Dock’s, the Knife & Fork and several other local dining establishments have become synonymous with the area landscape, some for centuries.
ATLANTIC CITY — Two and half decades prior to the Atlantic City depicted in Boardwalk Empire, our region’s original dining dynasty began. Harry “Dock” Dougherty opened the doors of his eponymous seafood house, Dock’s Oyster House, at 2405 Atlantic Ave., in 1897.
In the intervening century, thousands of other local restaurants have arrived, run their course, closed and thoroughly disappeared into the mists of time.
And still, Dock’s remains. Having never swerved from an original commitment to providing the very freshest — much of it locally sourced — seafood, it has maintained a special cachet despite the arrival of spectacular, celeb-chef facilities at virtually every casino.
If you happen to be an oyster lover, Dock’s is a true mecca. Typically serving a minimum of a half-dozen assorted varieties, their raw bar personnel are crafty, surgically skilled pros who can deliver those pristine mollusks with amazing rapidity.
Knife & Fork
It’s hard to mention Dock’s and not the Knife & Fork, at least since January 2005. At that time Frank Dougherty, grandson of the aforementioned Harry, along with wife Maureen purchased the property from its longtime owners, the Latz family. The Knife & Fork’s official Web site elaborates, saying “Frank had always been intrigued by the iconic building and could not pass up the opportunity to restore the historic restaurant.”
“Restore” might be the understatement of the millennium, thus far. The Doughertys treated this purchase as more adoption than a mere business venture, lovingly returning the unique structure to all of its original grandeur. The culinary focus here, steaks and seafood, is enhanced via creative nightly additions, like an outstanding soft shell crab entrée we sampled this spring, seasonal seafood swimming in a Thai-inspired coconut cream blend. The Knife & Fork will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012.
The Smithville Inn
Southern New Jersey’s single oldest house of public accommodation, with roots dating back to a Colonial-era stagecoach stopover, has been brilliantly brought back to life by gregarious entrepreneur Tony Coppola, wife Fran, son Tony Jr. and other family members. Smithville today consists of interconnected specialty shops and eateries, wrapped nicely around scenic Lake Meone. The Inn itself has always offered fare in concert with those environs, and is best known for items like a signature chicken pot pye featuring dumplings, vegetables and puff pastry, panko-herb crusted rack of lamb and slow-roasted prime rib with traditional Yorkshire pudding (weekend nights).
Wandering into the Smithville Inn on a balmy weekday evening just prior to Easter was like unexpectedly running into an old, dear friend.
Abe’s was the tonal counterpoint to nearby Dock’s. With a long, narrow, white dining space lined by wooden benches, it afforded casual, inexpensive meals.
For our 2nd annual Then and Now issue, celebrating the Atlantic City region, we asked several members of the community about their experiences and memories.
The menu is graceful with nary a hint of pretentiousness. Food, straightforward, intelligent and ingredient-driven, shows an admirable amount of reverence and restraint. The son of Sicilian and Abruzzi parents, Rizzo — with forearms the size of tree trunks — looks every bit the tough-guy Bronx native transplant.
Pizza; it’s a subject bound to generate debate and controversy, particularly here in southern New Jersey, where an enormous number of individuals claim Italian descent. Since the holiday season is also the zenith of the pizza sale biz, we now officially weigh in with a few of our thoughts and recs.
Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, treasurer of Atlantic County, ruled the rackets and the Republican Party in Atlantic City. Former cabbie Louie Kessel ordered his master's life. Home base was the posh Ritz Carlton Hotel at Iowa Avenue and the Boardwalk. It was the Roaring 20s and life was good.
As one of the original anchor restaurants within Tropicana's Quarter, Red Square has established a reputation for exotic, hip, Euro-styled cuisine since opening. We visited on a packed Saturday eveni...
Probably the first thing to strike someone's attention while gazing over at Red Square -- or for that matter the first object anyone is likely to notice any time they enter The Quarter at Tropicana C...
For first-time restaurateurs Tad and Elizabeth Stern, the opening of their new Bubbie’s Bistro — a Kosher Italian eatery in Ventnor, just minutes outside of Atlantic City — was the culmination of multiple dreams.
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1. BreadMan said... on Nov 3, 2011 at 12:53AM
“What about Formica's? White House? Richland? Sugar Hill Inn?”