A Little Nucky at The Knife and Fork Inn

Birthday Dinner #3 

I’ll admit it, I mostly watched the show Boardwalk Empire with my hands covering my eyes. It was a bit too violent for my delicate sensitives, but still I watched. I loved the characters. I loved how you find yourself rooting for a bad guy. I especially loved the fashion, and I loved seeing Atlantic City during a time when it was beautiful and glamorous; a time before it was filled with chain smoking, slot playing grannies in well-coordinated sweat suits, and drunken girls wearing tiaras and bedazzled shirts reading, bridesmaid. 

Atlantic City has eradicated most of its old school, prohibition charm, but if you look hard enough, you can still see a few glamorous ghosts from the past.

“We should eat there sometime,” we say as we drive by The Knife and Fork Inn. We say it during every trip to Atlantic City, every time we drive by it, every single time. After a hard nudge by Anthony Bourdain during last season’s New Jersey episode, we made eating at The Knife and Fork Inn priority number one.

Note- The Knife and Fork Inn has a dress code. This is probably an important thing to know before packing for your trip to Atlantic City. If you did not know this information beforehand, I recommend (if you are not a vegetarian) fortifying yourself for a crap-we- need- to- get- clothes –for –dinner shopping excursion by getting some free, tasty samples at the Jerky Outlet.

With tags freshly cut from our new clothing, we made our way to The Knife and Fork Inn.

The restaurant was established in 1912 by “The Commodore.” It started out as a private club for gentlemen. No girls allowed. During prohibition it was known as a place to go to get a drink, and counted the infamous Enoch “Nucky” Johnson as one of its frequenters. I can only imagine the nefarious plans that were discussed over cocktails and cigars. 

From the moment we walked through the door, my eyes darted everywhere. The architecture and décor of the restaurant is stunning. The history of the place envelops you. 

We were escorted upstairs and seated at a table near the fantastic mural.

The cushy chairs, white linens, and smartly dressed servers, inform you that you are in a special place.

The thing to get at The Knife and Fork Inn, and what they are most known for, is the Knife and Fork Dinner. For $64 you can get a full meal that includes soup, salad, lobster thermidor, and a filet mignon. Since we aren’t huge fans of lobster, we stuck to the regular menu.

I always love reading what people complain about on Tripadvisor. When I read reviews of The Knife and Fork Inn, multiple people complained about the rolls. The problem they said, you only get one roll, not an entire bread basket. 

Our server came to our table with a selection of rolls to choose from. 

We both got the onion roll which tasted exactly like french onion soup in bread form. It was a delicious roll. I'd rather have one outstanding piece of bread, than a basket of mediocre bread. I was happy and satisfied with my single roll. Silly Tripadvisor people. 

We started out with salads. A beet and goat cheese salad for Shannon, 

and a wedge salad for me. I’m pretty sure that the reason that I like wedge salads is the blue cheese dressing. 

Honestly, if they brought me a bowel of just blue cheese dressing, I’d be a happy girl. The wedge salad at The Knife and Fork Inn was exceptional, mostly because the blue cheese dressing was homemade, and thick, with ample chunks of fresh blue cheese. There is nothing worse than a wedge salad with a watery, runny dressing.

I have a weakness for risotto. It always seems like a good idea at the time.  In the chill of January, the warm, hearty, creamy goodness sounded especially appealing. I got the seafood risotto, and it was everything I hoped it would be; it was also very filling. I plugged away, I did my due diligence, and yet it in the end, it barely looked like I touched it.

Shannon went for a lighter dish, and got one of the evening's specials, the scallops Oscar. He said it was very good. Since he doesn’t like crab, it was added to my risotto.

Dessert; here I must apologize to Emeril’s City Walk in Orlando. You have been bumped to number two for best banana cream pie.

I love a good piece of banana cream pie, but often find myself disappointed when I am greeted by a slice that is mostly whipped cream and runny banana flavored pudding. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if my slice of banana cream pie at The Knife and Fork Inn had an entire sliced banana in it. The crust, the filling, the topping, everything about it was amazing. Favorite banana cream pie so far.

We absolutely enjoyed our dinner at The Knife and Fork Inn. We would go back again. I will say that it is more of a place to go to for a special occasion, than a just drop by for dinner. The food is top notch, the atmosphere is sophisticated, and if you imagine hard enough, you can almost see the faint echoes of the old boys, wheeling and dealing, sipping on their illegal hooch.