Customer Reviews

Jersey Diners

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a sheer joy to find on the book shelf when I bought it for a friend for Christmas. I couldn't help but spend time reading it myself since I'm such a diner fanatic, and being in New Jersey, how couldn't you be? I read the book through and through, loving the photographs such as Rosie's and the Felix #9 diner in Bridgewater. I remember squealing with joy realizing that the good old Bound Brook Diner appeared on the front cover. Lunch there for 10 years is the best thing. I enjoyed reading the small accounts of "diner life" by other New Jersey citizens and I plesantly smiled to myself. I never would think anyone could ever capture the essence of the New Jersey Diner, but Genovese did. Can I have a Felix #9 sandwich please with pork roll now?

Peter Genovese has written an informative and enjoyable account of the life of that great American institution, the diner. Concentrating on his native New Jersey, one of the leading diner states, Genovese takes the reader on a mouth watering tour. In addition, this book helped me to discover the diner subculture that is alive and well in the U.S. today. I would love to see Genovese turn his descriptive talents loose on the rest of the Northeast - perhaps a companion book for each great diner state

We retired about 10 years ago and moved from NJ to the beautiful Washington State. I remember one of my first restaurant experiences out here. I ordered liver and onions. The wait person told me they were not available at that hour! What? After several years out here there are only two things from NJ that I miss-my daughter and the Jersey diners. A few years ago my daughter, a librarian, gave me copy of this book. Since that time, it has had an honored place, not on our coffee table, but rather in our bathroom. I just love that book, and seem to find something new in it every time I pick it up. It is a pure joy for me.I hope someday to get back there and take a diner tour, punching into my gps those I've been to and those I haven't.
Right in the middle would be a visit to Mastoris, right in the middle of the state. I'll take the cheese bread home in a doggie bag.

Pete Genovese's Jersey Diners is a must for anyone living in the Garden State who loves the classic nature of the state's most recognizable style of restaurant. Mr. Genovese spent a year eating in most of the diners throughout the state and the book is filled with great pictures and stories from his adventures as well as where to the best diner food. This isn't just for people who live in or are from New Jersey, but would be a good read for people who are fans of shows like Diners, Drive Ins & Dives.

This book captures the heart and soul of diners in what is obviously the greatest diner state in the country. The stories and photos are wonderful, and the book is a joy to read. The only criticism: do not rely on the diner listings in the back without careful checking. The economic downturn has unfortunately hit certain north jersey diners especially hard and some are no longer in business.

This book is great. It is very well researched. I live in New Jersey and have eaten at some of these diners, and they are described so vividly it makes me feel like I just walked into one. It is also full of Information. How many diner owners are greeks? You will have to read the book to find out. Whether you live in New Jersey or not, this a great read for any one who loves Retro-american history

I started taking an interest in diners after seeing the movie Diner, visited every one that I could and developed a rating system. My comments are limited to Camden County and surrounding area diners.

1. Wasted time on hamburger stands which were passed off as diners, and I don't mean the "dinettes" which were a Depression-era expediency. I mean including the Roney's and White Castle/White Tower/White Whatevers and perhaps others. Perhaps my definition of "diner" has been affected by the "diner/restaurant" concept where the menu offers a delightful variety of food beyond hamburgers, to me, a hamburger stand is a specialty eatery with a narrowly defined menu, like the horribly named "coney islands" of Michigan.

2. Wasted time on the Elgin Diner, which was a has-been from the time that I started watching it in 1976. It "died" in recent years and is not missed although in early February (2010) I heard that someone else bought it and plans to reopen it.

3. Was right to cover Olga's Diner, but did not say anything about that diner shell that they had on the Admiral Wilson Blvd. in the late 1970's after they had moved to Marlton/Evesham Twp.

4. Failed to cover the gem of Camden County, Ponzio's, both the Brooklawn and Kingsway in Cherry Hill locations. Brooklawn always looked futuristic no matter how old it was. Both may be gone at this time. It was Ponzio's that made me expand my diner rating system from three categories to five with Ponzio's being at the top.

5. Failed to cover the other gem of Camden County, the Oaklyn Diner, now called the Newton Diner.

6. Failed to mention the grand old classic of yesteryear of Camden County, the Collmont Diner on the border of Collingswood and Haddon Twp., which had moved further "up" Cuthbert and was functioning as the Belmont Diner in the 1970's and `80's. Great place, introduced me to duck a la orange. Last known operating name was the NASA Diner, not certain what happened after that.

7. While he mentioned the Phily/Philly Diner, he failed to cover the most spectacular diner story of Camden County - the one on the corner of Clements Bridge Rd. and Black Horse Pike in Runnemede that went from the traditional diner building of my youth (the Empire Diner/Moore's Empire Diner) to a stucco Mediterranean structure illuminated by colored outside lights (the Riviera Diner). The Philly Diner is on the same property but not the same location as the previous diners.

8. I do not believe that he covered the Five Points Diner in West Deptford Township, home of the most generous portions around and who introduced me to the delight of an Italian sausage and provolone cheese omelet.

9. He did not cover the Burlington Diner which had gotten a rave review in the New York Times and resulted in Burlington being invaded by obnoxious New Yorkers on Sunday mornings. Regretfully this diner, too, is now gone.

10. He provided a great list of diners; regretfully he missed the Kinkora Diner (same area and same side of U.S. 130 as the Liberty II Diner, which he did list) and the Penn-Villa Diner in Pennsauken, both of which may have been gone by the time that he started his research. I used to pass the Kinkora and the Liberty II diners when I took "the scenic route" up to Bordentown, and the Penn-Villa Diner introduced me to the concept of "oven-browned potatoes."

11. While Mastori's Diner in Bordentown has gathered a lot of attention, the nearby Town and Country Diner was ignored. In earlier years this place was a gem, quality food at great prices, interior decorated with scenes from the history of Bordentown, and I loved the cheese bread that they included in the bread basket. Tour busses used to stop there as the diner was brilliantly located near the end of I-295, where trucks and busses would transition over to/from the N.J. Turnpike. Town and Country was remodeled in a gaudy manner, perhaps to pander to the New Yorkers on the tour busses, and it sounds like it's been remodeled once again.

12. It would have been nice to have mentioned Mercury Menu Printing. I noticed that the Oaklyn Diner, Westmont Diner (the original on Cuthbert near MacArthur in the Westmont portion of Haddon Twp.), and the Windsor Diner (Cherry Hill) had the same menu with the same layout and the same graphics. Then I learned that these diners all used Mercury Menu Printing. (In the metro Detroit suburbs of Michigan, one company seems to do the menus for ALL of the restaurants, so they've done better than Mercury did.)