Mambo Italiano in Atlantic City

Carmine’s

Tropicana Casino

Atlantic City, NJ

www.carminesnyc.com/locations/acnj/

After a long and grueling tax season, the custom at my firm, at least for the younger generation, is to go down to Atlantic City for a night and “unwind”. We took a group of about 15 people or so down, but not everyone wanted to go out to dinner. You know I was in, and seven other people joined me as we made our way to Carmine’s at the Quarter and the Tropicana.

Since there were eight of us and Carmine’s is served family style, we ordered a variety of different dishes. The special of the day was veal ossobucco, so we ordered that, fried calamari, antipasto salad, chicken parmigiana, shrimp scampi, spinach, and penne alla vodka. I also ordered a Tanqueray and tonic, which turned out to be quite delicious.

The food at Carmine’s really is remarkable. Everything that we ordered was fantastic. The calamari was crunchy and tender. It was some of the best fried calamari that I have ever had. The salad was extremely interesting as well. There seemed to be some sort of vinaigrette dressing on it, and the rest was simply perfection. It was iceberg lettuce, with pieces of salami, ham and provolone tossed in, as well as pepperoncinis dispersed throughout. All of the flavors melded perfectly together and brought the salad to a whole other level.

The main courses were even better than the appetizers. The ossobucco was pretty good, although I wish it were a bit more tender. That being said it was extremely flavorful, and the risotto that it was served over was incredible. The penne alla vodka was a great choice by whoever ordered it from our table. It is one of my favorite Italian dishes, and Carmine’s did it some serious justice. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and the sauce had just enough of a bite to keep me wanting more and more. The chicken parm and the spinach were fantastic as well.

The most interesting piece of the meal was the shrimp scampi for me. While I only got one piece of shrimp, I thought it was scrumptious. I had never had shrimp scampi with a crust on it before, and this particular shrimp had a bread crumb crust on the one side of it. The lemon and garlic flavors were very prevalent and I thought it was very well done.

Carmine’s is really a must go to place at some point in time in your life. Ideally you should visit the original in NYC for the full experience, but if you can’t make the trip up there, go down to the Quarter and give it a try. I am sure that you will love it! Cheers!