Of course, I'd never even heard of freakies until this summer, when a friendly little boardwalk muse named Lauren whispered in my ear. It's a bit shocking, considering I've been an aficionado of Brown's in Ocean City for the better part of a decade.
But sometimes the greatest bargains exist right beneath your nose. It's just a matter of good timing, a helpful hint, and a willingness to eat offbeat. It was a mantra that guided us well in our search for affordable delights at the Shore that went well beyond the doughnut stand, and we found them: from stellar matzo balls to jammin' jerk chicken, a new "gastropub" on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, a bargain lunch in the luxury belly of a casino, and the quick-serve sibling of a well-known crab house that's serving "muddy" clams and crab cakes worth the detour.
A Mixed Deck in Atlantic City
Freaky is a word that also came to mind often on our jaunts to Atlantic City, though not always in the lovely powdered-sugar-doughnut kind of way. This town has always been a bundle of jarring juxtapositions, with the neon jingle of new-casino bling chafing against the seedy strip clubs and street life of Atlantic Avenue.
Those contrasts have been put into even greater relief since the recession took a vicious chunk out of the casino business. The once seemingly unstoppable march of new Vegas-style developments bull-dozing over the fading motel kitsch of old A.C. - for the last few years an engine of new Shore dining options - has virtually ground to a halt.
