Beard House Event

[Bond Girl]

Coquille and I are attendiing the Beard House event at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City, wanted to know if anyone is going? And, also if anyone has been there, who might offer some tips and advices.

[LJC]

Atlantic City is the a-hole of New Jersey and a culinary wasteland (boardwalk delights excluded). I have not been since the opening of the Borgata but on my last visit I swore never to return.

[Rachel Perlow]

If you're looking for some other places to go (assuming you're not just driving back and forth for one meal and are staying at least overnight), you may want to check out some of the places we tried last time in AC. Most highly recommended would be Crabby's, the Vietnamese place and White House Subs. Here's my post (originally here on another website):

• Subject: Atlantic City & Vicinity
  From: Rachel Perlow
  Posted: September 07, 1999 at 16:15:32
  Message:
  So, to continue from the “best buffet” thread, Jason
  and I went to Atlantic City over Labor Day weekend.
  As promised, here are our comments on the restaurants
  at which we ate. Only two of the places were
  previously listed on this board, another is most
  definitely worth going out of your way for, if you’re
  looking to get the best crabs.
  We arrived at the SEAVIEW MARRIOTT RESORT (Rt. 9,
  Absecon, 609-652-1800) on Friday, September 3, 1999,
  at 6 PM. As per my mother’s instructions I had called
  ahead to make a reservation for their locally famous
  (it is obviously a celebration destination, “Happy
  Birthday” was sung several times by the live piano
  player (grand piano in the center of the very large
  dining room)), FRIDAY SEAFOOD BUFFET. Unfortunately,
  I had not called early enough – prime times book a
  week in advance – and our reservation was for 9:30
  PM. We got up to the room, unpacked, relaxed, took a
  nap, and were starving by 9. So, we headed
  downstairs, checked in with the hostess, had a drink
  in the hotel bar, and were seated by 9:15. I had been
  concerned that, with such a late seating, they would
  be out of the best items or they would have been
  picked over. No need for such worries, everything was
  great.
  The star of the buffet is steamed 1 – 1¼ lb.
  Lobsters. Many other items are worth your attention,
  as well: very large shrimp with a nicely spicy
  cocktail sauce and lemon wedges, a very fresh crab
  salad (huge chunks of Maryland crab in a light
  vinaigrette with diced vegetables), and my personal
  favorite of the buffet: Grilled Chilean Sea Bass with
  Beurre Blanc. Chilean Sea Bass is not usually my
  favorite fish, however it was cooked perfectly and the
  grill marks had a wonderful flavor. It was served at
  the carving station with the sauce on the side, along
  with prime rib and pork loin for those craving meat (I
  had none, but Jason said the macadamia-encrusted pork
  was good). Revelation: Beurre blanc is a wonderful
  dipping sauce for lobster.
  There were, of course, numerous other
  dishes/stations. These included: a salad station,
  cheese station, caviar (with all the trimmings, but I
  don’t like caviar), smoked fish (salmon and
  whitefish), fried shrimp, fried scallops, pasta
  station with “Scallop Carbonara” (too much bacon
  flavor for me and I didn’t want to fill up on pasta,
  so just had a taste (the scallops were very good both
  fried and in the pasta), clam chowder, some other
  Italian dishes and Jambalaya which I skipped. There
  were also steamed clams and mussels in a Pernod
  sauce. The clams were a little overcooked and the
  Pernod didn’t match well with the mussels. Also,
  there were potatoes and asparagus available. The
  asparagus looked a little overcooked, so I skipped it
  at first, but on a second (third?) trip up, they had
  replaced it with the most perfectly cooked, skinniest
  asparagus I’d ever seen!
  On to dessert: there was a huge array of desserts, but
  I was too full of seafood to try many of them. I
