Atlantic City

For several years, Atlantic City’s gaming industry was battered by a seemingly never-ending tsunami of news that began bad and went downhill from there. But a year ago, good -- make that great -- news came in the form of the announcement that the Seminole Tribe of South Florida, which owns the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino brand, was buying the shuttered Taj Mahal -- once the flagship of Donald Trump’s AyCee casino empire -- and investing upwards of a half-billion dollars to transform it into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.

So, when will the partying begin at AyCee’s newest adult playpen, and what can visitors expect?

As for the opening date, Matt Harkness, who, as president of Hard Rock Atlantic City, will oversee every facet of its operation, would only say that the doors will open sometime this summer. But he offered a lot more details about what awaits inside.

“Every inch of the building is going to be completely redone,” said Harkness, who spent 15 years working as a Trump executive in Atlantic City (including a stint as the CEO of Trump Plaza).

“We're going all the way down to the concrete -- in the hotel rooms, the casino floor, the restaurants. It's a complete transformation of the property, including the exterior. People won't recognize the look of the place.

“It's going to be completely transformed [and will be] spectacularly beautiful, contemporary, yet comfortable and welcoming to the guests in terms of the presentation. The fit and finish of the property is going to be spectacular.

“It's going to be on the level of what you see in Hollywood, as well as in Tampa,” he added, referencing the Seminole tribe’s two wildly successful Florida properties. “I believe it's going to be the centerpiece for gaming in the Northeast.”

The Hard Rock blueprint -- which is built on the concept of celebrating pop and rock music -- came into being in 1971 at the original Hard Rock Café in London. According to company history, guitar god Eric Clapton loved the food there so much, he asked the management to hang one of his guitars on the wall in order to permanently reserve a seat for him. Today, Hard Rock casinos, hotels and restaurants around the globe serve as repositories of memorabilia that cover multiple generations and genres.

During a recent stay at Hard Rock/Hollywood we discovered a collection of items that rivals that of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland (in quality, if not necessarily quantity). Historical artifacts are on display pretty much everywhere one goes inside the upscale, but casual, facility whose next-door neighbor is a half-built hotel tower in the shape of an electric guitar (it’s called The Headliner and is slated to open next year).

The walls of the public spaces are lined with all manner of relics, from signed instruments (including drums), mannequins adorned with stage garb worn by such icons as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga, original concert posters (the coolest of which hypes an August 9, 1956, Presley show in New Orleans) and an astonishing array of concert photographs and portraits.

Framed photos also adorn the hotel rooms (mine boasted a dramatic black-and-white shot of David Bowie in his “Thin White Duke” period of the late-1970s).

The Atlantic City outpost will likewise boast a large souvenir collection.

With such a strong connection between the casino-hotel and music, it’s not surprising that entertainment will play a huge role at Hard Rock Atlantic City. Speaking to city residents at a recent “town-hall”-style gathering, Jim Allen, CEO of corporate parent Hard Rock International, pledged the casino will host 200 shows annually.

To that end, Harkness noted that the casino’s two main venues, the Mark G. Etess Arena and Xanadu, a much smaller space, are undergoing major makeovers. This is especially good news to those of us who remember the former as a concrete-and-steel acoustical nightmare.

According to Harkness, the Etess Arena -- so named by Trump in honor of the Taj Mahal CEO who died in a helicopter crash some six months before the mega-casino opened in April 1990 -- will be “a spectacular venue. It's being redone. We've added more seats [1,800, bringing capacity to 7,000]. It will be a completely different experience from the moment you walk in.”

Harkness emphasized that entertainment will not be limited to weekends, which has been an Atlantic City trend for many years. “There's great opportunity there,” he said. “Hard Rock has been very successful in a number of different markets with [midweek shows]. I think there's huge potential with the midweek business.”

In addition to the headliner bookings in the arena and 1,500-seat Xanadu, Harkness said there will also be live entertainment in other spaces within the complex, most notably, it can be assumed, at the relocated Hard Rock Café (which was a Taj mainstay for some 20 years).

And speaking of restaurants, Harkness said that the inventory will include both outside operations, including a branch of the iconic White House Sub Shop and Il Mulino New York, a high-end Italian room, both of which did business at the Taj Mahal, and Hard Rock-operated eateries including Kuro, a gourmet Japanese spot.

The 2,000-plus hotel rooms and suites are being modernized with complete redesigns/rebuilds. And they will offer an amenity unprecedented in Atlantic City: At check-in, guests will be able to “borrow” an electric guitar and headphones through which to play them (thereby avoiding disturbing people in neighboring rooms).

“I think,” enthused Harkness, “that’s a great amenity!”

For more info, go to hardrockhotelatlanticcity.com

Eat Beat

As a world-class restaurant city, Philadelphia has more than its share of top-shelf steakhouses. But Hugo's Frog Bar & Chop House inside SugarHouse casino certainly ranks among the leaders -- at least according to the Philly.com readers’ poll that proclaimed it Philly’s best steaketeria.

Patrons enter from the casino through the well-stocked bar that is also the setting for quicker, more casual dining. The main dining room is in the rear and features a glass back wall that offers a dramatic view of the Delaware River and Ben Franklin Bridge. The space has a contemporary vibe, but old-school accents, like plush, horseshoe-shaped banquettes.

The vintage feel extends to the large portions that come from the kitchen, supervised by executive chef Andrew Pearce.

While there is an array of seafood and other non-beef items available (locally sourced as much as possible), Hugo’s is primarily a place for carnivores. It’s a part of the Chicago-based Gibson’s Restaurant Group, which, explained Pearce, are the “only restaurants that have their own certification of beef: Gibson's Angus Prime Beef.

“Gibson's takes the specs for ‘prime’ one step further. We raise our own cattle, from beginning to slaughter. We can tag each piece of beef back to the cow it came from.”

In case you’re wondering, Pearce’s favorite cut is the 26-ounce Porterhouse because, he reasoned, “It's the best of both worlds: You have the New York strip on the one side and the filet on the other.” He added that all steaks are cooked in an 1,800-degree broiler “that seals in the flavor.”

For more, go to www.hugosphilly.com