The Casino File
By Chuck Darrow
On the surface, it’s easy to perceive Carmine’s as just another pricey casino dining room geared to the high-roller and special-occasion crowds. But to equate the 20-year-old Italian eatery with such premium spots as Capriccio at Resorts Casino-Hotel, Il Mulino New York at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and Il Verdi, which like Carmine’s is part of the sprawling Tropicana Atlantic City complex, would be a mistake.
That’s because while the basic price points may be similar, Carmine’s laps the field when it comes to value: Often, for the cost of a single portion at similar restaurants, multiple people can share the item.
“It’s definitely about family,” offered Glenn Rolnick, who as director of culinary operations for New York-based A La Cart Restaurant Group, Carmine’s corporate parent, oversees the kitchens at all six locations.
“It’s about sitting around the table and people sharing these large, tasty meals. So, everything is plated ‘family-style.’ And the big thing is we want it to be very value-driven. So, we try to make sure that it’s affordable for the average family.
“And we want the ‘wow factor’—‘That is a big plate of food!’”
Part-and-parcel of that philosophy is the restaurant’s underlying culinary blueprint, which can be described as “basic.” To put it another way, Carmine’s is not the place for diners with more-adventurous palates.
“Italian is definitely one of the more popular types of food because you get more people to agree on a lasagna or a pasta than you do with an intricate nouvelle cuisine dish,” reasoned Rolnick. “At most of the [six] restaurants across our company, the main four or five items are pretty much the same: the chicken parms, the penne vodkas, the Caesar salad, spaghetti, meatballs, and lasagna.
“We gear ourselves towards making it easy for people to agree on certain dishes. So, you have to kind of keep it as popular and simple as you can.”
He added that consistency is another key to the success of the Tropicana operation and its sister properties.
“We try to do it the same across the board. We try to make sure [the dishes] look the same, taste the same and that the customer gets the same satisfaction if he goes to AC or he goes to New York City.”
That level of consistency also applies to the menu which, Rolnick admitted, “doesn’t change a lot. We don’t go in there and say, ‘OK, we gotta pull a lasagna. We gotta pull spaghetti-and-meatballs and find something else more popular.’
“The dishes are popular, have been popular and stay popular, and we don’t change it. We’ll run specials here and there just to change it up a little, but that menu has been pretty much the same for all 35 years [of the chain’s] existence.”
It should be noted that Carmine’s is definitely not the place if you’re looking for a quiet, or romantic, dining experience. The atmosphere is lively; on weekend evenings it can be noticeably raucous, even from the concourse upon which it sits, and the decibel level is well above those in many other casino dining spots.
So, what should a group of Carmine’s first-timers order?
“I definitely would say the calamari [appetizer] is the top on that list,” advised Rolnick.
“For the next course, spaghetti and meatballs, of course, is great. Lasagna is one of the most popular pastas that we have, but I personally love the [pasta with] garlic and oil or the white clam sauce. Those are two of my favorites.
“And penne vodka is always a winner. That’s one of the dishes you can’t miss.”
As for the entree, Rolnick was especially enthusiastic about the salmon oregano. “It comes with clams and mussels. It’s a really nice 22-ounce piece of salmon that’s baked with this nice garlicky, cheesy breadcrumb on top and comes with six mussels and six clams. So that’s definitely a little bit of seafood and a little bit of fish in the same dish.
But [a favorite] is hard to pick because there are a lot of options.”
For more, go to carminesnyc.com/locations/atlantic-city.
Oodles of noodles
at Borgata
And speaking of casino food, we’re not sure there are any parades or TV specials scheduled, but if you’re looking to celebrate National Noodle Month, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is definitely the place to be starting March 1.
Through the 31st, various Borgata food outlets will mark the auspicious occasion at Noodles of the World (N.O.W.), Angelina by Michael Symon and American Bar & Grille.
Among N.O.W.’s contributions to the festivities are Kyoto udon (shrimp, chicken, pork, bean sprouts, scallions and green peppers atop thick udon noodles) and a variety of noodle soups (e,g, pho, Hong Kong pork & shrimp wonton soup and vegetable noodle).
Angeline’s contributions include seafood spaghetti (served with shrimp, clams, crabs, calamari and pomodoro) while American Bar & Grille will be emphasizing its hand-cut tagliatelle (homemade Bolognese sauce and fresh ricotta and pecorino cheeses).
‘Disco’ boogies
into Borgata
And speaking of the Big B, Sunday, the bayside pleasure dome raises the curtain on “Disco Forever” at its Music Box theater.
The celebration of the pop-culture-changing music of the late-1970s staged by AyCee-based impresario Allen Valentine is scheduled to run Sundays at 4 p.m. through May 11. For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
