Miami comes to Atlantic City as Limonada debuts at Showboat

By Scott Cronick

If you haven’t been to Showboat Resort over the last few years, its transformation is overwhelming. No other business in South Jersey can rival the major changes that have happened compared to Showboat.

With a $100 million waterpark as its anchor, the rest of the property has also received major love and investment from Owner Bart Blatstein, including room renovations, restaurant additions and makeovers, the addition of a large convention space, and the expansion of the Lucky Snake Arcade, which Showboat says is the biggest arcade on the planet that includes the largest indoor go-kart track in the Northeast.

The transformation of Showboat Resort Atlantic City continues in the form of Limonada, yet another brand-new experience on the city’s iconic boardwalk that offers a vibrant bar and restaurant experience inspired by its popular South Beach counterpart operated by Think Hospitality, the Miami-based management company that Blatstein tapped to oversee the hotel, waterpark and all of its restaurants.

Limonada does an outstanding job bringing the flavors, energy and entertainment of Miami to Atlantic City for another great year-round dining option steps away from the beach. With its yellow-and-green color scheme, Limonada particularly shines on those weather-friendly days when you sit under an umbrella, sip frozen daiquiris – they have 12 frozen drink machines – or bottomless mimosas and enjoy stellar food with views of the Steel Pier’s The Wheel with waves splashing nearby and the beach just steps away. But, even on colder days, Limonada’s interior experience is certainly worth the visit.

The man behind the scenes of Limonada’s transformation is certainly no stranger to the South Jersey food and beverage scene. Sal Spena is the director of food and beverage and event sales, and he’s doing an exceptional job not just transforming the restaurant spaces, but also changing the once negative perception of Showboat’s food and beverage product.

Spena grew up locally and gravitated to food naturally.

“I have always been surrounded by food and beverage, and I always enjoyed it and always enjoyed taking care of people,” said Spena, who went to Widener University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Management before landing positions with Marriott at Seaview in Galloway, banquet manager at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, general manager of the former Robert’s Steakhouse at Trump Taj Mahal, vice president of sales for Shannon Family of Wines, and most recently, general manager of multiple concepts at Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, including Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse. “It was just part of being in a typical Sicilian family. Everything happened in the kitchen … you weren’t allowed to sit in the den, you sat in the kitchen.”

Spena said it was Think Hospitality that made him even consider leaving Nugget.

“They manage hotels and restaurants in Miami, and this is their biggest and first foray in the Northeast,” Spena said. “The ownership has an amazing background. At the end of the day, when guests are giving you great feedback, that’s where the reward is. And I hear great feedback every day.”

Think and Spena had to do everything from changing restaurant concepts to rehiring a large amount of staff since taking over earlier this year.

“It was about getting people out of bad habits, hiring new chefs and line cooks and getting everyone on board that we are now a scratch-cooking operation,” Spena said. “Cooking everything from scratch makes a huge difference, and there is an immediate impact where everything is fresh all of the time. It’s not easy, and you have to have the right people, and we went through quite a few people until got the right nucleus of employees who saw the same vision that I have – and most importantly, Think Hospitality has – when it comes to making this the destination that it is. It’s very daunting because every day is pushing that ball uphill, and it can be hard. You have to love it, or it can eat you up. But we are seeing the positive reactions every day.”

 

Brunch anyone?

Limonada is located right on the city’s iconic boardwalk and is inspired by its southeast counterpart.

“Think developed this down in Miami in a hotel there, and it’s really a brunch concept during the day that is also an American restaurant with Mexican influences,” Spena said.

The transformation included renovating the whole front corner of the building with gorgeous green and yellow awnings, adding two bars outside, renovating the interior bar, adding new furniture, seven giant televisions and more. Additional transformations will continue through the fall, including new lighting.

“The renovations and the colors really make the place pop,” Spena said about the former space that was once Surf Bar and then Tacos & Tequila. “Limonada is our signature restaurant at this point. Without really telling many people about it, people just gravitated toward it. Everyone loves brunch. People rave about the bottomless mimosas. We serve them tableside with the whole setup brought right to you with the carafe of orange juice and the Limonada prosecco put in a bucket right at your table.”