  chose a slice of chocolate iced rolled white cake,
  which I mostly just picked the chocolate out of, and a
  fruit tartlet. The latter was wonderful. A very
  crisp cookie shell (coated in white chocolate to keep
  it crisp) with pastry cream and berries.
  All in all this was a wonderful start to our weekend.
  If you are going to be in the area on a Friday it is
  worth the $50 pp price tag (~$120 for two with tax &
  tip). PS – I just realized I wrote so much about the
  food I forgot to mention the service, which was
  excellent and very friendly.
  Some other notes about the Seaview Marriott:
  The hotel bar was quite nice, with live music at
  night. Room service was prompt (see Saturday Night),
  although we only tried it once. We shared a very good
  Häagen-Dazs sundae (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry)
  with hot fudge, raspberry sauce, brownies and macaroon
  cookies ($5.50 plus tax & tip). I’m still craving
  more of the macaroon cookies, which were nothing like
  the Passover Macaroons you get in cans.
  For lunch on Saturday, we went to WHITE HOUSE SUB SHOP
  (2301 Arctic Ave, AC, 609-345-1564, 345-8599) on
  advice of this board. It is a very nondescript corner
  establishment. Nondescript except for the line out the
  door. We arrived around 2:30 PM (had a continental
  breakfast at the hotel around 11), and had to wait
  around 15 minutes for one of the 9 booths (there are 5
  or 6 stools for single patrons). The most frustrating
  part about waiting there is the aroma and the locals-
  in-the-know who kept walking in past us to place or
  pick up a take out order. Not being lucky enough to
  have another place to eat our subs, we waited
  patiently while chatting with the others on line.
  When we made it past the exterior door, we occupied
  ourselves by looking at the countless celebrity
  photos, which line nearly every inch of wall space.
  By the time the grandmotherly woman in the housecoat
  who cleans the tables summoned us to our table
  (“Next!” – G-d help you if you aren’t paying attention
  when called), we were ready to order. We shared two
  half subs (each half is about 10” long). The first
  was a cheese-steak with fried onions, mushrooms and
  hot peppers ($.50 extra each). I had meant sweet
  peppers when I said peppers, but I learned for that
  you must specify a Green Pepper Cheese-Steak. It also
  had lettuce and tomatoes on it, which I would ask to
  have left off in future. Anyway, the sandwich was
  quite tasty, dripping juices, the beef lean, the
  sandwich not overly stuffed.
  The second sub was the White House Special. It is an
  Italian sub with very good cold cuts, provolone, raw
  onions, lettuce, tomato, hot peppers and oil &
  vinegar. I realized, while trying to get my mouth
  around this sub, that “special” refers to extra meat.
  You can also get a White House Regular, which would be
  my suggestion.
  The staff was very friendly, but very busy and you are
  obviously not encouraged to dawdle. The deserts
  available were Tastykakes, and there are no french-
  fries, just bags of chips. Soda is available as cans
  for 85¢ or a can with a cup of ice for 95¢. You pay
  at the counter, our total was about $18 for two half
  subs with extras and two sodas, including tax and tip.
  Jason was craving Alaskan king crab legs after all
  that lobster and shrimp on Friday night. We had the
  concierge call around to some of the casino buffets to
  find out if anyone had them, none did. Everyone
  seemed to have snow crab that night. So, on the advice
  of a hotel employee, we headed to CRABBY’S (1 mile
  south of Mays Landing on Rt. 50, Belcoville, 609-625-
  CRAB (2722)). It is about a half hour west of AC, on
  the left as you head south on Rt. 50, a little while
  down from the small “Welcome to Belcoville” sign.
  According to their ads they were voted Best Crabs of
  the Shore for the past 9 years. I can believe it. We
