By Scott Cronick
There are restaurants in Atlantic City that can claim they have better food at their brunch.
There are restaurants in Atlantic City that can claim they have a better cocktail menu at their brunch.
And while that is entirely subjective, there is no other Sunday brunch in Atlantic City – or perhaps the entire state of New Jersey – that can claim they have a brunch that is more fun than Superfrico at Caesars Atlantic City.
In a city once known for its lavish, over-the-top brunches, Superfrico feeds a nearly starved audience as casinos around the city have closed up shop on their brunches for budget concerns, leaving the door open to independents like Superfrico, owned by the California-based Spiegelworld, which is also the parent company that operates The Hook, the rowdy, hilarious, creative and sometimes raunchy act adjacent to Superfrico which is the reason this brunch is so fun!
“Atlantic City parties are always the best parties,” said Impresario Extraordinaire and Spiegelworld Founder Ross Mollison, who said this is the first brunch Spiegelworld has ever offered. “It’s a new thing for us. We have actually been working on a brunch in Vegas, but this is a new thing. I was very much seeing a void. We were working out how a seasonal market like Atlantic City operates, and we realized we were getting so much fantastic support from the local community, but they don’t necessarily want to come out and see the show at 8 p.m. on a Sunday night; they prefer to see it at 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday. So, we said, ‘What if we open the restaurant and they can have a brunch and then see the show?’ And people just love that idea. It makes sense.”
First, the food
But, no brunch would be worth a cracked egg without amazing food and service, and that’s where Executive Chef Nick Faucher and General Manager Giulietta Consalvo enter.
Faucher, a great chef and casino veteran, put together an amazingly concise and delicious menu that has something for everyone despite its brevity.
Standouts include the crab cake Benedict featuring jumbo lump crab over a potato pancake with roasted tomato Hollandaise accompanied by watercress salad; a Western Italian frittata with prosciutto, caramelized onions, roasted long hots and potatoes; and the Superfrico steak and eggs consisting of a 7-ounce grilled New York strip with sunny side-up eggs and breakfast potato.
Our favorites included a killer brunch burger that is hand butchered and blended by Faucher and his team that features a blend of Joyce Farms beef and filet mignon, a mixture of cheeses with the extra sharp cheddar prevailing, homemade tomato jam and house-made pickles. Add that poached egg on top.
The other impressive dish is an item that didn’t even make it on the menu when we dined there but will be added soon. Faucher is putting together a super high-end cheese plate with some of the best cheeses you will find in the world. The variety we had consisted of one of the best creamy triple crème bries we ever spread on a cracker to aged Manchego to truffle cheddar and accompanied with some killer local honey and gourmet cherry and fig spreads. Incredible!
Superfrico is also getting lots of buzz for its thick but light and airy Detroit-style pizza, so there are four varieties at brunch, including the OG with mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and Sicilian oregano; the Hackney’s Deviled Crab with jumbo lump crab, chives and tarragon named after the once-famous Atlantic City restaurant; the pepperoni and chili with Ezzo pepperoni, hot honey and pickled jalapenos; and a brunch pizza, which is the OG with quail eggs and house-made sausage that is worth the visit alone.
“We created a special brunch pizza that is just fabulous, as well as a special menu for the whole event,” Mollison said. “The atmosphere in the restaurant is so warm, so intimate, so beautiful, I think people just love being there. But what makes the pizza here so damn good? The pizza in Vegas is great, but the pizza in Atlantic City is just fantastic! Is it the water for the dough? Maybe, but ultimately it’s the staff, the chefs, the way they prepare it and how incredible it is. I was just in Tokyo that has this pizza there called Savoy that some consider the best pizza in the world, and our pizza gives it a run for its money.”
The service, overseen by Consalvo, is always top notch, and the creative and gorgeous cocktails are certainly part of the fun.
Check out the Highwire with Absolut Elyx, Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur, cold brew, Linie Aquavit and Demerara; and the Pool Boy with Don Julio Blanco, passion fruit, vanilla, Fino Sherry and lime. There are also about a dozen wines and sparklings available by the glass.
On with the show …
If you ever had dinner at Superfrico, known for its psychedelic Italian menu, you know The Hook performers often pop in the dining room for appearances that separate Superfrico’s brunch from the rest in the fun category.
And that is certainly the case at Superfrico’s brunch. During our 90-minute meal, we saw everyone from the two hosts – yes, we love Dick Marlin – a magician, a comedy dance duo, two muscular sailors offering temporary tattoos and other performers.
That is just a tease for the 2 p.m. performance of The Hook every Sunday where cirque meets vaudeville. The adults-only show is the only year-round production that follows in the footsteps of Spiegelworld’s Vegas creations like “Absinthe.”
“The show is just getting better and better, and that’s what we find … that our shows continually improve as the audiences respond to them,” Mollison said. “The audiences just love that style of humor. In the 13 years we have been in Vegas, we learned that by constantly updating our shows, we constantly create excitement because they want to see how our shows develop. People fall in love with our shows in Vegas and they come back every time they visit. That’s our plan for Atlantic City. Most of our cast wants to stay in Atlantic City, and those who decide to move on gives us the opportunity to introduce some of the acts who have worked for us in Vegas or others we are talking to from around the world.”
Spiegelworld’s future
Mollison said he is encouraged by the early success of The Hook and Superfrico, but realizes it takes time to become the fixture here in Atlantic City like they are in Las Vegas.
“This is our first year, but I must say the week after Christmas was the biggest week we ever had, and that includes all summer,” Mollison said. “That was a monster surprise. The weekends are strong, but we still have work to do midweek. I think it’s going to continue to build offseason because I think there are more and more people living in that region 12 months a year and looking for something, so it will continue to build.”
Mollison thinks 2024 is going to be a turning point for Superfrico, The Hook and Atlantic City.
“I am so proud of it and our relationship with Caesars Entertainment, who absolutely supported us in building something that is so world class, so globally unique and so fantastic and references the history of Atlantic City, which we should all be proud,” he said. “The Warner Theatre was the Wonder Theater of the world, and it’s great to remember that and build something more appropriate for 2024. I think it’s going to be a monster year!”
Superfrico brunch is offered 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays at Superfrico inside Caesars Atlantic City. The menu is a la carte. Then stay to see The Hook at 2 p.m. Go to Spiegelworld.com for brunch reservations and tickets to the show.
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.
