The Wine & Spirits of Atlantic City

Seven years ago the International School of Hospitality Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University opened a satellite campus in Atlantic City. Since I have been teaching the wine & spirits program at FDU’s Teaneck/Hackensack campus for 14 years I drove down for a look-see. It is now seven years later and the original location of the school has been torn down (It was once the Million Dollar Pier and it has been replaced by the Pier Shops at Caesars). They have moved their program to Atlantic Cape Community College. It was time to revisit Atlantic City to see what has changed in the wine and spirits field.

Since I do not gamble at all I opted to stay at the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel, a non-casino property, located across the street from the Convention Center and more importantly, one block from The Walk, an entertainment & outlet shopping area with 100 stores. The hotel was also an easy 3 block stroll from the Boardwalk and most of the restaurants that I describe in this article. The Sheraton Club Level has a free computer (there are also two free computers in the lobby) as well as breakfast and afternoon and evening snacks. If you park your car and don’t want to walk there is the 13 passenger Jitney ($2) that runs along Pacific Avenue, to the Marina area and the Convention Center.

Settled in 1783 Atlantic City has a year-round population of 41,000. It is 60 miles from Philadelphia, 125 from NYC and 175 from Washington, DC. The world’s first boardwalk and salt water taffy are still there. It is also the originator of the rolling chairs as well as the Monopoly board’s street names (Atlantic, Pacific, Baltic etc). Although gaming revenue was down in 2007 due partly to Pennsylvania authorizing slot machines and $3 plus gas prices, there is a lot of new building taking place. Much of the “slum” housing has been replaced with new apartment buildings and homes. The historic Boardwalk Hall, the former home of The Miss America Pageant, has been renovated into a 13,000 seat arena for boxing, the circus, concerts etc. The Atlantic 10 basketball tournament was held there a few days before my arrival.

The 11 casinos include three in the Marina area: The Borgata, built 5 years ago, is constructing a new tower, The Water Club, Atlantic City’s first boutique hotel; Harrahs, is also building a new 44 floor tower that will be the tallest building in Atlantic City. I especially liked the “tropical paradise pool area” beneath a 90 foot glass dome. It has 6 Jacuzzis and 12 private cabanas all in view of the hotel lobby. Trump Marina is also located here. The downtown hotel/casinos are: Bally’s, Resorts, Trump Taj Mahal (adding a new tower), Caesars (and its Pier Shops) and the largest casino hotel, the Tropicana with over 2,200 rooms. There is also the Hilton, Showboat and Trump Plaza.

There were 35 million visitors to Atlantic City in 2006. This article is written for those who do not spend all their time gambling. I visited, had a meal, or spoke to every restaurant mentioned in my story. Several were suggestions from Elaine Zamansky, Manager of Media Relations for the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority and my host. I also read the Wine Spectator Best Restaurant issue and spoke to the concierge at the Sheraton.

Best Rum Bar: Cuba Libre at the Quarter at the Tropicana Resort has100 rums and Thursday night Late Night Latin Happy Hour from 11PM-1AM. There is dancing, singing, conga lines and a Latin floor show. Upstairs at Cuba Libre is the open-air Missile Bar with a real (fake) Russian missile & the declassified history of the 13 Days in October (really 14 days) dealing with the Russian/Cuba/USA missile crisis. If you find David McGee the Director of Sales & Marketing for the Philadelphia based (soon to open in Orlando) operations ask him to tell you the hysterical story of moving the missile from Florida to Atlantic City (right after 9/11).

Best Vodka Selection: Red Square, next door to Cuba Libre with 169 vodkas & voted best Martini Bar by Casino Player Magazine.

Best Cigar/Wine Selection: Tinder Box/Vino 100 is next door to both restaurants at the Quarter at the Tropicana. Great cigar selection & 100 value wines under $25. I stayed at the original Tropicana Casino and hotel in Havana Cuba in the mid and late 1950’s. The Quarter brought back many pleasant memories of those visits.

Non-Casino Restaurants: Ram’s Head Inn in Gallaway with five acres of gardens located 8 miles from Atlantic City. It is the same ownership as The Manor in West Orange. Best of Award of Excellence from the Wine Spectator with 970 wines, 100 Half bottles and 30 wines by the glass. Friday from 3-6PM is Happy Hour with over 30 wines sold at $1 per ounce.

Knife & Fork Inn has a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and is located in the Boardwalk area with a 10,000 bottle wine cellar and 20 wines by the glass. It is ninety three years old and was purchased by Frank Dougherty in 2005. His family opened Dock’s Oyster House in the Boardwalk area in 1897. Also a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence list with 425 wines.

Lastly, there is Angeloni’s II Restaurant in the Boardwalk area featuring Italian/American cuisine with 250 wines.

Casino Restaurants: Borgata- Thanks to Anjoleena Griffin-Holst, wine director and Brian Brennan, Media Relations Manager, for the following information and tour of the property, including dinner at Ombra. The Borgata Wine Experience is held 4-6 times a year. The Wine-off event is held in Ombra and is a lively competition between a male and female sommelier. Wine Around was a walking tour of Borgata’s fine-dining restaurants focusing on small bites of their signature dishes with wines to match. Women in Wine had 24 female wine maker/owners and Borgata’s chef-partners in a charity event. Three of their restaurants have a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence: Bobby Flay Steak has 512 wines; The Old Homestead has 567 wines; Specchio with 903 wines. Three have the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence: Ombra with 106 wines; SeaBlue with 361 wines & Wolfgang Puck American Grille has 285 wines. In 2007 almost 64,400 bottles of wine were sold in their six fine-dining restaurants.

The Palm at The Quarter at The Tropicana is also a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner with 165 wines and 13 by the glass.

I had dinner at Sonsie at The Pier Shops at Caesars, opened in 2006. There is a sky bridge leading from Caesars to the four story shopping (80) and dining (7) paradise which also features “The Show”, the largest indoor water fountain display in a mall. It operates every hour on the hour starting at Noon. General Manager Andrea Luca Rossi moved from Lyon Group’s restaurants in Boston to open this eclectic bistro and lounge with 300 wines on their list. There is a wine room for private parties and a dining-walk-in glass wine cellar. They do seminars and Wednesday classes on wine and artisan cheese pairings. There are 13 servers with a first level sommeliers certification. Their goal is to serve as a suggestion tool for their guests to make educated choices as to food and wine.

Now you can see that there are other things to do in Atlantic City besides gamble.

Before You Go- www.atlanticcitynj.com – (888) acvisit
                           www.harrahs.com
                           www.theborgata.com
                           www.acoutlets.com
                           www.ramsheadinn.com
                           www.sonsieac.com
                           www.knifeandforkinn.com
                           www.cubalibrerestaurant.com
                           www.tinderboxvino100ac.com
                           www.tropicana.net/thequarter
                           www.thepiershopsatcaesars.com
                           www.angelonis.com
                           www.chinagrillmanagement.com
                           www.sheraton.com/atlanticcity