Like Spena said, the centerpiece of Limonada is its brunch menu offered 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The No. 1 seller is the crispy chicken and waffles ($20) with fresh chicken breast fried to perfection and served with hot honey glaze (order extra, it’s that good!).

There’s also waffles ($17) with seasonal berries and whipped cream; Nutella crepes ($17) topped with whipped cream and powdered sugar; a 4-ounce skirt steak with two eggs and hash browns for $24; a breakfast burrito ($18) with scrambled eggs, peppers, black beans, cheddar cheese, bacon, salsa verde and a side of hashbrowns; sourdough avocado toast ($17) with a poached egg; and more.

Eclectic, delicious menu

If brunch isn’t your thing, the approachable relatively affordable, but not overwhelming, menu has you covered.

Standouts include stellar wings ($15) with a choice of BBQ, buffalo, honey sriracha and Spena’s favorite – garlic parmesan; coconut shrimp ($16) with a side of honey sriracha sauce; the signature Limonada Smash Burger ($18) featuring two 4-ounce smash patties, Cooper sharp, special sauce and pickles on a Martin’s potato roll; a fried chicken sandwich ($17) featuring the same crispy fried chicken you will find with the chicken and waffles, but this one with special sauce and pickles on that Martin’s roll.

“The wings are gigantic, and we make our own blue cheese dressing in house,” Spena said. “The smash burger is as good of a burger as you will find anywhere.”

 

Mexican side of things

Perhaps the best part of Limonada’s menu is the Mexican options, where its nachos ($15, add birria, steak, chicken birria or al pastor for extra money) boasts fresh tortilla chips with a scrumptious queso, crema, salsa verde, guacamole and black beans. There’s also a slew of tacos, burritos and quesadillas ($15 to $18) with choice of proteins. Other standouts include the tacos de birria with ancho- and guajillo-braised angus chuck or chicken with Oaxaca cheese, salsa verde, cilantro and onion; and the Burrito Mojada with rice, beans, grilled onions and peppers and Oaxaca cheese smothered on salsa verde and crema, with the ability to add your choice of protein.

“Watching them make the birria tacos every day is like a work of art,” Spena said. “When they flash fry those tacos … they are exceptional. I think the fact we have such a diverse menu that is not overwhelming is the key. A menu can get out of control fast, especially when you start thinking of how many different people can step into your restaurant off that boardwalk. You want to appease everyone. So, if a kid walks in and wants chicken tenders and fries, we make it for them because we have it in our other restaurants, but it’s not on the menu. We just do our best to accommodate anyone and everyone.”

 

How about some football?

For sports enthusiasts, Limonada serves as a destination to catch NFL games every week. With the NFL Ticket being shown on a giant projection screen and seven new 85-inch flat-screen TVs, drink specials include $7 craft beers, $5 domestic beers, $6 imports, and $8 wine selections. Special menu offerings pop up for games including the Giant Pretzel for $10 and the Limonada Sampler Basket with mozzarella sticks, wings and mac and cheese wedges for just $11.

 

The right approach

Spena is particularly proud that Limonada and other restaurants are not trying to take advantage of people when it comes to pricing.

“I think we are reasonable,” Spena said. “One of the good things is that ownership wants to make it affordable so anyone and everyone can come here whether they are locals or tourists. They are not trying to gouge anyone, and I love that. The secret sauce to this is we are in between two amazing properties. There’s not a better spot on the boardwalk with Ocean Casino to the left of us and Hard Rock to the right of us. At night it’s a confluence of thousands of people walking with their dogs or as couples or whatever. People talk about the boardwalk, sometimes good and bad, but I can tell you it’s really super spectacular out there. I have grown more appreciation for the boardwalk. People from all over the world come as our guests every day. It’s really neat to see, and we love talking to guests and finding out where they are from. People still ask us how the casino is doing. I tell them we don’t have one anymore, but they should check out the biggest arcade and indoor raceway inside.”

Spena says the sky is the limit for Limonada and Showboat.

“We have some great plans for the future,” he said. “We continue to work our way up to offer some really great food, and most importantly, an overall great experience. We want them to have a great experience here whether they come to the waterpark, the arcade, stay in our rooms or eat in any of our restaurants. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Limonada at Showboat Resort Atlantic City is open 11 a.m. daily with brunch served 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Go to ShowboatHotelAC.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.

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