The Casino File
Every chef has their own tale of how and why they decided on a career in culinary arts. But it seems a pretty safe bet that there is only one stove jockey — in Atlantic City, at least — who was inspired by the popular Japanese animation form know as “anime.” That would be Leslie Daniel, the executive chef at Kuro, the acclaimed Japanese dining room inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.
Daniel, 31, was born and raised in Henry County, Ga. Its location some 40 miles south of Atlanta hardly makes it a hotbed of Asian cuisine. But geography proved not to be an impediment to his career path, thanks to his lifelong enjoyment of anime, a made-in-Japan form of animation.
“My biggest exposure to Japanese food, I’d have to say, came from watching a lot of anime,” offered Daniel during a recent interview at the Boardwalk-fronting restaurant. That’s where I get my influence from. Why I love Asian food is from the animes that I watch.
“You’re watching these delicious [dishes] that they created for these cartoons, and it looks so good. I’m like, ‘Man, I want to try it’ because what they do on these TV shows is exactly how they cook food in Japan. It’s amazing.”
It’s not that the cartoons were Daniel’s only exposure to food preparation.
“Cooking,” he explained, is “a passion that I’ve had since I was a very young child. I have pictures of me wearing a chef’s hat from Christmases when I was only a few feet tall.
“What really kind of drove me to the passion of cooking was that we used to go out to eat a lot as a family, and we would try a lot of different restaurants, a lot of different ethnicities and cuisines. It really sparked my interest in food itself. As we started going to these different places, I’d start asking the waiter, or the manager — I was a very bold kid — ‘Can I go back and look in the kitchen? Can I see what you guys are working on?’ It was before the time of open kitchen concepts; everything was always behind closed doors. So, I was trying to get a peek in, and that’s just kind of where I fell in love with it — just all the action.”
While neither of his parents were kitchen professionals (Mom’s a paralegal and Dad’s a mechanic with what Daniel described as a “passion” for cooking), family did play a role. He spoke of holiday dinners that would find him and his kin “making cookies together, making a big meal; that was a very fun [activity] my family took part in together.” And he learned about different cooking styles from his parents.
“My mom is from the Virgin Islands, so she has a lot of different flavor profiles, spice and stuff,” he said. “And my dad is from Maryland, so he brought a very seafood-esque kind of style to the south. It was a very big mix of North American cuisine.”
While watching anime ignited his interest in Japanese fare, it was an early-career job that set it aflame.
“What I would consider my first official kitchen job was at Katsuya [in Miami’s South Beach district], which is a Japanese kitchen,” he recounted. “Coming up, I didn’t really know what direction I wanted to go with food. I just knew that I loved it. But when I worked in that kitchen, I was surrounded by great chefs. And a lot of my friends from college were working there. So, the experience itself is kind of what led me in that direction.” And led to his passion for the indigenous delicacies of the Land of the Rising Sun.
“The food itself is just beautiful,” he insisted. “It’s simple. But there’s a lot of technique and care that goes into Japanese food.”
After Miami, Daniel — who’s long had the nickname “Chef Too Hype” for his upbeat, enthusiastic manner in the kitchen — headed to Las Vegas before becoming a Day-One Hard Rock AC employee; he was Kuro’s sous chef when the rebranded and redesigned former Trump Taj Mahal Casino-Resort opened on June 28, 2018. He assumed the role of executive chef in 2022.
These days, his fame transcends the borders of Absecon Island, thanks to his appearances on two Food Network competition series.
Last year, he was crowned champion on “Guy’s Grocery Games” hosted by celebrity restaurateur Guy Fieri. Earlier this spring, he was back on the channel competing in “24 In 24: Last Chef Standing.”
“It was a life-changing experience,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer about his time on the programs. “The cooking competitions aren’t your average day-to-day executive-chef experience; competing was one of the hardest things that I’ve done, but also the most exhilarating, testing my boundaries as a chef.”
Daniel noted he initially came here simply because it was an opportunity to advance his career. But while the Absecon resident may have spent time in two of the nation’s most glamorous, food-centric cities, after seven years, he’s all-in on Atlantic City.
“You go to Miami, and you have all these hotels on the beaches and the nice weather, great food,” he reasoned. “Then you go to Vegas, you have these [opulent] casinos with all the top chefs and all their restaurants. But Atlantic City is the best of both worlds. It’s the casinos on the beach.”
Despite his professional success, Chef Leslie still has a couple of items on his “to-do” list. One is to visit Japan, something he plans to do later this year. The other has nothing to do with his job.
“I am single,” he said. “My dedication is to the culinary game. I’m hoping that maybe one day, some lucky lady will see me and want me to cook for her for the rest of her life.”
For more on Kuro, go to casino.hardrock.com/atlantic-city/restaurants/fine-dining/kuro.
Big doings at the Big B
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa welcomed the 2025 summer season in a big — as in $40 million big — way last Thursday as it officially unveiled several new facilities.
The most significant additions are in the gaming operation as some 25,000 square-feet of space have been dedicated to new gaming areas primarily aimed at Asian players. The upgrades include 51 tables (Pai Gow Poker, Pai Gow Tiles and Baccarat) spread over five private salons, a high-limit section and a private bar. The new gambling dens, which were designed according to the principals of feng shui, will be staffed by hosts who speak Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Also debuting was Noodles, a casual, Asian-focused restaurant.
These new areas join the redesigned B Bar on the casino floor to comprise Borgata’s 2025 renovation/expansion project.
On a sad note for live-music fans, the creation of the new casino-inside-a-casino and eatery meant the demise of Gypsy Bar, which had hosted rock bands since the Big B’s 2003 opening.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
