By Scott Cronick
When you think of a boss in New Jersey, you might first think of Bruce Springsteen and then maybe Tony Soprano, but Buddy “Cake Boss” Valastro has certainly cemented himself among New Jersey celebrity royalty.
And he certainly deserves it.
Valastro has evolved from operating a family institution – Carlo’s Bake Shop, which still thrives today in Hoboken since opening in 1910 – to a food empire that includes nearly 20 locations around the nation from quick-serve to sit-down restaurants, vending machines with his stellar cake creations, supermarket products and, of course, multiple television programs on A&E, as well as three coming this fall on Hulu.
For some reason, it took way too long for the Cake Boss to land in Atlantic City, but he finally did earlier this summer when Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire opened right off the lobby at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, a quick-serve concept that puts all of Valastro’s concepts under one roof, while adding some new “simple, Jersey food” from the New Jersey Hall of Famer.
“We are so excited to be here … it’s actually crazy that this is my first concept in Atlantic City after all these years,” said Valastro, who noted that although the space is a quick-serve outlet, there are plenty of tables to sit and enjoy a meal. “For some reason, we never had the time or opportunity, but now I think this is just the beginning. Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire is kind of a whole new deal for us. It’s really like a combination of some of the best treats from the bakery … we have this crazy pasta station, good pizza, sandwiches. It’s fast casual, salt-of-the-earth Jersey cooking at its best. From pizza to cannoli, we pretty much have anything you would ever want.”
Enter the savory Empire
As Valastro said, Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire combines the best elements of the celebrity chef’s signature restaurants. There’s sandwiches, including a to-die-for Jersey Roast Beef focaccia-style sandwich from The Boss Café; hot-from-the-oven East Coast pizza with unique flavor profiles from PizzaCake, a brand that has a location at Harrah’s sister property in Las Vegas; and dig into Italian fair favorites from Jersey Eats. Unique to this location, guests can also dine on a variety of fresh pastas.
Let’s start with the pizza, which has always been close to Valastro’s heart.
“Put it this way: pizza is my favorite food on the planet,” Valastro said. “If I was going to the electric chair, a slice of pizza would be on the menu. Being a baker, I always worked with dough. But we worked nine months developing our dough. It’s a three-day dough with the best grande cheese you can put on it. You have to really understand how to make a great pizza that feels Jersey-esque that you can get by the slice and make for the reheat. I am now happy to bring the pizza to my home state and Atlantic CIty.”
The pizza at Boardwalk Empire deviates a bit from Valastro’s pizza he tosses in Vegas that is more New York-style.
“We do this bakery pizza here in Atlantic City, which is more a focaccia-based pizza,” he explained. “We cook it in a pan with oil, and it almost fries and has that crispy, delicious texture, but it’s light and airy in the middle. Then you top it off with some beautiful Cup & Car pepperoni or sausage and peppers or fresh mutz.”
Speaking of fresh mutz, Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire has a station where his team members are making fresh mozzarella ($8.95) to order right in front of customers, which can be had in all its glory with some fresh-baked focaccia with basil pesto, roasted peppers or hot spicy peppers. Or, all of the sandwiches ($14.95) come with “fresh mutz,” including the aforementioned roast beef sandwich, along with roasted turkey and pesto and meatball parm.
Photos by Tom Briglia
“The roast beef is the house favorite,” Valastro said proudly. “It has a little dip on it. It’s inspired by my Hoboken roots with Fiore’s (House of Quality) roast beef and mutz. It’s like if Fiore’s had a baby with Al’s Beef in Chicago. You have to give it a shot.”
Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire also offers breakfast sandwiches, wings – try the amazing garlic parm variety – and waffle fries. But the pasta station, where a team member makes a variety of pastas and sauces with proteins to the customer’s liking to order, is a first for any Valastro concept but is inspired by the pasta Valastro offers at Buddy’s V’s, a full-fledged, sit-down Italian concept at The Venetian in Las Vegas that also showcases the skills of Buddy V’s Executive Chef Bryan Forgione. Yes, he is another great chef in a line of great chefs in the Forgione family, including his brother Marc, who is an Iron Chef and the creator of the former American Cut concept at Ocean Casino, and their father Larry Forgione, who is dubbed the “Godfather of American cuisine.”
“Bryan and I have talked for years about how much pasta we sell and how much people love pasta and how can we make a great pasta but do it casually where you can get an amazing plate of pasta for $16 instead of $30 or $40,” Valastro said. “So, we are doing that here at Harrah’s. You can add meatballs or shrimp or chicken to alfredo or marinara or vodka sauces. So, then we can do a spicy vodka chicken or whatever you want. It’s about taking fresh ingredients and putting them together at the right time. You have your sauces prepped, and you just put it together. It’s the first of its kind for me, and pasta has been one of the best sellers so far.”