  did not have a reservation, but arrived around 8:15
  and did not have to wait for a table. It is a very
  casual, semi-raucous local bar/restaurant. The
  waitresses shout out their drink orders to the
  bartender. Instead of just the staff singing Happy
  Birthday, the bartender gets the entire place’s
  attention by shouting, “Excuse Me Everyone!!! It’s
  Linda’s Birthday, let’s all sing for her!” and we all
  did. He got the crowd’s attention again a little
  later to present some gifts and bid farewell to one of
  the waitresses and her husband, a marine who was being
  transferred. They really make you feel you don’t need
  to be a local to be part of the gang.
  On to the food... We had several starters. Jason had
  the seafood gumbo, which was nicely spicy and full of
  crab bits. I had the steamed little neck clams,
  yummy, and we shared a special appetizer, Shrimp
  Jalapeño Poppers served with Remoulade sauce, double
  yummy, though not too spicy. As main dishes, we
  shared 4 Garlic Crabs (Maryland blues, $4.25 a piece)
  and the Crab Sampler ($25), which consisted of two
  Alaskan king crab legs, two Maryland blues with Bay
  seasoning, a snow crab and half a Dungeness crab.
  The Garlic crabs were completely cleaned, sautéed and
  served with scampi sauce for dipping. They were
  delectable and easy to eat since the underside shell
  and “dead man’s fingers” were removed. The king crab
  legs were particularly sweet, even better than those
  we’d had at Steve’s Pier One on Long Island, NY
  (search for one of Jason’s previous posts for more on
  Steve’s). Although the blue crabs were caked with Bay
  seasoning, they weren’t too spicy because it was just
  on the body shell. You had to take off the exterior
  shell and clean out the lungs yourself on these, just
  as you would in Baltimore, but they were slightly
  larger than the ones prepared with garlic and were
  quite sweet. Of the four, the snow crab was my least
  favorite. I found it too be very iodine/salty, except
  for the largest claw, which was sweet and had a
  texture very similar to the Dungeness.
  My only complaint is that no side dishes are served.
  About halfway through our crabs, I was longing for
  something, anything, green. When asked I found they
  have basically no vegetables available, not even
  corn! We settled for some coleslaw and french-fries.
  Which were both quite good. The fries had the peel
  on, were not too thick and not too skinny and weren’t
  salted, which was fine with me with all that crab.
  Crabby’s has all you can eat specials during
  weeknights from 6 – 9 PM. I know Monday is Dungeness,
  but I can’t recall Tuesday – Thursday, call and ask
  because it’s worth going out of your way for this
  place! BTW – our bill totaled ~$85 with tax & tip.
  We wanted ice cream for dessert, but the place we saw
  on the way to Crabby’s (Scoops) was closed, so that’s
  why we ordered the sundae from room service (see
  above).
  The Seaview is supposed to have a wonderful Sunday
  Brunch, but as we were going to head into AC to see a
  matinee show, the concierge recommended (and made us a
  reservation) at CASA NICOLA at TRUMP TAJ MAHAL (609-
  449-1000) for their Sunday Brunch. Although the
  restaurant serves “regional Italian specialties” at
  dinnertime, Sunday Brunch was representative of a
  wonderful hotel Sunday brunch ($35 pp, ~$85 for two
  with tax & tip).
  Among the standard brunch stations such as omelets and
  waffle (with bananas foster and vanilla ice cream
  available) stations, there was perfectly ripe fresh
  fruit, shrimp cocktail (with shrimp even fresher and
  larger than at the Seaview and extra horseradish
  available if the cocktail sauce was not spicy enough),
  crab claws (a little watery, they were probably
  previously frozen), smoked salmon (with all the
  trimmings you usually find with caviar, but I didn’t
  see any caviar), a display of terrines, cheeses and
  meat pates, sushi (tuna, cucumber and California – all
