Travel

It's not just salt-water taffy and slot machines in Atlantic City anymore.

First the celebrity chefs flocked to Vegas, but nowadays they are heading for Atlantic City's East Coast casinos by the sea. More than 30 new restaurants have appeared in the last two years to keep pace with the 4,000 new hotel rooms that have been opened in the past four years, with another 2,440 under construction at the end of 2006. The Taj Mahal alone has 800 new rooms.

To make it easy for tourists to reach all this, direct luxury train service from New York to Atlantic City, to be known as Atlantic City Express Service (ACES - easy for card players to remember), is planned for this year. The new Pier Shops at Caesars, connected by a skywalk to the casino, features 90 new retail stores, such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. Atlantic City has become a favorite shopping, as well as a gambling and eating, destination. On the Pier at Caesars, there are ocean views from such restaurants as Phillips Seafood and even from Starbucks. For high rollers, there's a $1,000 gold-dusted brownie (you get to keep the Baccarat atomizer that comes with it, containing vintage port wine to add to the dessert) at Tropicana's Brulee the Dessert Experience. By the middle of this year, an elegant wedding chapel is slated to open, giving Vegas a run for its reputation as a place for couples to tie the knot.

So, if you think Atlantic City is still the down-at-the-heels, slightly seedy town it once was, you haven't looked lately. The changes are especially evident in the explosion of new restaurants, often those with celebrity chefs.

Such star chefs as Bobby Flay (steak, though he's most famous for Southwestern fare) and Wolfgang Puck (fancy pizza and more) have opened eponymous restaurants in Atlantic City casinos. Michael Mina's SeaBlue, Luke Palladino's Specchio and Ombra, Stephen Starr's Buddakan and Georges Perrier's Mia (he's well known for Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia) are among the luxurious new dining possibilities, also located in casinos, in the new Atlantic City. The Palm, located at The Quarter at the Tropicana, is the third-highest- grossing of the 30 Palms in the nation, even though it serves only dinner.

Grand openings

The spectacular new eating places goad competitors to come up with new flourishes, too. Trump Plaza has replaced its New Yorker Deli with the all-new 24 Central Cafe at a cost of $4 million. On Feb. 18, Harrah's casino opened an endless-looking buffet (in reality, only 290 feet of food counters) called Waterfront with food of seven different "destinations," or stations, from Brazil's rodizio (cuts of meat presented on gaucho swords) to Asian wok and Mongolian barbecue. Fifty chefs prepare the dishes, which include sushi, coastal cuisine and all-American-style steaks and fried chicken. Other casinos have buffets, too, but this is the largest, at 36,000 square feet of kitchens and dining space, and seating for 612. And clubs and lounges are hot tickets; lines to get in stretch out into the casinos.

Although the casinos seemed to be jumping and the restaurants were full on a recent weekend, an Associated Press story the following Monday reported that for the first time, annual revenues from Atlantic City's casinos could decline in 2007, because of increased competition from Pennsylvania slot parlors.

But Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority, said, "You shouldn't read too much into one month" - the reported revenues for January - which declined 2.9 percent overall and 7.2 percent for slots. Vasser said that because New Year's was on a Monday this year, all the figures for the "reveling and partying" went into December's tally.

Vasser added that the Sands, with 500 hotel rooms, closed (it is being redeveloped as a mega resort with more than 2,000 rooms) and that had an impact.

"It isn't doom and gloom," he said. "I could not be more optimistic about the future of Atlantic City." Besides new restaurant and shopping possibilities, he pointed out, Boardwalk Hall, the old convention center, received the top ranking worldwide for a mid-size arena from Billboard Magazine last year, which was "huge for us." Last fall, the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow and Elton John played the hall.

"If somebody simply wants to pull a lever on a slot machine," Vasser said, "they can do that anywhere. Atlantic City has the nightlife, the entertainment, the restaurants, the beach." In the past four years, there has been more than $2 billion in development.

Going back to its roots

Amid all the glittery new restaurants, shopping and nightlife, the old Atlantic City still exists, of course, and some time-honored local eating establishments are holding their own. The White House Sub Shop has a deserved and almost fanatic following; it sells an average of 1,000 subs a day. Angelo's Fairmount Tavern, famed for its lusty Italian fare, draws crowds, too.

However, some Atlantic City visitors never leave the casinos. And even if they don't, there are those numerous new dining possibilities. At Wolfgang Puck American Grille in Borgata, weekend visitors wait an hour at times even for reserved tables, but others happily eat at the bar or just go in and order takeout pizza to eat at the gaming tables. At the bar here, as well as at SeaBlue, also at Borgata, the pulsing, throbbing rumble of the slot machines can be heard at least dimly in the background. Yet Borgata is arguably the most elegant of the casinos.

At Mia, Perrier's high-ceilinged restaurant at Caesars, a many-storied statue of Caesar is barely visible behind gauzy curtains, but the machines are far enough away that the atmosphere is peaceful. At Tropicana, The Palm can be entered from the street - a rarity with casino restaurants - and you could be in any venerable steak house with dark wood and white tablecloths.

If star-chef restaurants are your destination, be aware that few open before 5 or 5:30 p.m., and they are open only for dinner. Atlantic City is a late-night culture. For day-trippers, there is no shortage of food at the casino buffets, such as Borgata Buffet. And Phillips, the time-honored, casual Baltimore seafood place on the Pier at Caesars, serves lunch overlooking the ocean. In town, away from the casinos, you'll find not only the sub shop but taverns and ethnic foods (there's a Saigon strip), if you can tear yourself away from the blackjack tables.

On a recent visit, taxi drivers were happy to recommend The Palm, Phillips and the Italian fare at Fairmount. (As for transportation, besides taxis there are also $2 jitneys.) So if you take the new high-speed ACES, once it is operating late this year, taxis are a good way to navigate between casinos ($11 is the top price within the city), and ask the cabbie for advice about where to eat. If you drive, paid parking at one casino grants you 24 hours of free parking all over town.

With so many fabulous places to eat, it's hard to find time for poker.

WHERE TO EAT

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Eating around in Atlantic City

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