IK started off with an appetizer off of the specials menu... a crab and avocado terrine. It was good, but not spectacular, and here is why. Summer time crab is so delicious and sweet and suculent on it's own that it would be the perfect compliment to mild and creamy avocado without assistance from any 'enhancers'. The chef apparently did not think this was the case and tossed the crab with some seasoned mayonaise... completely unnecessary. It made the whole thing a bit too wet, and way too creamy. It was tasty, of course (how can crab, mayo, and avocado not be?) but too heavy. Good but not our favorite.
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DY went with oysters. Nothing much to report. They were seasonal, fresh and delicious. Came with a jalapeno and citrus dipping sauce that was delicious but not needed.... nothing (to me at least!) beats the briney bite of an in season oyster... no horseradish, no cocktail sauce, no nada. Just me, oyster, and face. Done.
Matt has gotten adventurous, people. He ordered (hand to God) the softshell crab. This was done as almost a tempura, over top of a thai inspired coconut milk and pepper mixture. This was AMAZING. So much flavor. I love thai food for it's always happy combination of spicy, sweet, salty and bitter and this had each compenent in the perfect way. Sweet coconut milk, hot chilis, slightly salty softshell crab.. it was a treat. The crab was cooked to perfection, crunchy on the outside but giving way to sweet delicious meat on the inside. I love the snap of a properly cooked softshell crab. This was a serious treat. Sadly it was a special.... soooo.... yeah.
I went with the confit duck leg salad. Holy crap. This was amazing. Seriously succulent duck, cooked in it's own fat atop a bed of leafy greens in a dressing comprised of bacon, ducky drippings and vinegar? Yeah... don't mind if I do. Salty, crunchy, earthy, delicious. The duck leg was huge, too! I could have easily had this and a cup of soup and called it an evening.
Both DY and Matt went with steaks.... DY with the monster of the menu, the 18oz cowboy steak, Matt with the tamer but still giant 16oz sirloin steak. Both were cooked to absolute perfection with a delicious crust and a tender inside. Matt had been dreaming of steak at Knife and Fork Inn since our first visit, years ago, and knew what he was going to get months in advance. According to him it's one of the best steaks he has ever had, and they didn't dissapoint on this visit, either. DY seemed happy too, as his plate was completely cleaned and meat free by the end of the meal.
IK went with one of the dinner specials, a fluke fillet perched upon a bevy of sliced zuchinni and topped with roasted cherry tomatoes. It was light, summery, and completely season appropriate. The fish was really fresh and IK really enjoyed it. Personally I thought it was a bit bland, but I just never considered fluke a 'go to' fish for full flavor. Who knows, maybe its just me. Long story short, the person eating it was happy, it was cooked well and looked nice. The end.
My dinner was an absolute treat. Better than I ever remembered from any of my previous visits. I went with the crab cake, and this is the one that I have always used and will continue to use as my golden standard. Huge, giant hunks of jumpo lump crab meat packed into a towering cake, with litte, if any, filling sitting pretty surrounded by spicy Asian slaw and red pepper sauce. It's perfect. You get all crab and no BS bready smoosh nonsense. The slaw gives crunch, should you want it, but I was so focused on the delicious crustacean that it took me a while to remember to dip into the veg. So good. So very very good.
Too full for dessert (although they have an amazing confection refered to as a banana chocolate burrito... if you like your taste buds order it) we rolled out and hit the boardwalk. Knife and Fork Inn is a little piece of history in downtown Atlantic City. It's absolutely stunning, has a pretty lively bar scene, and the service is impecable (friendly and knowledgeable without being overbearing or creepy... good combo!)
Knife and Fork Inn
http://www.knifeandforkinn.com/
Atlantic and Pacific Avenue-08401
609 344 1133
Tula was boasting a prix fixe menu at the time of our visit. It was a pretty good deal, but I see now that they have done away with it (didn't want to get your hopes up, folks!) I'm going to give you the quick run down... Mom and I ordered the tuna tartare, Dad went with the white gazpacho, and Matt went with the (GASP) scallop. Yes.. Matt plus scallop happened. Weird. To be honest its because the only non seafood options for first course were the gazpacho or garden salad, and he didn't want to waste an order on a salad (his words, not mine!) 
