Atlantic City Food And Wine Festival - Bizarre Brunch With Andrew Zimmern

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Atlantic City Food And Wine Festival Bizarre Brunch With Andrew Zimmern - Atlantic Grill, Caesars

Allen and Sophia with Andrew Zimmern

The Bizarre Brunch With Andrew Zimmern on Saturday, July 28, 2012 from 10:00AM - 12:00PM was a great event with a vast variety of brunch foods, both bizarre and normal. Many thanks to my wonderful Mom for funding this event for Sophia and I. The Atlantic Grill went out in full force and really showed their food chops with versatile cooking skills, both domestic and international.

Bizarre Brunch With Andrew Zimmern Banner

The Sushi Bar was beautiful and chefs rolled over seven different kinds of sushi as you served yourself. The brunch was buffet style and there were many choices of brunch foods, salads, cheeses, meats and desserts. It was an event very worthy of the ticket price as it was a unique and fun dining experience.

One of the Sushi being served

Allen really loved the sushi and fresh ground wasabi and had some wonderful raw oysters on the half shell. The oysters were very large oysters too. The shrimp was cooked and peeled with tail on and were so fresh and juicy. The shrimp was complimented with a spicy yet tomato-ish fresh cocktail sauce that was very nice. Some of the sushi was rolled in fish roe (eggs) and had a great gourmet taste, very rich and fishy.

Shrimp, Crab Legs and Oysters galore!



Bizarre Bites Menu

Soon after the event began, Andrew Zimmern spoke and welcomed everyone to the brunch. Zimmern mentioned he would be coming around the tables but did not make it to our area. Luckily, we met up with Andrew in the upper tier of the Atlantic Grill. He was real cool and posed for pictures with us and also signed each of our Bizarre Bites menu cards. We told Andrew we are big fans of his show Bizarre Foods America and it was great to finally meet him in person. He did not have a pen so someone in front of me on the line went and grabbed one and after he signed our menu cards, I was the one who brought the pen back to the Atlantic Grill employee.

Shoo Fly French Toast with Crickets

All the chefs we spoke to at the Atlantic Grill were friendly and helpful about the details of the menu items being served. We were very happy with the way the chefs answered some of our questions about the foods available to devour.

Shoo Fly French Toast with Crickets

Sophia did not touch the Shoo Fly French Toast with Crickets but I found them to be very tasty and ate them without even putting maple syrup on them. At one point, I ate crickets individually and also enjoyed a bunch at a time by rolling them in the french toast. I did feel some buggy/leggy texture as I chewed, but it all went down well with a huge gulp of ice water. Sophia was just busy taking pictures of the crickets on the french toast.

Wok Fried "Bicho de Tacuara" (Bamboo Worms) Lettuce Wraps

Allen about to try Bamboo Worms for the first time ever!

The Wok Fried "Bicho de Tacuara" (Bamboo Worms) Lettuce Wraps were really good and the worms did not have much taste so I enjoyed them with the rest of the ingredients served.  I would eat crickets and bamboo worms anytime. I have eaten escargot before (snails), but the worms and crickets were a new experience for me. Sophia did not eat the bamboo worms but was intrigued taking pictures as I ate them.

24 hr. Braised Cow Tongue, Green Papaya, Thai Basil, Roasted Peanuts

The 24 hr. Braised Cow Tongue, Green Papaya, Thai Basil, Roasted Peanuts cold salad was very nice and I really liked the strong smokey flavor of this finely chopped delicacy. We spoke to the chef responsible for chopping the fresh beef tongue in the early AM hours. The chef told Allen the garnish/marinade was made by a female chef that specializes in sauces at Caesars, Atlantic Grill. This cold tongue salad was a hit with the crowd. The beef tongue was a hot item as it was being served by guests alot.

Crispy Lambs Liver, Lamb Pork and Beans

Sophia and I both loved the Crispy Lambs Liver, Lamb Pork and Beans and it looked like General Tso's Chicken with big beans. This dish had a really robust liver taste and were served as fried nuggets. The spices in the sauce and beans were tasty and it was great to eat offal. Allen is looking into doing some Offal dishes at home and maybe working them into the Two Frys stir-fry as well. It is not everyday you get to eat some guts that are normally not used in everyday cooking.

Spare Ribs, Pork Meatball, Frog Legs, Chicken Feet

I wonder if this Frog Leg will taste like chicken?

Say hello to my little friend, pollo loco - Chicken Feet!

Allen liked the eggs benedict with the thick richness of duck eggs, sunny side up on an english muffin, and cheese.

Crazy cool rat surrounded by crackers, cookies and desserts

Every table got a platter consisting of Chicken Feet, Spare Ribs, Pork Meatball, and Fried Frog Legs. The chicken feet had a sweet asain style sauce and had good flavor, but the consistency was a bit too chewy. Maybe fried would have been a better choice. The fried frog legs were a favorite and we both agreed they tasted just like chicken! Allen ate the one pork meatball on a stick and loved the rich flavor. We loved the spare ribs that just melted in our mouths and had a great taste from all the spices. The ribs were so moist and juicy.

Some of the lovely desserts

The desserts were beautifully displayed and there were two chocolate fountains, white and milk chocolate. There were lots of fruits arranged to dip into the chocolate fountains and desserts galore to satisfy any sweet tooth. Both the bizzare and regular brunch foods were exceptional, and the chefs and cooks did an incredible job at this brunch. This was a great event the Atlantic Grill did, and Andrew Zimmern was a great host and very personable.

White Chocolate Fountain

Chocolate Fountain

-Allen and Sophia/Two Frys