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.

If the summer season at the Jersey Shore is nearly as busy as my first few weeks in June have been, the DO AC campaign is working big time. I feel like I am in the middle of summer already and schools just let out this week.

For example my invite to see the new stars of Legends in Concert last week included the terrific show and a meal to match at The Reserve at Bally’s.

While our town is loaded with big name star chefs, for my money one of the best and most creative chefs in town is The Reserve’s Joseph Muldoon. He provided a special “Legends” dinner for the media to match the stars of the show.

His Justin Timberlake tribute was smoked tenderloin of beef with a delightful blackberry & pommery mustard BBQ sauce with corn dusted fried oysters.

This was followed by his quirky, inventive take on Elvis Presley’s passion for peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Muldoon presented mango chutney and crushed peanut studded lamp lollipops stacked with a bruleed banana risotto that was absolutely heavenly, just sweet enough to pair nicely with the lamb.

The “Marilyn Monroe” was a tribute to Joe DiMaggio’s mother’s stuffed braciola. Muldoon stuffed his with braised short ribs and herbs, a ribeye fillet, grilled trumpet mushrooms and a truffled creamy polenta. It was a battle in my mind over which was better, the risotto or the polenta — let’s call it a tie.

Dessert was inspired by Whitney Houston’s love of raspberry pop tarts with mini-tarts presented with white chocolate flan and a raspberry and white balsamic sauce.

While this was a special media event, Muldoon has been known to create nightly specials based on the Legends’ performers.

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Later today I’ll be joining the insanity that will be the free, but ticketed (20,000 were given away), Kenny Chesney concert and beach party in Wildwood. Sponsored by American Express, the show is part of an “American Express Unstaged” series, and will be streamed globally at this link. The show will be directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married and the Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense). The concert will also celebrate the release of Chesney’s latest album, Welcome to the Fishbowl.

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Coming up Friday, June 22, is the media night to introduce the re-branding of the Showboat’s House of Blues Restaurant as Aaron Sanchez Crossroads, now in the hands of superstar chef Aaron Sanchez. Sanchez and has been featured on such Food Network hit series such as Chopped, Next Iron Chef and Best Thing I Ever Ate and has published numerous cookbooks. He will be on hand to discuss his newest culinary venture and dishes like citrus marinated steak tacos with Cotija cheese and roasted tomatillo salsa, and American classics such as lobster macaroni & cheese, slow cooked ribs and buttermilk fried chicken.

This is Sanchez’ second restaurant in town. When the Borgata first opened in 2003, Mixx was a restaurant featuring food by Sanchez and Edwyn Ferrari that morphed into a nightclub after 10pm. The idea didn’t last long as Mixx turned into a nightclub only venue.

Tags: Aaron Sanchez, Crossroads at Showboat, Kenny Chesney, Legends in Concert at Bally's Atlantic City, The Reserve at Bally's

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Casino News, 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.