Tag Archives: Showboat Atlantic City

Get ready to party with some of your favorite chefs at the 2012 Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival!

19 Apr

The Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival is always one of the highlights of my summer.  Each spring, I wait with eager anticpation for the event lineup to be announced…and that time has finally come!  The 2012 Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival is shaping up to be another epic weekend filled with incredible food, amazing culinary experiences, and tons of opportunities to meet and spend time with celebrity and local chefs!

Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City will present the fourth annual Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival from July 26-29, 2012.  The festival will feature a collection of the world’s most renowned chefs, icons, TV personalities and experts - arguably one of the festival’s strongest lineups to date - including Anne Burrell, Tom Colicchio, Robert Irvine, Aaron Sanchez, Buddy Valastro and Andrew Zimmern, with more announcements to come.  The event takes place across all four Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City casinos and resorts – Caesars, Harrah’s Resort, Showboat and Bally’s. “Caesars Entertainment is committed to continually offering Atlantic City’s residents and visitors the top entertainment programming in the region and there is nothing more exciting than the return of the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival,” said Jennifer Weissman, Regional Vice President of Marketing for Caesars Entertainment.  “We are proud of this year’s outstanding line-up of high-profile celebrity chefs and experts, as well as our own family of talented chefs honorably representing our casinos and resorts.”

The 2012 festival will present an acclaimed roster of exciting gastronomic talent on both a local and national scale. I n addition to Anne Burrell, Tom Colicchio, Robert Irvine, Aaron Sanchez, Buddy Valastro and Andrew Zimmern, the 2012 Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival will showcase wine, beer and spirits experts such as Gary Monterosso and Michael Green and Caesars Entertainment’s top in-house culinary talents.  This year’s festival will offer more than 30 events such as cooking demonstrations, wine and spirits seminars, and various tasting events.  Some of the highlights include:

  • The Grand Market: This world of indulgence will excite, inspire and amaze as you eat and drink your way through this tasting village.  Showcasing more than 100 stations featuring food, wine, spirits, ales and more from world renowned restaurants and brands, all which can be experienced during a four-hour journey.
  • Mia Seminar Series: America’s premier wine tasting seminars return to the shore with the  ever-talented Michael Green’s hands-on seminar designed to educate oenophiles with exemplary wines from around the world.
  • Book Store & Signings: Throughout the weekend, festival goers are given the opportunity to shop for their favorite cookbooks from the festival personalities and meet their favorite culinary idols.
  • Define “Cheese-Steak”: Join New Jersey resident, celebrity chef and Top Chef judge, Tom Colicchio as he walks you through a who’s who of cheese steaks while local sub shops battle it out for votes in the contest to find the “best of” this Philadelphia classic.
  • Sunset Sliders, Sushi & Sake:  Summer nights along the Jersey coastline are like none other and when you add a chic, rooftop party with Sushi and Sake, then it must be at Caesars.  This is the festival’s unique version of a ‘surf and turf’ party atop the Pool Deck at Caesars, all paired with Saki tasting.
  • Sweet & Stylish: Blending designer fashion and sensual desserts, Chef Buddy Valastro from Cake Boss and owner of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey will create the ultimate nightlife event and one-of-a-kind showcase of style and decadence, displaying favorite specialty cocktails and sweets for festivalgoers’ tasting pleasure.

This year Caesars Entertainment has partnered with local charity, The Community Food Bank of New Jersey, to be the official charity sponsor of The Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival.  The community Food Bank of New Jersey fights hunger and poverty by distributing food and groceries, providing education and training and developing new programs to help low income individuals meet their basic needs. As a non-profit organization, The Community Food Bank of New Jersey acts as the central food distribution center for other non-profits in New Jersey that serve individuals including local soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters.

Tickets for the Food Network Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival are on sale now!  Check out the Festival website for a full listing of events and to purchase tickets.  And be sure to follow the Festival on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates!  I will be talking to some of the participating chefs in the next couple of months, so keep your eyes out for future posts about some of the Festival’s featured chefs and events!

