By Scott Cronick
Longtime Atlantic City visitors and employees always reminisce about the good ol’ days of casino gaming.
Sure, they love all of the modern amenities, particularly the slot machines that now resemble video games more than their three-reel ancestors. But give a high roller a beautiful hotel room with a view of the ocean, a VIP lounge where you can eat and drink like royalty, great promotions and stellar service, and they will keep coming back.
Two must-haves in a casino are a great Italian restaurant and a classic steakhouse.
So, when Bally’s Atlantic City and Bally’s Corporation executives were putting together their plans to celebrate the casino’s 45th anniversary, they knew they already had a great Italian restaurant with Jerry Longo’s Meatballs & Martinis.
But they needed that great, classic steakhouse that resonated with those old-school players and would also draw some new customers, including those who don’t gamble and are just looking for a great meal.
Enter Park Place Prime, a stunning steakhouse that is certainly classic in presentation, design and menu, but modern and contemporary in all of the right places.
“We have to be constantly reinventing ourselves and offering new amenities for our customers, and this place has come full circle,” said Bally’s Corporation Senior Vice President of Operations Paul Juliano. “This steakhouse was once known as Prime Place when Bally’s was called Bally’s Park Place, and this was a bit of a nod to the nostalgia of the space. We called it Park Place Prime … adding that Park Place element to the name and the menu is a reflection of that nostalgia so that we have some of those classic items with a mix of the nouveau. We think it’s a great offering.”
Along the way, Bally’s eventually had to make the difficult decision to part ways with the Food Network icon whose Chophouse at Bally’s offered stellar cuisine in a gorgeous setting but never resonated with players – or cash-paying customers – like it should have. It was perhaps the most underrated steakhouse in Atlantic City.
“We have a great deal of respect for Guy Fieri and his group,” Juliano said. “We liked the concept, but out of our focus groups and the master planning of the property, we asked, ‘What can we do better?’ and ‘How can we raise the bar?’ And the comment that kept being repeated was that ‘We needed gourmet. We needed fine dining.’ Although Guy Fieri was a nice steakhouse with an interesting menu and great food, we just lacked a proper gourmet room.”
A touch of class
Perched at the top of the tall escalators that deliver patrons from the casino floor to the sixth floor dining level, Park Place Prime sets the tone for the entire floor that has been massively renovated since Twin River – now Bally’s Corporation – took over operations in 2020.
With its dark wood exterior and an open floor plan, customers are welcomed by a giant bar and lounge area that boasts a granite bar top, mosaic tile bar base, plush black leather bar stools, hardwood floors and one of many custom crystal chandeliers that hang throughout the multiple dining rooms.
The main dining room overlooks the ocean and boardwalk, and diners will experience brassy metal accents, dark woods, deep blue fabrics on the seatbacks and banquettes, touches of emerald green and an overall classy, classic feel with modern flourishes.
“There is a real first-class feel to it,” Juliano said. “Guy’s Chophouse was much more casual. This represents the fine dining atmosphere that our customers were really asking for. It’s elegant, modern yet classic, new meets old, old meets new. It’s a nod to the nostalgia, to the heyday of Atlantic City and the formality that we sometimes long for as things go more and more casual. We wanted to go the other way to have a more formal yet comfortable dining space.”
Living Up to Its Name
As you would expect, Park Place Prime takes great pride in its steak offerings, offering prime cuts for its 14-ounce ribeye ($63) and its 14-ounce dry-aged New York strip ($68), and kicking it up a notch with a 6-ounce Australian Wagyu ($70) that comes with herb-roasted bone marrow and blackberry compote.
The star of the show is a 40-ounce prime tomahawk (market price) accompanied with bacon-roasted Brussels sprouts and truffle fries, which are Juliano’s favorite.
Other steaks on the menu include a classic N.Y. strip ($55), a 40-ounce porterhouse ($140) served with mushroom and shallot confit with garlic mashed potatoes. There’s also 8-ounce ($55) and 10-ounce filets ($65), and the former which can be served au poivre style ($65), which means peppercorn-crusted, sauteed spinach with cognac cream and truffle fries.
“The decision to go prime was an important one,” Juliano said. “We knew that we needed to elevate the game here, and to have several prime steaks on the menu … they are just wonderful. Then you add enhancements like truffle butter and red wine demi or roasted bone marrow … those are fabulous flavor profiles.”