  made fresh in front of you, though not to order), dim
  sum (hargow (shrimp dumplings) and scallion pancakes
  (very crunchy)) and some other Chinese dishes (fried
  rice, lo mein, chow fun, gailon (Chinese broccoli –
  very impressive for a non-Chinese restaurant, heck its
  even impressive when a Chinese restaurant has
  gailon!)), chafing dishes with pasta, fish, risotto,
  chicken, beef tenderloin. What also impressed me
  (besides the gailon) was the other vegetables
  available, the green beans (with the beef) and the
  asparagus were both perfectly cooked, not overdone as
  can happen when things sit too long in chafing dishes.
  Desserts were a beautiful display of individually
  portioned tartlets, cakes, cookies and wineglasses
  layered with puddings/mousses and Jell-O and/or
  whipped cream. My favorite was a chocolate enrobed
  brownie topped with chocolate mouse (under the
  chocolate dip). The one dessert that didn’t work was
  chocolate croissant bread pudding. As I learned in
  New Orleans, bread puddings need to be made with
  regular bread. Sweet or extra rich breads end up
  making mushy bread pudding, as this one was.
  Dinner Sunday night was at the KNIFE & FORK INN
  (intersection of Atlantic, Pacific and Albany Avenues,
  609-344-1133). After all the seafood of the past few
  days, Jason was longing for some red meat. Advertised
  as “an Atlantic City tradition since 1927 [the windows
  of the dining room were etched with “since 1912”
  however] ... fine steaks and seafood”, it was really
  more seafood than steaks. However, not to be daunted
  we did order meat. But first the starters. It was
  rather windy and chilly that evening so we both
  ordered soup. I had the Manhattan clam chowder, good
  but nothing special. The soup de jour was another
  story, Cream of Asparagus with Crab, it was simply
  sublime, no salty bits of crab, just the sweetest
  lumps. We also shared a plate of fried Ipswich belly
  clams, on the menu as Fried Soft Clams ($19 for an
  entree portion, it was not available as an appetizer,
  only as a main course, although the portion was about
  the same as most plates of fried clams you’d get as an
  appetizer). They were OK, but not great. I had been
  craving them since people started talking about them
  on this board, and none of the other seafood places
  we’d been to had had them.
  As for main courses, Jason ordered the Surf & Turf
  ($38). He was the one who was tired of seafood, but
  the “regular” filet mignon was $29, so for an extra
  $9, he figured he may as well get the lobster tail!
  It was a spiny lobster tail, of course, but very
  good. The filet was very good too, cooked to the rare
  side of medium-rare. My entree was not so perfect. I
  ordered the chopped steak ($19), medium. It came out
  over-well-done. I rarely send things back, but this
  was rather dry, so I did. The waitress was very nice
  about it, Jason gave me some filet mignon to nibble
  and I picked at my fries. However, when my
  replacement came it was more than rare, it was browned
  steak tartar! (I could just imagine the cook
  thinking, “she wants it less cooked, I’ll show her
  less cooked!”) So the very accommodating waitress
  brought it back once again. This time it was cooked
  perfectly. Apparently, the head chef had taken a
  break, she said he was appropriately cross with the
  cook when he came back and heard what happened. I
  wouldn’t necessarily recommend it however, as it had a
  few too many ingredients, more like a fancy individual
  meatloaf. I prefer my chopped steak to be just that.
  To its benefit, it was served with wonderful onion
  rings.
  Meanwhile, the potato side dish was interesting, very
  skinny french-fries (practically potato sticks, but
  not so hard), which they called Long Branch Potatoes.
  We also ordered, ala carte, a side of asparagus, which
  were perfectly steamed, and what was billed as corn
  fritters, which was good, but was really a corn
