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Published: Thursday, August 14, 2008
Bally's Red Pearl brings top Asian dining to casino
By SCOTT CRONICK 609-272-7017

For more than 15 years, Chao and his team served great Asian food at Mr. Ming's, a tiny room in the middle of Bally's former 24-hour caf, Animations.

Now with Red Pearl, part of a three-restaurant overhaul that also includes The Reserve Seafood and Steak and its adjacent bar and 6ix, a Bistro, Asian food can finally be taken seriously at Bally's.

"We had an opportunity and we went with what the needs were for Bally's," says Director of Food Service/Executive Chef Rolf J. Weithofer. "With our focus on the Asian market, we had a lot of challenges in Mr. Ming's. Was it a coffeeshop or Chinese restaurant? Now, it has its own identity. With the great amount of Asian clientele we have, this gives us another key element for them, while it also adds more food variety for our non-Asian customers."

Walk in the pristine glass entrance, the room boasts hardwood floors, mosaic tiles and red cloth wallpaper to create a warm atmosphere. The restaurant features plenty of booths and two private rooms for larger parties.

Like most Asian restaurants in the casinos, Red Pearl's menu straddles the culinary fence, offering enough dishes to attract American-influenced Chinese diners while also providing authentic dishes for Asian players.

For appetizers, Leung's homemade pork dumplings ($9) are famous, as are his shrimp spring rolls ($5), Szechuan-style hot and sour soup and wonton soup (both $6) with homemade pork dumplings and sliced pork.

"Michael was trained by a master dim-sum chef, and I think his dumplings are as good as anyone's," Weithofer says. "Whereas most restaurants make only about 30 percent of their dumplings fresh and buy the rest, we make about 50 percent fresh. That makes a huge difference."

Popular rice and noodle dishes include the Hong Kong-style beef fried rice ($14) and the seafood pan-fried noodles with shrimp, scallops, squid and Choy Sum ($20).

Crispy sesame chicken ($20), salt and pepper whole prawns ($32), Canadian Dungeness crab ($50) done a variety of ways, and wok-crisped tangerine beef ($20) also stand out on the entre side.

But Leung really shines on the "Chef's Specialty" portion of the menu with items that include sizzling Mandarin beef tenderloin ($38) in a sweet and tangy sauce; Jade Chilean sea bass ($40) on Shanghai Bok Choy in a creamy mayonnaise dressing; and Grand Marnier crispy tiger prawns ($35) with candied honey walnuts and broccoli.

More authentic offerings include the "Old Tradition" clay pot snow frog ($34); "New Shanghai" style freshwater frog ($34); crunchy jellyfish salad ($15); and shark fin soup with snow crabmeat ($25).

"It's great for us because we are getting the Asians we targeted plus a great deal of non-Asian customers who really want Chinese food," Weithofer says. "If you're not that adventurous, there's plenty of food on that menu for everyone. But if a person really knows food, I can't encourage them enough to try Michael's specialties, whether it's frog or eel or dungeness crab."

Weithofer says diners - and the staff - are enjoying the gourmet Asian Red Pearl.

"It's a New York ambiance right here in Atlantic City," Weithofer says. "It's a great room, and we're all excited. The staff loves having their own identity and are taking ownership of it. And I call Michael's food clean cuisine because when you leave that restaurant, your palate is clean, which is very important. His food takes many of Hong Kong styles and he reinvents the wheel and blends techniques together for the Red Pearl. His cuisine fits perfectly with our saying for Red Pearl: There's no such thing as a Red Pearl, but there is now."

6ix, a Bistro

The space formerly occupied by Animations looks nothing like its former restaurant. Stone and wood walls create a pleasing atmosphere. Must-try items include: "Scratch Batch," with a choice of seasonal berry, banana or chocolate chips and the 6ix steak burger on a toasted brioche bun branded with the 6ix logo. For the Boardwalk lobster bisque and corn chowder the lobster bisque is first placed in a sourdough bowl, with the corn chowder poured on top of the bisque. Open 24 hours, except when it closes from 10 p.m. Mondays to 6 a.m. Tuesdays.

Located in the former Prime Place location, the whole idea of The Reserve is seasonality and freshness. Certified Wet Aged beef pleases steak lovers while Maine lobster Bolognese with homemade gnocchi, Tasmanian coral trout filet and a wide array of local produce should please all palates. The Reserve is open 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Tuesdays, to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Brunch is served 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

The Reserve Bar, Preview

Open seven days a week, the modern bar in front of The Reserve serves as an entrance for all of the culinary options in Bally's dining courtyard. The Savory Seafood Bites menu - available in addition to The Reserve menu that is served when the restaurant is open - includes Japanese grade "Uni" seared sea scallops, macaroni and Wisconsin smoked gouda cheese with lobster and applewood bacon-wrapped shrimp with California "Cruzin' goat cheese.

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