Atlantic City

The Continental

The Continetal is one of many places to grab a bit in the Pier Shops at Ceasars. I recently learned that The Continental is one of Steven Starr's restaurants. Steven Starr is a restauranteur based in Philadelphia. Although many of his restaurants started in Philadephia, they have landed in such cities as Atlantic City, New York, and Ft. Lauderdale. Starr's most famous restaurants include Buddakan and Morimoto.

The idea behind The Continental is a global tapas. Small plates in a variety of different cuisines which allow a great deal of flexibility when ordering. I don't know about you, but my family always had a hard time deciding where to eat because we all wanted something different. My sister wanted Italian, my dad wanted Chinese, I wanted BBQ, etc. The idea between this restaurant would fill all appetites.

The restaurant was well constructed and designed. We sat in the section right outside the restaurant on the "boardwalk" part of the pier. We sat right next to the fire pit which was pretty cool. The waitress wore a pretty casual uniform, so I immediately thought that she wasn't going to be any help when deciding on what to eat. I usually ask the server what's good so I could try to avoid disaster dishes. Well shame on me for assuming because the server was pretty knowledgeable on the menu and had some good suggestions.

There were four of us so we ordered a bunch of plates. We ordered buffalo chicken meatballs, tuna tartar potato skins, bbq chicken quesadillas, mahi mahi tacos, kobe sliders, shoestring fries, and a salad (don't remember what kind--they brought out the wrong one anyway!)

The continental had a bunch of things that sounded good, but they were all strange recreations of normal dishes that we all love. The buffalo chicken meatballs were pretty good, although extremely small. Most of the plates only have you 2-4 serving of each item so that one buffalo chicken meatball was definitely not enough! The bbq chicken quesadilla was good, but that was a safe bet. The tuna tartar potato skins seemed very unusual to me, but it turned out to be pretty decent. I'm not the biggest fan of raw fish, but how could you go wrong with a cheesey potato. The mahi mahi tacos were another interested dish that was knew to me. I know the idea behind the tacos isn't that crazy, but fish just doesn't excite me as much as steak, chicken, and pork. The tacos were good, definitely different to me palate though. The kobe beef sliders were another safe bet that hit a homerun, but again--portion sized KILLED ME. I'm not even going to talk about the salad because not only do I not remember what it was, but I didn't taste it. The shoestring fries were awesome.

The cocktails we had were pretty good. Stef had a shirley temple with cherry vodka and I had the "Big Daddy". The "Big Daddy" was made with Makers Mark, Ameretto, Chambord, and gingerale. This drink was quite delicious. Claire got a mojito which was OK, but i'm not a huge fan of mojitos--probably because I hate making them!

Overall, The Continental was a pretty cool place to check out: from the edgey design to the unique tapas. The food was pretty good along with the service, but I left hungry! For what dinner cost, I should have been content at the very least- but I was still hungry. O well...easier to get drunk, plus I'll have a good reason for a late night snack!

Best Damn Sports Bar (Tropicana)

Our next stop ater some gambling was to the Best Damn Sports Bar in the Tropicana Quarter. This is one of my favorite bars I've ever been to...thats a bold statement. I was a little disappointed at my last trip there because it was empty and they banned beer pong! The bar was empty because we went on a Monday, which is understandable I guess; but NO BEER PONG! C'mon! The bartender said the casino made them stop for some reason--total bummer. But we still had fun playing pool, rock band, and drinking our 40 ouncers.

Hooters

Ater drinking and gambling, we ended up at Hooters! Say what you want about Hooters, but I LOVE IT! I think their wings are AWESOME. Poeple always call me out for liking Hooters. They say I only like it because of the girls, but truth of the matter is: I always get a "not-so attractice waitress". Don't get me wrong, having beautiful girls in tight clothes would draw me in BUT I never get the good looking girls whether in Atlantic City, Paramus, Union, etc. The wings are so good though. They have such great flavor, even the medium ones.

One thing to note about Hooters. DO NOT SAY "Nice Ass" or anything relating to a girls physical appearrance. My table learned that the hard way as my buddy Max "complimented" a girl on her rear. That wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone involved, but it was his birthday so I guess we'll give him a pass? For you to decide! Thanks for leaving the rest of the table to pay for your meal and undrank scotch though!

AC = always an adventure.