  pancake, similar to what I make for breakfast, not
  deep-fried fritters. To make up for the first chopped
  steak mishap she brought us another corn fritter
  (which we ended up offering to the parking attendant
  (too full)). After the second, we were offered an
  after-dinner drink or dessert. Being that we were
  totally stuffed and the last patrons in the upstairs
  dining room, we thanked her anyway, but she offered to
  wrap up dessert. So, we brought back a piece of lemon
  pie, which we ate that night (good, but I prefer it
  tarter), and an individual sized blueberry pie, which
  was wonderful shared for breakfast Monday morning.
  Our bill was about $100 before tax and tip, and I left
  a nice tip, as it wasn’t her fault the kitchen screwed
  up.
  For lunch on Monday, we felt the need to eat something
  healthy (after all that overindulging and I was
  starting to feel a little sick with a cold), so we
  headed for LITTLE SAIGON (corner of Arctic and Iowa
  Avenues, 609-347-9119) for some Vietnamese soup and
  summer rolls. As soon was we walked in the door we
  knew it would be good, as it was packed with
  Vietnamese families. Luckily there was one table for
  two left in the corner so we were able to sit right
  down. I knew I wanted beef pho, but there were
  several variations to choose from. I stuck with what
  was billed as Deluxe Beef Pho ($8). The broth was
  mild and delicious, the noodles nicely firm, and the
  beef plentiful, but rather fatty. The classic
  condiments of bean sprouts, basil and lime wedges were
  perfectly fresh. I think what made this “deluxe” was
  the extra large cartilaginous fatty pieces in the
  broth. I can imagine this being a delicacy to Asians,
  but I just picked them out after the first try. Next
  time I’ll either try the Pho with Beef Ball I saw a
  kid at the next table enjoying, or the My-Tho Style,
  which is shrimp & pork in a chicken broth pho.
  Jason ordered Chicken Curry with Noodles ($8), which
  was a soup, although not billed as one. He was warned
  it was spicy when he ordered it and again when it was
  delivered. That’s fine with him, he loves spicy
  food. I gave it a little taste, too spicy for me, but
  Jason loved it, sweat dripping down his brow all the
  way! For appetizers we had ordered spring and summer
  rolls ($4 per order). The spring rolls were perfect
  versions of what I was familiar with (for those that
  don’t know, they are not like Chinese spring rolls,
  they are tiny and have noodles as well as veggies &
  pork in them). I did not care for the shredded pork
  summer rolls (I usually get shrimp summer rolls, but
  even I was tired of seafood at this point), as they
  were flavored quite differently, with lots of anise,
  but Jason gobbled them up. We also shared an order of
  Vietnamese fried rice, which was very similar to
  Chinese Young Chow fried rice ($10), we took half of
  that to go. Drinks were also interesting, Jason had
  iced coffee with condensed milk (“very strong,” he
  said) and I had coconut juice, which was rather sweet
  and slightly tangy, and went nicely with the pho. Our
  bill was around $40, plus tax & tip.
  Well, I hope our little adventure is helpful for those
  on their way to Atlantic City. We left for home right
  after lunch. As the bathroom at Little Saigon was
  temporarily out of order, we made a pit stop at the
  Visitor Welcome Center along the Atlantic City
  Expressway. The bathrooms were clean and they have
  Salt Water Taffy out to sample at the information desk
  (along with souvenirs to buy and lots of info on stuff
  in and around town). Two nice older ladies staff it,
  so stop by on your way into town. May Lady Luck smile
  upon you so you can enjoy some of our extravagancies!
  Giving credit where credit is due: all the addresses,
  phone numbers and some quotes were from the September
  1999, issue of “Shorecast” magazine, found in all
  hotel rooms in AC.
  

