Rants and raves about burning topics that have caught my attention midweek, be it greedy corporate shenanigans, frustration or joy in regards to the Philly sports teams, a movie, show or DVD that has fired up my imagination, an intriguing personality, or what’s happening in the region. — Lori Hoffman, Associate Editor, Atlantic City Weekly.

When people find out what I do for a living, writing about movies, interviewing performers, attending casino events and concerts, they figure I have a pretty cool gig. And they are correct in many ways, but despite the idea that I barely work for a living, it is work.

In the summertime, my duties include covering events on the weekend when I might prefer to be relaxing at home watching the Phillies. Strike that, watching the Phillies is pretty damn stressful these days.

But you get the point. It is work. However, as you might suspect, there is a lot of fun involved in that work. Case in point, I had a particularly busy weekend June 9-10, but it sure landed in the fun-o-meter side more than the it’s-just-work-o-meter.

The winner was Jim Barone (center).

Saturday night I was honored to be a judge for the Ultimate Elvis Contest that took place at the Legends in Concert Theater at Bally’s. Joined by fellow judges CJ Brando, who plays Adele in the Legends In Concert show, and Mark Kogan, who toured with Elvis in 1976 and is currently with Legends in Concert in marketing and promotions, the Elvis tribute artists ranged from awful to excellent. I believe we made the right selection with the winner, Jim Barone.

This Thursday, I’ll return to the theater to check out the new performers in Legends, including Ms. Brando’s Adele, as well as tributes to Bobby Darin, Marilyn Monroe, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake and the fabulous Kevin Mills as Elvis.

Sunday, I pulled double duty at Trump Plaza to check out the Franklin Institute Exhibition IDENTITY: An Exhibition of You, which will be in Trump Plaza East Tower near the Boardwalk entrance through Sept. 3. You can read what I thought in this week’s issue of Atlantic City Weekly.

After I found out perhaps more than I wanted about what makes me tick, it was time for a nice meal. Trump Plaza recently reopened the space on the sixth floor that was formerly the gourmet Roberto’s Ristorante  as Roberto Ristorante’s Italian Buffet. With its beautiful view of the beach and ocean, it absolutely has the best view of any casino buffet in town and the price is just $17.95 with your Trump One Card ($19.95 without a card) plus tax.

That price includes food made by the same chefs who worked at Roberto’s, and the quality showed in the outstanding marinara sauce, the tasty meatballs and other entree choices that were included the night I visited, like Roberto’s Style Cioppino, Mussels Marinara, Chicken Milanese, Lasagna, pizza and more.

There were also fresh breads and soup (it was a tasty tomato Florentine) and an impressive Antipasti Bar that included Caesar Salad, olives, marinated mushrooms long hot finger peppers, artichokes and a beautiful version of the classic appetizer Eggplant Capanato.

If you’re wondering how they keep the price so reasonable, there isn’t a traditional dessert station. You are served a cookie plate featuring biscotti and mini-canolis, which were delicious.

For that price, this has to be considered a very tasty bargain in the current casino buffet landscape.

Tags: IDENTITY: An Exhibition of You, Roberto Ristorante's Italian Buffet, Ultimate Elvis Contest

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Dining, Hump Day Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.