Breakdown: The gazpacho was delicious; Fruity, fresh and summery. It was made with green grapes and mint and cucumber and it had a nice crisp bite to it. A little sweet, a little bitey, herbacious and overall just good. Dad was pleased. (Note to reader: this dish remains on the menu to this day, despite the revisions! Get it!) Mom and I adored our tuna tartare. First of all, it was pretty to look at. Second of all, it was tasty. The caviar on top was (infused with, soaked in, mixed with?) wasabi flavored. It really lent a surprising, spicy bite to the sweet, supple tuna. Cucumbers on the bottom were attractive but unnecessary. The portion was large, too.... surprisingly so, especially for a prix fix menu. I enjoyed this. Tuna was fresh, caviar had that pop and sparkle, a bit of citrusy dressing.... all good things. Happy mouth, happy Mom and happy me. The scallops.... womp womp womp. Considering Matt has only JUST recently come around to ANY seafood at all, the scallop choice was already a risk. He likes them (as most people do) perfectly seared on each side, and soft in the middle. These were not that. These were cooked perfectly on one side, but squishy on the bottom and raw in the middle. There's nothing wrong with that in theory, but these were listed as pan seared scallops. It seemed almost like someone took one of those little brulee torches to the top of the scallop and completely neglected the bottom. It tasted good, but texturely, didn't do anything for anyone.
Desserts were all delicious. Dad got some super rich chocolate thing, Mom and I got a fantastic bread pudding with white chocolate, but Matt picked the winner (BONUS! it is still on the menu, too!) It was a banana empenada, and it was downright insane. Crispy flakey outside, warm, sweet, creamy banana inside, topped with dulce de leche ice cream.... such a treat. So incredible. Hot vs cold, smooth vs crunchy, sweet, rich, so good. Yum. Get that.
While the prix fixe menu has been done away with, it doesn't mean that Tula is not worth a visit. It is SO reasonable (actually it is much cheaper now than it was when we went... Now no entree over 20 bucks! Hooray!) It also seems that the 'lighter fare' (sammiches, namely) are served during dinner hours too, where I do not think it was the case before. It has a much more 'bistro' feel to it now, ya dig? Comfy sounding food as opposed to hoity toity. The space is beautiful, the food is good, the service pleasant... what more could you want?
Bim was crazy hungry so he also ordered the onion soup. When you order onion soup you expect a mini crock (usually those brown ones? you know what I mean). Soooo not the case here. What was placed in front of him was nothing short of absurd. I mean, look at it. It's fair to say it was a practical volcano of soup. What was really impresive, though, was that the soup was real, honest to goodness onion soup... not that light brown watery nonsense. This had a crazy deep dark color which means that the onions must have been cooked wayyyy down, the fond scraped, the cheese bruleed. Presentation of this dish was also fun. Yay.
I started my meal with one of the items off of the 'small plates' menu. It was listed as Manchego cheese with fig puree, and I figured since it was indeed a 'small plate' there would just be a tiny taste, enough for me to enjoy, but still have plenty of room left for my meal. I was instead presented with 6 crostini with 6 large wedges of cheese and a baseball sized dome of fig puree. I'd hate to see what their big plates look like....Long story short I'd probably order differently the next time as A) this was a lot of cheese for a small plate and B) the crostini were not done particularly well.
Bim ordered the full rack of Saint Louis style ribs for dinner. These were delicious! The meat literally fell off of the bone, and the sauce was awesome... dare I say it was saucesome. Bahaha. Hysterical. But seriously, it was the exact kind of sauce that I adore and associate with barbeque. Thick and sweet, with a heavy hit of smoke and dare I say a bit of spiciness. I loved these (stole two from him over the course of the night) and so did he... Matt's a fan of sauceless ribs, but what does he know? Even with Matt and I helping him out, Bim was still able to take home an entire half rack. Portions = HUGE
Matt ordered the bone- in New York strip. It was cooked exactly right (as you would hope from a steakhouse, afterall). The sear on the meat left it with a nice, seasoned crust and the inside was pink but not dripping blood, a perfect medium. The cool thing about On The Bone is that every single piece of steak that comes out of their kitchen is aged for at least 21 days. Also fun to note, every piece of steak that comes out is bone- in, including the filet mignon. Fun, right? Anyway, Matt's steak was served with a trio of sauces... a bleu cheese sauce, a bernaise, and a glace de viande. These were all eh. They didn't add a lot of flavor, they were totally unnecessary to the meat eating experience, and they weren't particularly good. Luckily they were on the side and easy to ignore. The onion rings were exceptional.... crunchy, salty, not greasy just freaking perfect.
I ordered a burger, which is odd for me, but hey, it's what I was craving. Another bonus about On The Bone? You can pile your burger high with bonus toppings (mushrrom, bacon, sauteed onions, fancy cheeses) for not extra cost. Bonus! I decided to top my angus beef bad boy with smoked gouda cheese, mushrooms and onions. The burger was good... really beefy and flavorful, but not too fatty and greasy. The gouda (which I have never before used on a burger) was a treat... the smoke brought serious flavor. It was great. It was also huge. I ate about 1/3 of it and packed the rest in to come home. Who can eat this much!? Sad note about the fries, though. They were too greasy, big bummer. 