[Bond Girl]

Okay, I survived the AC trip. While I'm not sure if it's literally a culinary wasteland, but from the looks of it, AC does come pretty close. The Borgata appears to be one of those pioneers that is attempting to turn the place into Vegas. Since I've never been to Vegas, I can't comment on the how close it has achieved that goal.

Appearance wise, the Borgata is a monster structure, gawdy in everyway, and gives off the vibe of an Middle American adult amusement park. The place boasts 11 restaurants, with some heavy weights such as Luke Palladino and Suzanna Foo mixed in with Starbucks and NOW noodle bar, but one wonders if the vast majority that visits the Borgata can really tell the difference between Suzanna Foo and Big Wongs in Chinatown. This is evidenced by a rather interesting conversation my insignificant other (who joined me after the dinner) had with the server at breakfast the next morning. Having ordered pancakes with maple syrup, he preceeded to ask if he can have real maple syrup. "It is real, sir," the server said in all seriousness. "It's Log Cabin." I would have left the conversation at that and just deal. But, my insignifant other, being a chef, decided to patiently explain the difference between real maple syrup and sugar syrup. All he ended up doing was confusing the poor woman terribly.

The Beard house event was obviously an event to promote the hotel and its high profile chefs, with each of the main restaurants coming up with one course of the meal.

The first course was a Toro with ponzu sauce and fennel salad with lemon preserves from Mixx- a Latin/Japanese restaurant that turns into a night club. My piece of toro was had a bit of sinew in it, which annoyed me, but the fennel salad balanced well with the lemon preserve and provided an interestiing contrast to the toro.

The second course was a truffle cheese pudding from Specchio that seemed to have won approval all around, althrough it was slightly broken but no one noticed.

The next course was a squab from Sulian (Suzanna Foo's place), and it was agreed upon all around that the squab was under cooked, and the whoole thing just didn't taste well.

The old homestead charmed everone with a huge piece of steak on top of some wild mushrooms. As a non-red meat eater, I can only guesss that everyone seemed to like it.

Of the whole meal, the biggest waste of food was the dessert, which consisted of dry crumbly cake on top of some thickly formed pie crust with melted ice cream, caramelized pecans and apples. The whole mess was an assult to the senses, and too unidentifiable to be edible.

As far as Beard House events were concerned, this one definitely rates as one of the "more interesting" outings. For all it's worth, I was thankful for the 24 hour noodle bar, and a very hungry insignificant other, because it was how I finally had some really food.

[Rosie]

LOL--the maple syrup. Reminds me of when I asked a waitress if the salmon was farm raised and she told me no it was fresh.

Had dinner once at Suzanne Foo's and don't know what the fuss is all about. Tasted like Chinese food for Americans.

[Bond Girl]

LOL--the maple syrup. Reminds me of when I asked a waitress if the salmon was farm raised and she told me no it was fresh.

Had dinner once at Suzanne Foo's and don't know what the fuss is all about. Tasted like Chinese food for Americans.

Couldn't agree with you more! One thing I haven't figure out, at her price point, who is eating there? Who can and want to afford it? Then again, on the night that I was there Drew Berrymore and J. Lo were both in the house.

[LJC]

I have had the same maple syrup experience many times. LOL.

I am glad to here that AC can be upgraded from total wasteland to plain old wasteland. Thanks for doing the research.

[Bond Girl]

My insignificant other is still amazed at the fact that "how can a person who is obviously in her late forties, and works in the food business, not know the difference between real maple syrup and sugar syrup?" My favorite incident is in Cape May when "freshly squeezed " orange juice turned out to be "Tropicana". The waitress even showed me the "freshly squeezed" label on the carton.

[LJC]

I am sure that there are some legal experts on egullet who could explain the definition of fresh, freshly, etc.

I too am always amazed that 1)people like sugar syrup or corn syrup as a maple syrup substitute and 2)that many people even in the food service industry don't know the diff.

I bring my own syrup to my local diner because they use "pancake syrup".

This summer my wife and I went to Montreal for a few days and we stopped in Lake George for breakfast on the way up. Any way the pancake house we ate at offered "pancake syrup" or you could buy a 1.5oz side of real syrup. Although this particular rest was plain old crap I liked the idea of offering a choice even if you have to pay a premium. I have no problem paying a $1-2 extra for the real deal.

[Phil Ward]

In AC, why not try Dock's Oyster House. Owned by the Dougherty family for 4 generations, great wine list and BTG selections, classic shore dishes, plus innovative new creations, super selection of oysters on the half shell and right around the corner from Trump Plaza; Also new is Babalu Cafe. Coming soon according to rumors are Smith and Wollensky and a Ruth Chris'.

Phil