texasmesquite

Surviving AC: The Celebrity Chef Invasion

Where: Atlantic City, NJ, United States
6/29/2008 at 2:00 PM
Tags: Gambling, Surviving Atlantic City, Giada De Laurentiis, Anthony Bourdain (all tags)


Who goes to Atlantic City? We sent Neal Ungerleider to find out.
With Atlantic City casinos in a competitive frenzy for guests' dollars, everyone needs a gimmick. It seems like Caesars has found a successful niche of its own: Hosting television food show-related events.
We arrived in Atlantic City during the Toast to the Coast festival, which trotted out celebrity chefs/cooking personalities Roland Meisner, Ingrid Hoffman and Guy Fieri for cooking demos and offered a live show with Giada De Laurentiis. There was also the chance to meet Hoffmann and Fieri at a pool party over at Harrah's (whose previous guests include both Kim Kardashian and Tila Tequila), along with a food expo and several other events spread throughout Harrah's Atlantic City properties.
Then, we got a look at Caesars' upcoming events calendar. Guests who will be appearing at the casino within the next six months include Paula Deen (July 27), Tom Colicchio (September 7) and Anthony Bourdain (October 12). For a minute, it seemed puzzling... but then it hit us.
Television food shows are hot business right now. For better or worse, Top Chef attracted the largest audience for a cooking-related television show in years--something not seen since the initial Batali/Flay glory days of the Food Network.
Bringing in personalities like Deen and Bourdain who have extensive cult following guarantees that Caesars gets both a healthy turnout and the chance to lure their respective demographics in for a weekend of Atlantic City revelry. And, of course, Deen and Bourdain both get fat paychecks for their work.
In other words: Everyone's happy.