NORTHEAST
As part of an ongoing renovation effort, the 1,860-room Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City recently unveiled Bottled Wine, Spirits, & Tastings, an elevated wine experience featuring a wide array of unique vintages for sale and a selection of imported and domestic cheeses, cured meats and more. Opening this year is The Soup Spot, a rotating selection of homemade soups crafted by Ocean’s talented culinary team. The menu will be inspired by seasonal favorites and include imaginative toppings, soup “dunkers,” tasting flights and more.
All of the above is in addition to the resort’s three upscale restaurants: the rustic, tapas-style Amada by Jose Garces, with favorites including a whole-roasted suckling pig and seafood paella; Lingduini by the Sea, with ocean views, handcrafted pastas and seafood risotto; and Ocean Steak, where specialties include the porterhouse for two, 30-day snow-aged Japanese Wagyu and pastrami rub Atlantic salmon.
As one of the largest commercial casinos in the country, the 310-room Live! offers cuisine from across the globe. In addition to the myriad culinary options available for banquets, in-house dining options include sports bar and restaurant Sports & Social Maryland; Luk Fu and 8 at Luck Fu, serving authentic sushi and Asian cuisine; Morty’s Deli; Orchid Kitchen, for burgers, tacos and more; and Luckies, featuring Starbucks coffee, pastries and Italian gelato. The property has 50,000 square feet of conference space.
At the northern end of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the 942-room Resorts Casino Hotel has 10 eateries, ranging from the casual Bubbakoo’s Burritos, the Landshark Bar & Grill and Margaritaville, to the fine-dining Dougherty’s Steakhouse & Raw Bar, Mukashi Sushi Bar and the Capriccio Italian Restaurant. There’s also an on-site food court featuring six more places to eat, including Famiglia Pizza and Ruby’s Dinette. The property devotes 64,000 square feet to meetings, including a 13,000-square-foot ballroom.
SOUTHEAST
When it comes to great food, guests at the 1,501-room Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando enjoy fresh, wholesome produce from the resort’s own Emma’s Creekside Farm, which services 15 in-house, award-winning restaurants such as A Land Remembered, a premier steakhouse featuring prime black Angus beef, Chilean sea bass, crab cakes and blackened Ora king salmon. Casa Bella offers a taste of Tuscany with classic Italian and Mediterranean dishes, fresh pasta, seafood, poultry, beef and an extensive selection of fine wines. Other options include Banrai Sushi, Tobias Burgers & Brew and Mi Casa Tequila Taqueria.
On-site indoor meeting space totals 410,000 square feet, including four huge ballrooms, all column-free and with 31-foot-high ceilings. Outdoor events take place among 136,000 square feet, including an expansive open-air terrace. The property is just minutes from Orlando National Airport and the Orange County Convention Center.
In Ocala, Fla., the 248-room Equestrian Hotel features seven unique dining options. The Yellow Pony, a casual gastro pub, has an equestrian-inspired design complete with real saddle bar stools and is known for its rare bourbons and lively patio scene. Emma’s Patisserie features an array of authentic French pastries and macarons, while Stirrups, the hotel's fine-dining restaurant, has a selection of 6,000 wines. The in-house catering banquet menus offer more than 30 pages of versatile options for large groups.
Within Walt Disney World, the 516-room JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa features delicious cuisine in seven dining outlets, including the Sear + Sea Woodfire Grill, which offers grilled prime cuts of quality meats and a 1,200-bottle wine cellar. The ninth-floor rooftop Illume serves modern Japanese-inspired cuisine and creative cocktails and is the perfect perch to enjoy nightly fireworks displays. The resort has a total of 50,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
On the Atlantic Beach oceanfront, the 193-room One Ocean Resort and Spa presents fine dining at Azura at One Ocean, serving all day and into the night. Fresh, imaginative dishes include the bronzed Pacific seabags, seared diver scallops, pan-seared beef tenderloin and more. Meeting space at the property includes the 3,800-square-foot Atlantica Ballroom, able to host receptions for up to 400 people.
MIDWEST
One of the Twin Cities’ premier dining establishments, the FireLake Grill House & Cocktail Bar is the main focus for fine cuisine at the 500-room Radisson Blu Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. The theme here is farm-to-table food, and Chef Dinesh Jayawardena personally visits area farmers markets and small businesses to source local and regional products, all prepared over a wood-burning stove. For meetings and events, the hotel’s food and beverage/events team likewise partners with local farmers, ranchers and artisans.
On 175 scenic acres in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Ill., the 369-room Marriott Lincolnshire Resort offers fine dining at Three Embers. Led by Chef Jonathan Silver, the venue features outdoor lakeside seating, its own two-acre garden and a menu of innovative takes on steak, seafood and scratch dishes. More casual meals can be enjoyed at Wright’s Brew & Bistro. For meetings, the resort has 64,348 square feet across 26 event rooms.
Art reigns supreme at the 219-room Saint Kate — The Arts Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, a theme that extends to the culinary arts as well. Three in-house restaurants include Aria for delicious fast lunches, the Neapolitan-style Proof Pizza and The Dark Room, for private dining with specially curated menus for any small group event. The property has more than 11,000 square feet of meeting space.
In the heart of the Windy City, the 339-room Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago provides the likes of superb cold-water lobster and filet mignon at Terrace 16, a rooftop bar with indoor/outdoor seating overlooking the city’s main landmarks; the casual-chic Rebar lounge featuring Neo Japanese fare, and world-class wines and whiskeys in the posh Experiential Tasting Lounge.
