A Vegas Resort in Atlantic City
The multibillion-dollar Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, One Borgata Way (tel. 866/692-6742; www.theborgata.com), which debuted to great acclaim in summer 2003 is the undisputed champ of the city's casino hotels. Perhaps the best compliment we can give this superlative property -- a joint venture of Boyd Gaming and MGM MIRAGE -- is that it's the first in Atlantic City to remind us of a Vegas resort. The decor is sleek and beautiful: With an exceptional European-style spa (couples with big bucks should definitely indulge in its ultraromantic couples' treatment room); a magnificent lobby with Dale Chihuly chandeliers and a lovely "Living Room" seating area for guests to relax in; full-scale fitness center; indoor pool; classic barbershop; immense casino with reasonable table limits; and multiple retail, entertainment, and dining venues, you won't want to leave (our major complaint -- Atlantic City's hottest property doesn't exactly make you want to venture out into the rest of the city). The large rooms ($129-$509 double) are luxurious, by far the nicest in town: Think Egyptian cotton sheets on the comfy beds; plenty of lighting; designer toiletries; fridges; and immense marble bathrooms with lots of counter space, a separately enclosed toilet, and a huge, two-person temperature-controlled shower encased entirely in marble. The suites ($209-$620) are even more luxurious.
Dining here is the best of the casino hotels as well (you'll need to reserve well in advance to get in on the weekends). Here you'll find not one but two establishments run by famed chef Luke Palladino: Specchio, which features modern Italian cuisine in an upscale dining room loaded with cherrywood and the chef's antique mirror collection; and Ombra, a fabulous wine bar (over 14,000 bottles) with a vaulted Italian brick ceiling. Noted Philly legend Susannah Foo runs Suilan, a romantic restaurant featuring Foo's signature French-Asian cuisine. If beef is more your thing, head to the branch of New York's famous Old Homestead, where superb steaks are served amid modern ambience, accompanied by a superb selection of Scotch. Three brand-new restaurants include chic SeaBlue, designed by Adam Tihany as a backdrop for chef Michael Mina's superb seafood menu (including 2-lb. Maine lobster pot-pie); Wolfgang Puck's American Grille, where the celebrated celebrity chef produces his signature Spago-style gourmet pizzas as well as an excellent grilled steak with bleu cheese; and Bobby Flay Steak, where classic chopped salads and gigantic rib-eyes are as excellent as you would expect from the Food Network star. For style-conscious dining, head to MIXX, a trendy restaurant/nightclub where the food is Latin-Asian fusion and the music is hip (and where you might see Jessica or Ashlee Simpson); for late-night partying, there's new mur.mur, a sleek lounge with pricey bottle service starting at 10pm and lasting until morning, of course. (This is a casino, after all.)