While I have been to Laguna for lazy breakfasts, fancy dinners, and late night drinks, on this particular visit we were there for lunch. Matt and I were joined by J and M and we were just interested in finding somehwere to eat where we could all grab something fast but good. There was snow on the beach and J wanted to get a better look at it, so we couldn't beat Laguna's location... it's right on the water and has huge windows, so you can see the whole shoreline. Matt and I both ordered sandwiches... a grilled veggie panini for Matt and an Italian style one for me. Matt's was great... loaded with lots of the standard grilled sandwich vegetables (ya know, zuchinni, eggplant, roasted pepper) and topped with melty mozzarella cheese and a pesto mayo. Mine was stuffed with sliced mozzarella, fresh tomato, prosciutto, pesto, and roasted pepper. Both were pressed perfectly and were nice-n-toasty. The pesto sauce on each of them really brightened up the flavors of the respective veggies, and the salty ham on mine was the perfect balance against the creamy, mild cheese. Throw some crunchy waffle fries onto each plate, and call it a day. Very satisfactory lunch fare.
M went with a burger, and it looked insane. It was a giant burger, literally smothered in bacon and cheese. While I did not try this bad boy, I could tell that M was really enjoying it. He said it was cooked perfectly and from the looks of it, I believe him!
J ordered a personal sized buffalo chicken pizza. I don't know what person this was sized for, but the pizza was bigger than we expected it to be... two people could absolutely share one. The well done crust was adorned with a generous helping of spicy, breaded chicken. Both bleu cheese and cheddar made an appearance on the pie in their natural states, and of course there was bleu cheese dressing for dipping. There was just the right amount of heat, the crust was chewy and delicious, and the chicken was tender. A totally successful pizza, indeed.
I had come in planning on a big ol' piece of meat, but when I saw the description for the filet mignon sandwich my mouth immediately started watering and I knew it just had to be mine. 6 ounces of filet mignon piled on top of a ciabatta roll, covered in caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms, with melted brie cheese and drizzled with a shallot and tomato sauce. Go back and read that again. Drooling? I was too. It came with their version of fries (which are really more like giant potato chips) and these were lovely. Thin and crunchy and salty. I really liked them. The real treat was the sandwich, though. So many flavor combinations (my favorite part of any dish, of course). The meat was supple and moist, the cheese creamy and soft, the mushrooms earthy and thick, the bread crusty, with a bit of bite. There were sweet onions and the tangy sauce, and it was just... well, it was damned good.. I miss it now. I'm sad it's not here with me, while I write to all of you.
To end our meal we ordered what has since become known only as 'THE dessert'. It's described as a warm dark chocolate brownie served with dulce de leche ice cream and home made whipped cream. That description doesn't come close to describing this brownie. This was SO good in fact, that I wrote down what we said while eating it, which can do a better job of explaining it's tastiness than I ever could again. "This must be what the angels eat in heaven." "Shh. No talking while we're in it's presence." "We don't deserve to eat anything this delicious.... no one does." "If God had dessert he'd be jealous of this." I don't care what you eat if you ever visit KC Prime.... if you leave without ordering 'THE dessert' you have done yourself....nay, your country, a great disservice.
My appetizer was a crab quesadilla. This thing was HUGE... when I ordered it I expected an appetizer size quesadilla, but no no, my friends... I got a dinner plate sized masterpiece. This was very good. The filling was pretty simple, really, just fresh crab meat and cheese. Not spiced, not saucy, just fresh and tasty. They threw some lettuce and tomato on the plate, in case I wanted to spruce it up my very own self, but the crab meat really carried the flavor. This was very filling and very good. Yum. Crab meat... never dissapoints. 
For dinner Matt ordered the roasted chicken (not surprising, huh?) It was served over a bed of delicious autumnal salad.... it had roasted fennel and onion and corn and all sorts of warm and happy things. For me the salad was better than the chicken, but I am sure that doesn't surprise anyone, either. The texture was soft but not mushy, the corn was sweet, the fennel was nice and anise-y. Matt really liked the chicken... he said he skin had a nice crunch and the meat was tender and juicy. Again, a bit light on the seasoning, but nothing that he couldn't solve with salt and pepper. It was good but didn't crack our top ten for roasted chicken.
Just when we thought we couldn't shove any more food in our faces we discovered that there was a (get this) mini pie sampler. How on Earth are you going to say no to 5 bite size pies? You aren't, that's how. We were able to sample the following: pecan pie, chocolate brownie pie, apple raisin cake, lemon mousse pie and chocolate peanut butter pie. They were all delicious but the best (in my opinion) had to be the pecan. Sweet and sticky, with a delicious crust, this was a winner that reminded me of the deep south. Yum. Matt really liked the chocolate peanut butter one... it was creamy and sweet... the peanut butter was smooth to the point of almost being liquidy. Very good, and officially stuffed.