With 400 guest rooms, 67,500 square feet of meeting and event space and world-class casino action, Detroit’s MotorCity Casino Hotel also takes pride in its in-house food and beverage offerings, including a lively food court featuring the Cantina (margaritas and tacos), the Lodge Diner, Deli & Burgers and more. Coming soon: Revel Steak. Banquets can be arranged for groups of up to 2,500.
SOUTHWEST
Just steps from a host of attractions, shopping and entertainment as well as the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, the 1,000-room San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the colorful River Walk delivers excellent cuisine from its on-site dining outlets to its premier catering services. At Tributary, Chef Joseph Martinez celebrates all things Texas, from tacos and shrimp with grits for lunch to pork tenderloin and red snapper for dinner. A private-event dining menu is available.
Also on-property is the grab-and-go Café Bocadillo, featuring Starbucks coffee, beverages and snacks, not to mention freshly made desserts and pastries with a European flair from Chef Klaus. For meetings and events held in some 70,000 square feet of dedicated space, the hotel provides catering services from buffets to fully plated meals, with breakfast, lunch and dinner options.
Each month, the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center in College Station hosts complimentary cooking classes to showcase the property’s delicious cuisine while providing attendees with a valuable culinary education. The property offers three outlets for dining: the Block T Bar & Grill, the Junction Market & Cafe and Brazos — Proper Texas Kitchen. Meeting and event space in the recently refurbished conference facility totals 35,000 square feet.
At the University of Texas at Austin, the 297-room AT&T Hotel and Conference Center features four dining options, including a grab-and-go coffee shop, a breakfast and lunch café, a casual full-service café and a fine-dining restaurant, The Carillon. The property’s food program is devoted to sustainability (food waste is redirected to composting efforts), seasonal eating and local ingredients. Meetings take place in 85,000 square feet of flexible space.
FAR WEST
The culinary program at the 7,100-room Venetian Resort Las Vegas features everything from award-winning catering to fine-dining restaurants, with cuisine options to satisfy every preference. The resort is home to more than 40 restaurants and lounges from world-renowned chefs including Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller, Tetsuya Wakuda, Buddy Valastro and Lorena Garcia.
Distinguished French master Chef Olivier Dubreuil and executive Banquet Chef Jerome Ducrocq head up the F&B program at the resort, which can provide custom gourmet menus to suit the needs of groups large and small; a diverse kitchen staff helps devise ethnic-inspired dishes, often fusing multiple culinary traditions in innovative ways. In addition, the resort’s Honest Food program focuses on menus that incorporate wellness options and sustainable sourcing of ingredients.
The newly renovated 284-room Marriott San Diego DelMar Prides itself on its on-site dining and catering. In a part of the nation where quality fresh seafood offerings are de rigueur, the hotel goes the extra fathom to present an imaginative bounty of same (as part of its fully rounded menus) at the on-site Arterra Restaurant and Bar and for groups utilizing any of the property’s 24,331 square feet of meeting and event space.
As part of its devotion to group wellness, the 21-cottage Ranch Malibu in California crafts delicious plant-based menus featuring an abundance of organic and seasonal ingredients sourced directly from on-property gardens and nearby farms. Favorites include warm spinach and zucchini lasagna prepared with marinara sauce and the finest nut-based ricotta cheese, and gluten-free pizzas with an ever-changing list of toppings and sauces, all helping to promote weight loss and build a healthier mind and body.
Near the Disneyland Resort in Southern California, guests indulge in award-winning, healthful cuisine at the 1,030-room Anaheim Marriott. The hotel’s hydroponic garden features 338 ports where the culinary staff grows its own butter lettuce, kale, micro herbs and edible flowers, and produce is harvested weekly to create craft cocktails and appetizers. The signature nFuse Restaurant offers fresh local dishes with a global culinary twist, from seafood and vegetarian options to savory chicken and short-ribs.
INTERNATIONAL AND U.S. TERRITORIES
On the northeast coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, facing the Caribbean Sea, guests at the 173-room Waldorf Astoria Cancun enjoy dining options across a variety of distinctive food and beverage venues. The resort’s signature restaurant Malpeque showcases fine seafood from Executive Chef Stuart Roger, including Ensenada baked scallops in the shell served with a chipotle-vermouth sauce and puff pastry casing. The all-day brasserie Chaya has a relaxed and cozy breakfast and later presents dishes such as Meyer lemon tagliatelle with black pepper and parmesan.
The traditional Mexican cantina-style JA'O offers al fresco dining and an expansive selection of boutique agave spirits, while a pool bar serves health-forward, light and flavorful dishes. For meetings and events, the property has more than 68,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, shared with the all-inclusive Hilton Cancun next door.
Already known for its AAA Five Diamond Le Basilic and the upscale Mexican La Joya, the 602-room Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Cancún has expanded its dining options to more than half a dozen choices, debuting three new outlets in 2023: Havanna, an Argentinian Mexican-style steak house; Tuscany, an elegant Italian ristorante, and Torii, featuring Asian-Fusion cuisine. The resort also more than 62,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.
A little more than an hour north of Naples, the 102-room Ranch Italy at the Palazzo Fiuggi Medical Retreat takes its cue from The Ranch Malibu in the U.S. to offer a plethora of group fitness and wellness programs complemented by a nutritionally dense, plant-based menu with an Italian flair, created by Palazzo Fiuggi’s 3-star Michelin Chef Heinz Beck and a top culinary team. Guests also have access to a 4,300 square-foot fitness center, panoramic indoor and outdoor pools and a surrounding terrain made for hiking and biking.