review
Atlantica on the Ocean
Quick Summary
A pretty place with great views and good fish.
Photo credit: Michael Nagle | Diners inside Atlantica on the Ocean, the restaurant at the new Allegria Hotel & Spa in Long Beach. (Oct. 24, 2009)
Atlantica on the Ocean
80 W. Broadway
Long Beach, NY 11561
Phone: 516-992-3730
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Atlantica on the Ocean Description
The best course at Atlantica on the Ocean is visual: great views of the waves ...
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Blog post from August 2010
When friends fly into JFK and announce that they are hungry, I usually take them to Itgen’s in Valley Stream. But this weekend my guests were arriving at 7:05 a.m. and that’s a little early—even for me—for a hot fudge sundae.
My colleague Joan Reminick didn’t hesitate when I asked her for a breakfast spot in the vicinity of JFK: Atlantica, the beachfront restaurant at the Allegria Hotel in Long Beach that she included in her roundup of LI "breakfasts with a view.”
Everything we ate and drank was top-notch—the blueberry pancakes, the buckwheat pancakes, the waffles, the eggs, the coffee. Service was an odd blend of pokey and brusque, but it was hard to mind with a view this spectacular. The restaurant looks out beyond the boardwalk and beach to the ocean and seems much more South Beach than Long Beach. The Floridian illusion is reinforced by the luxe-beachy decor—all aquas and sandy beiges, mirrors and seashells—and the profusion of patrons who seem to have walked off the set of Miami Vice. My guests were suitably impressed, but no more than I was.
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The best course at Atlantica on the Ocean is visual: great views of the waves from a sharp dining room where glass doors touch the boardwalk.
Awash in beachy hues, the sleek, glitz-bound spot sports a mirrored wall, designer seating and striking lighting fixtures that appear to undulate above the tables like oversize jellyfish. The adjoining bar also has a dramatically illuminated look. Take it all in. And contrast the site with chef Todd Jacobs' early-on food, which, while occasionally good, is about what you'd expect at a very showy catered affair. Have the fish.
The best
Jacobs, remembered for now-closed, oceanfront Tierra Mar in Westhampton Beach, has a menu that reads well. A fine opener: colossal shrimp - big enough to win a lobster throwdown and the stuff of a Jules Verne cocktail. The iced shellfish also include oysters, clams, mussels, lobster. Lobster bisque, coral-shaded and flavorful, floats nubbins of sweet meat. And consider the refreshing tuna tartare, with lemongrass oil and chives, drizzled with wasabi cream. Charbroiled yellowfin tuna and striped bass politely head the main dishes; a ramekin of crème brûlée, the sweets. At lunch: grilled cheese on challah.
The rest
Sweet corn chowder definitely overdoes the sweet part. Potato-leek soup - underseasoned. Goat-cheese borekas, or turnovers, arrive singed at the edges, on a poorly dressed salad. The "crisp tempura-battered" crab cake: entombed. Overcooking undoes panko-crusted monkfish; and turns a charbroiled lamb top sirloin into an exercise regimen for the jaw. The tastiest part of "Atlantica bouillabaisse" is the toasted bread, dipped into garlic-saffron broth. Skip the manicured spin on S'mores.
The bottom line
Such a pretty place.
Atlantica on the Ocean is located at 80 W. Broadway, Long Beach, 516-992-3730, allegriahotel.com
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