Big flavors, eclectic comfort food and celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez intersect at Crossroads at House of Blues

11 Apr

The dictionary definition of a crossroads is “the place of intersection of two or more roads.”  At the new Crossroads at House of Blues at Showboat Atlantic City, there are several different “roads” that intersect to create an eclectic, fun, creative and (most importantly) delicious experience.  The most obvious intersection is Chef Aaron Sanchez’ menu featuring volume-turned-all-the-way-up flavors with the House of Blues’ iconic musical experience.  “The House of Blues venues offer the best musical experience anywhere and we wanted to make sure the food intersected with that experience.  That’s why we’re calling the restaurants ‘Crossroads at House of Blues’,” said Chef Sanchez.  “They had a unique need for a chef that understood the music and food…Music and food tastes are both constantly changing and that’s something that I really identify with.”

Chef Sanchez’ menu is where the next (and yummiest!) intersection happens – comfort food from all over America comes together in a menu filled with truly decadent options like shrimp and grits with chipotle garlic cream sauce, lobster mac & cheese or pasilla-braised short ribs, along with lighter choices like citrus grilled chicken with white hominy and fresh vegetables or market fish prepared either blackened, pan-roasted in olive oil or grilled with citrus zest and fresh herbs.  Some dishes are prepared in the traditional fashion, like the jambalaya or the prime rib dip sandwich, and others have been given creative twists by Chef Sanchez, like the island turkey burger made with a Jamaican-spiced turkey patty or the shrimp and grits served over a cripsy grit cake instead of the traditional creamy grits.  (Wait – did I mention the shrimp and grits twice? Must be because I absolutely adored them!  Keep reading for details…) Whether you opt for decadence or sensibility, unique or traditional, one thing is constant – Chef Sanchez’ dishes are full of big, fabulous flavors!

Cornbread with maple butter

Meatball sliders

Street tacos

Be sure to order the cornbread with maple butter as soon as you sit down at Crossroads.  I know it’s on the appetizer menu, and you’d rather look at the menu and decide on appetizers while you enjoy a drink, but seriously – you cannot miss this cornbread!  It is sweet like cornbread should be, but not so sweet that it should be a dessert option, and studded with exactly the right amount of jalapeno peppers to complement that sweetness.  I have to be honest – I don’t know how the maple butter tasted, because I just couldn’t put anything on this absolutely perfect cornbread.  I’m sure the butter is a lovely complement to the bread, but I just couldn’t bear to interfere with the flavor of the bread itself.

The meatball sliders, made from braised short ribs, simmered in a slightly spicy tomato sauce and sprinkled with Cotija cheese, were also fantastic!  Be sure to add one or two of the crisp, new pickles served alongside to each of your sliders.  The mild sweetness of the pickles not only plays off the bit of spice in the tomato sauce, but the fresh, crisp pickles are a perfect foil for the richness of the meatballs.

And those street tacos!  They are simple, but oh-so addictive!  Grilled, citrus-marinated steak is diced and served inside corn tortillas, then sprinkled with Cotija cheese, and served alongside pico de gallo and an absolutely fantastic roasted tomatillo salsa.  My favorite thing about these tacos is that the meat was actually served medium-rare, as steak should be!  Usually, when meat is cooked for a filling, whether it be for tacos or any other sort of filling, the meat is coked through to medium or medium well.  But these tacos were served with steak grilled to a perfect, tender medium-rare, and made me so happy!  

Shrimp and Grits (Photo courtesy Caesars Entertainment)

Now – about that shrimp and grits I kept talking about.  It is easily the best shrimp and grits I have ever eaten (and I have eaten a lot!), and that is all because of the crispy, crunchy, craving-inducing grit cake that takes the place of creamy grits in this dish.  Pan-seared jumbo shrimp are placed atop the grit cake along with sweet teardrop tomatoes, and the whole dish is smothered in a creamy, dreamy chipotle garlic cream sauce.  The way the cream sauce keeps the traditional creamy component to this dish while complementing the non-traditional grit cake almost brings irony to this dish – I absolutely adored it! 

Key lime pie

What better way to end a meal full of rich flavors and spices that with a piece of sweet-tart key lime pie?  Crossroads’ version is fantastic, and in my opinion, the perfect punctuation to a rich meal.

You can opt for a familiar route at Crossroads, or you can take the road less traveled.   But no matter which way you turn, Chef Sanchez’ bold flavors and creative twists will keep you coming back to this delicious intersection!

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