisine, has worked for the brilliant local chef on-and-off since the ’90s, beginning at Cape May’s legendary Water’s Edge. Elsohn will continue to maintain a close working relationship with Paterno, acting in an advisory capacity for the time being at one of the shore’s very finest BYOBs.
Atlantic City's newest oyster bar at Bally's comes from the restaurateurs whose family has run two of the city's finest food establishments for more than a century.
There is no more telling indicator of spring’s arrival hereabouts than the opening of new businesses, especially in food service sectors. In spite of a still-moribund economy, the Atlantic City region continues to percolate with activity. Here are a few of the 2010 season’s most hotly anticipated arrivals.
In utter defiance of a still sluggish economy, the Atlantic City/Cape May county region's restaurant market continues to percolate well ahead of the national envelope. As reported in this space last...
In the words of the late, lamented Beatle, George Harrison, "It's been a long, cold, lonely winter" for the restaurant industry of the Jersey Shore. Shifting dining demographics, plus six horribly c...
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