December 31, 2009 - Sea Blue

Sea Blue in Borgata hotel in Atlantic City, NJ
http://www.theborgata.com/

After a long debate about where to eat for our last meal of the decade, we settled on Sea Blue in Atlantic City. Sea Blue is the middle class option for people who want to eat at Michael Mina's signature restaurant, but can't afford $120 for three courses. You can eat here for half that. One interesting note is prior to creating Michael Mina, Sea Blue, and a few other offshoots, he worked at a two Michelin star restaurant in San Francisco called Aqua. I find it amusing that he later spun off a restaurant called Sea Blue, which is of course the color that Aqua most readily represents. Also, Aqua has apparently gone downhill (to only one star) since Mina left.

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We actually barely even made it to Sea Blue. Our original plan was to go to Hooters and get the gourmet special, which is a bottle of Dom and 20 wings for $150. Originally we sought an alternative to Hooters because we feared that this was a stupid deal, so we would have to come up with another gourmet dinner option to placate Aaron. But since Cait had never been to Hooters, and let's be honest here, they have absolutely amazing wings, we still wanted to go. So we decided to eat Hooters as an appetizer.

To make this work, we made 10pm reservations at Sea Blue. After wondering around the Borgata for a while, playing penny slots and getting tasty and pricey drinks from the lounge, we finally ended up at Sea Blue.

Sea Blue has these really weird virtual fishtanks that are really LCD screens in the restaurant. They actually don't stand out as odd because the whole restaurant, and all of Borgata really, have a very clean modern feel. It feels like a youngish hipper restaurant than most of it's competitors in this price range. In other words, Ellie didn't instantly realize that she was by far the youngest person in the restaurant, which certainly happens during some of our nicer restaurant experiences.

We started the dinner with a couple appetizers for the table. We had to get the tuna tartare because it's one of the main things that Michael Mina is known for. We also got a foie gras and lobster corn dogs.

The chunks of tuna in the tartare were very large and the portion was generous. It was clearly made primarily with actual chunks of good quality tuna, as opposed to the trimmings of perfectly cut tuna steaks. This was very refreshing. The only complaint that we had was that it was actually very mild. There was no vinegar or anything acidic in it to give it a little zing. It actually made me realize that some tartares might be made with vinegar so that it acts as a cooking agent because the tuna might not be of the same quality. Sea Blue probably wanted to show off the quality of the ingredient used, and so chose a very light flavoring of pine nuts, garlic, and sesame oil. No really, it was light. The garlic barely flavored the dish. Overall, it was clean and refreshing but it didn't necessarily stand out as an excellent flavor combination.

The foie gras was actually not my favorite. I don't remember too much about the flavor anymore, although I'm sure it had some raspberry or sherry compote to go with it. I think I realized that I'm not universally a foie gras fan. I am however, a huge seared foie gras fan. But the cold mousse doesn't really do it for me. Maybe I just don't like the idea of paying $80/lb for ground meat. Whole meat is fine though. But aside from that, it was a very filling foie gras. The portion was large, it was of high quality, and the fat content was certainly high.

Finally, we had lobster corn dogs. These were interesting. They were breaded in a corn batter, but the batter was more blended than your average corn dog. And on the inside was basically a claw. It was pretty fun and definitely creative.

By the time our appetizers were done, it was something like 11:30pm. Originally we weren't sure where we were going to be at the strike of midnight, and we had already talked about the idea of just relaxing and eating dessert at midnight. Our waitress (and all the wait staff in the restaurant) were doing an amazing job of passing out hats and noise makers, being attentive to our water and food needs, taking pictures of us five minutes before midnight, and basically running around doing whatever they could to ensure that the needy patrons were extremely satisfied. Our waitress went above and beyond, which was so refreshing given that we had been to Due Mari just one week before. That's it for the shout outs, which is uncommon on this blog. But I just wanted you to know that Sea Blue was very professional and handled the pressure with ease.

Cait and Aaron decided to split the two pound lobster pot pie. This dish is quite inventive. Basically, they chopped up a two pound lobster into a few large pieces. A couple claws, two pieces for the body, one tail, etc. They then cook it in a pot with a few veggies and some truffled lobster cream and create a cover out of filo dough. Our waiter brought out the dish, but open the lid, and plated the lobster at the table. He took out the lobster pieces and recreated the shape of the lobster like a puzzle (it was only a six piece puzzle so don't get too excited) and put the vegetables on the side. The whole meal was fun and very tasty. I only had a bite, so I can't comment on whether the lobster was overcooked or anything, because I know that if I made that dish, I would seriously overcook the lobster. But we didn't hear any complaints.


Ellie and I split the "paella". It was more like a combination of a paella and a risotto. It was topped with two whole jumbo scallops that were cooked to perfection. The rice had chirizo as well as braised rabbit in it, which was very good. It was really nice to get the scallops on top, as it seemed like we were getting two entrees, since a full scallop dinner is usually only three scallops anyway. Ellie might have more comments on the actual flavor of the meal.

For dessert we decided to get the philly cheescake. I have no idea why Ellie allowed us to get it as she is not a cheescake fan. But I am certainly glad she did. In fact, she was glad she did as well. This cheesecake was incredible. It wasn't heavy, it was extremely creamy and smooth, and it had a great crust and berry compote. I actually want another one right now. And it's 10:30am and I haven't eaten anything all day. Actually, I want to drive to AC or fly to Vegas to eat one of these. Added bonus would be a day in AC or Vegas, but the real treat would be the cheesecake.

To me the overall night at Sea Blue was excellent. The food was clean and inventive at times, although it wasn't actually amazing tasting. I think it actually scores high for me because of the service, plating, and quality of ingredients, as well as expected execution. Nothing was phenomenal about the food, but the place was well run and they did everything they could to make sure the patrons had a great dining experience.