Jersey International Cuisine: New Jersey – The Diner Capital of the World

New Jersey has more diners than any state in the nation. So it’s fitting to write about my Jersey diner experience. I don’t know of a New Jerseyan that does not have a favorite Diner. I went to Google map and searched for Diners near my home and I counted NINE!! That should say something! Then I looked up Jersey Diners and found the site Hangout NJ in which I learned that diners go way back to 1872.

The first Diner was said to be a horse-drawn lunch mobile in Providence Rhode Island. The original Club Diner in South Jersey started as a horse-drawn lunch mobile, but soon owners stopped driving the carts and parked them on any empty space along the street to put in bigger kitchens. What makes diners unique is that originally they were prefabricated and delivered to a site. Patrick J. Tierney is known to be the first to mass-produce diners which many resembled the dining cars found on trains. Ironically, an old folk tale says that Tierney died from indigestion after eating food at one of his own diners. Trust me, some diners can do that to you, but we will stick to the diners that serve good food.
Some famous Jersey diners go back to the diner golden era of the 1940’s and 50’s. The “egg in a skillet” famous breakfast at The Short Stop Diner in Bloomfield served the skillet dish since 1953 until it was turned into a Dunkin' Donuts in 2004.

One diner was so famous that it even traveled from Jersey to Michigan! That’s Rosie’s Diner, which was originally located in Little Ferry and built in 1946.

Rosie’s became famous in the 1970’s after being the center stage for Bounty paper towel commercials; it has been the back drop for movie scenes, and even the cover of Bon Jovi’s Album: Someday I'll Be Saturday Night.

Unfortunately, fast food joints like Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds have caused many diners to go out of business. However, Jersey still remains the diner capital of the world. It is estimated that there are about 3,0000 diners in the US, and over 500 of them are in Jersey! Many say that there is at least one diner in each Jersey town!
Ok, need I say more….diners are serious business in Jersey. I have countless stories to tell about my diner experiences. Let’s travel back in time before cell phones were popular, before Facebook, before on-line chat rooms…a time in which socializing was done in person and face to face. Going back to when I was a teen, I was the first amongst my friends to have a car and the hangout spot was any of the local diners we can drive too or walk to if there was one close by. Why? It was what we could afford to eat and the only place we could sit, talk, joke around, hang-out, and no one would bother us. On senior cut day we went to the Huck Finn on Morris Ave. in Union. I recall the many mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers I shared with friends at the Mark Twain also on Morris Ave.

My college years started my love affair with matzo ball soup at the Tropicana Diner, also the same diner my hubby and I went to on a few dates when we were just getting to know each other. If you ask my husband about the Tropicana he will probably tell you about the time we were on our second or so date and the waitress was flirting with him. He likes to tell the story of how I was jealous over the fact that the waitress gave him extra green pistachio ice-cream, but we can discuss that story at another time…by the way, he shared the ice-cream with me!

Take that Tropicana Waitress from twelve years ago!! Or, do I write about my pregnancy cravings for the French-toast and fruit platter at the Union Plaza Diner on Rt. 22. I didn’t even start on the diversity of the menus!

The Union Plaza Diner takes the cake…it is the one diner where I can have a Greek Fiesta platter as an appetizer (the name of the platter itself is eclectic…how can a Greek have Fiesta?), a Mexican Skillet dinner, and a Crème Brulee for desert and don’t forget my Matzo Ball Soup. Like I said, I can go on and on. Thinking back on it, I am grateful for the stories I can now share for each bite I had at a Jersey diner. What’s your story?

Email Ms. A @: JICUISINE@gmail.com

Some of my discoveries about Jersey Diners:
· The New Jersey Diner web site

. Dinners Hunters Blog

· Food Network’s Diners Drive-Ins and Dives Full Episode on
New Jersey Diners

· The ENDANGERED NEW JERSEY DINERS LIST

· Jersey Diners Books: I recommend Jersey Diners by Peter-
Genovese

· Children’s Web Sites about Jersey Diners

·         A coffee blend called “Jersey Diner” (who knew you could
           drink a “Jersey Diner”!)

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