Izakaya

The higher heat of Japanese binchotan charcoal is used to sear cuts of Australian Tajima kobe beef. They're extraordinarily expensive, from $36 (for an 8-ounce skirt) to $105 (for one pound of ribeye), but judging from our succulent skirt steak, a worthy nod to the casino's requisite steak culture.

The rest of Izakaya's menu, meanwhile, is a familiar repertoire of contemporary Asian standbys, but Schulson-ized to be as handsome as they can be. Tuna tartare studded with crispy shallots gets dolloped with hackleback caviar and a pouf of soy foam. Miso-glazed black cod benefits from the spicy tang of a pickled cucumber salad that cuts through the charred sweetness of the marinade. Fried rice goes deluxe with buttery morsels of kobe beef. Italian risotto veers Asian with a creamy orange broth of dashi, ginger and sea urchin.

There are some surprising riffs on pub favorites, like a spectacular whole flounder that literally turns fish-and-chips inside out. The crisped fillets come tucked inside a barrel-shaped basket made from the skeleton, which is air-dried, sake-poached, and fried into an edible tube of fish-bone "chips." Tender slices of braised pork belly wrapped in the tacolike folds of puffy bao buns (all the rage in Manhattan) were decadently good. Unfortunately, they were too daring to last on an Atlantic City menu past my first visit.

I predict, however, that Schulson's "Kinki" chicken wings will become an Izakaya instant classic. Served in a steel cauldron alongside tart house-made pickles, these were among the best chicken wings I've ever eaten. Stewed for hours in duck fat scented with five-spice, they're crisped beneath a dark slick of chili sauce that tingles with sour, heat, fish-sauce funk and mint. And then, of course, there is that catchy name, which, it turns out, is an homage to the Kinki region just south of Tokyo rather than a wink to diners' naughty side.

I'm guessing no one told those bachelorettes.