Surf with Your Turf
A quick gander at Park Place Prime’s menu will reveal this steakhouse takes its seafood as seriously as its meats. That’s because a lot of thought went into the execution and planning of the menu, including stellar efforts from Director of Food and Beverage Jerry Beaver and Executive Chef Giancarlo Generosi, as well as Restaurant Chef Edwin Neris, who executes the menu every day with his talented staff.
A raw bar offers everything from oysters and clams on the half shell ($22) to shrimp cocktail ($24), shrimp ceviche ($18), tuna crudo ($23), scallop carpaccio ($22) and a crab stack ($27) that is as pretty as it is delicious with jumbo lump crab, avocado, cucumber, edamame, tomato, green onion, micro greens and lemon pepper remoualde.
Other starters include crispy calamari ($21) with cherry peppers and Calabrian chili oil; and crab bisque ($16) with sweet blue crab and sherry. And there are more than a half dozen seafood entrees including their soon-to-be-famous crab cakes ($45) with summer corn, edamame, chipotle aioli and buttery parmesan couscous; an Asian-style Chilean sea bass ($52) with baby bok choy, ginger-soy black bean sauce and sushi rice; surf and turf (market price) featuring a 9-ounce lobster tail with filet mignon, grilled asparagus and rosemary potatoes; a whole Maine lobster (market price); Scottish salmon ($42) with parmesan butter fregola sarda, lemon beurre blanc and shaved asparagus; and ahi tuna ($44) seared with a sesame crust accompanied by cucumber kimchi and black garlic miso.
You can even enhance your entrees with everything from grilled shrimp ($16) to crab Oscar ($19) to crab imperial ($25).
“Being from the shore, we love our seafood, and we know our customers love seafood,” Juliano said. “Dishes like our scallops carpaccio are subtle and very elegant with a more modern take, and then dishes like our tuna crudo with sliced ahi, ponzu, sesame. Cilantro, lime, avocado and house-made wonton chips is all about freshness and honing in on the flavor profile. The seafood tower is more old school and incorporates oysters and clams on the half shell, ahi tuna poke, shrimp cocktail and chilled lobster. We absolutely love the seafood on the menu.”
And there’s more …
Other starter highlights include steak tartare ($25) with crispy capers, shallots, herbs, Dijon quail egg and toasted brioche; a phenomenal crab bisque ($16) with sweet blue crab and sherry; two salads including a wedge ($15) with everything from deviled egg to pickled onions to bacon lardons and homemade blue cheese dressing.
Specialty entrees that are must-haves include a 10-once Wagyu Park Place Prime burger ($33) with caramelized onions, gruyere cheese and truffle butter on a brioche wth “garlicky” fries; lamb chops ($60) with rosemary jus, garlic mashed and sauteed spinach; roasted duck ($42) with seasonal berry gastrique, grilled asparagus and rosemary potatoes; and roasted chicken with rosemary jus, garlic mashed and grilled asparagus ($39).
And no steakhouse is worth its scraps without some amazing sides ($14 to $24) like lobster truffle mac and cheese, bacon-roasted Brussels sprouts, grilled asparagus, truffle fries, creamed or sauteed spinach and a loaded baked potato.
For dessert ($10 to $14), check out the chocolate gateau, a chocolate layer cake with chocolate mousse ganache and chocolate shavings; vanilla crème brulee; house gelato in a variety of flavors and the popular cheesecake.
Happy Anniversary Bally’s
Park Place Prime Steakhouse is the cherry on top of a 45th anniversary celebration that also includes a new High Limit Slot Lounge, a renovated VIP players club called the Legacy Lounge, a new ’70s-themed revue show every Sunday in the summer called Disco Inferno; and a $1.45 million anniversary sweepstakes.
“We are not going anywhere,” Juliano said. “We here at Bally’s Atantic City are throwing punches, and we are excited about it, and we think we have a great offering. So, come down this summer and let us show you all of the things that we’ve been doing.”
(Park Place Prime at Bally’s Atlantic City is open 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Hours change seasonally. Go to BallysAC.com)
Scott Cronick is an award-winning journalist who has written about entertainment, food, news and more in South Jersey for nearly three decades. He hosts a daily radio show – “Off The Press with Scott Cronick” – 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on Newstalk WOND 1400-AM, 92.3-FM, and WONDRadio.com, and he also co-owns Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall in Atlantic City, while working on various projects, including charitable efforts, throughout the area. He can be reached at scronick@comcast.net.