The sweet side of the Empire
While Valastro’s savory concoctions are certainly worth trying, no one should leave a restaurant owned by the Cake Boss and not get cake … or some dessert.
Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire has that covered in a big way, offering Valastro’s iconic cakes – vanilla confetti, red velvet, rainbow, chocolate fudge, carrot cake and strawberry shortcake – by the slice or in 6-inch sizes.
“The trick to the slices that have buttercream in them is to eat them at room temperature,” Valastro said. “There’s actual butter in the icing, so when you have a stick of butter in the fridge, it’s cold and hard. So, you want to eat certain things at the optimal temperature.”
If cake isn’t your thing – why isn’t it? – there are other dessert options, many that you would find in Carlo’s Bakery, including the Lobster Tail, hand-pulled flaky shell dough with signature French cream, whipped cream and custard; classic cannoli also offered with peanut butter filling and chocolate dipped; a variety of eclairs including caramel latte and chocolate hazelnut; pastry pockets; crème brulee; a variety of croissants; brownies; cookies including chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, M&M, snickerdoodle and sugar; cinnamon rolls; and individual desserts such as tiramisu, strawberry preserve cheesecake, classic cheesecake, tres leches.
One of the standouts is Cookies and Milk, Italian cake soaked in three types of milk then topped with whipped cream, chopped chocolate cookie chunks and chocolate drizzle.
Still the same Buddy
When “Cake Boss” debuted 15 years ago on TLC and ran for 11 years, Valastro had no idea how drastically his life would change. When he took over his small, family-owned bake shop, he helped turn it into a culinary empire, and “Cake Boss” evolved into a string of hit TV shows including “Next Great Baker,” “Buddy’s Bakery Rescue,” “Kitchen Boss,” “Buddy vs. Duff” and currently “Buddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty and “Legends of the Fork.”
“I pinch myself,” he said. “I am so humbled and amazed that this happened. Two months ago, I won a Daytime Emmy. Who the hell would have thought that? I have an Emmy in my house. It’s crazy!”
But Valastro said he’s still the same guy.
“What you see is what you get,” said Valastro, who credits his wife Lisa for not only being a designer with an amazing eye for detail, but for being his rock. “Being born and raised in Jersey, I never forgot where I came from. That’s why I think people resonate with me because they know I am real. I try to put the things out I know me and my family would enjoy from a food perspective and making content that I feel is inspiring and fun to do. But my kids are my biggest accomplishment. And, to be fair, I have an amazing team around me. I couldn’t do what I do without them. I am so in the trenches with them every day, and I think that’s why the respect me.”
Hard work has never been something Valastro shied away from. Anyone who knows the baker’s life knows about going to bed early, waking up early and working all day and then hitting the repeat button.
“I am still that way; you would be shocked at the trenches I still work in,” he said. “Every morning, I am at my factory at 6 a.m. and I am on the line with my people. I know everyone by name, and we have 150 employees working there. I am on that line firing our automation and working alongside them.”
Valastro said the secret of his success was his business plan from the get-go.
“I figured it out in 1996 when I took the bakery over from my dad,” he said. “We weren’t doing as many specialty cakes, but I knew I had the artistic ability to do it, and a lot of people who were doing those kinds of cakes … they tasted not that great. They were more artists than bakers. But I was a baker, and I knew our cake tasted good, and I could make them look good, and that was the business model: To become one of the premier cake designers in the tri-state area. And that’s what we did.”
And then some.
“But I never set out to be on television; it just came out that way, and now we are on TV and in supermarkets and have locations. It has been an amazing journey. I love the fans and the people, and I still work very hard.”
Buddy’s next adventure
As for Valastro’s future, expect lots more, including more locations, possibly in Atlantic City.
“I love the factory side of things, automation and producing cakes,” he said. “I developed some mass packaging, so I control the atmosphere in the package. I can get a longer shelf life on a cake slice without putting any preservatives in it …just because the way we vacuum seal it. Innovations are the things that sound boring, but they excite me. I am a problem solver at my core. I want to solve problems and adapt and come up with innovations. I have some cool thing coming out in Q4 including DYI kits where people can make their own cakes and cookies. I am always trying to invent and create. And as far as Atlantic City, I would love to see a Buddy V’s here. It’s about authentic Jersey food based on the Sunday dinners I have at my house. This is what I want to bring to America. So many people from New Jersey get it … what it’s like to wake up and smell your mother’s meatballs cooking on the stove. Now that I am here in Atlantic City, I feel like a Buddy V’s here would absolutely kill it.”
Buddy’s Boardwalk Empire at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City is open daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-nights on weekends. Go to Caesars.com for more information.
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.
