You are at the shore. You get up to enjoy the sunrise. You grab some coffee from Wawa. But you are hungry. Really hungry. Before the beach and sun and swimming hungry. There are a lot of places in Wildwood and North Wildwood serving breakfast, some specializing in pancakes, others in McDfood.
The best place to go is away from the beach and the madding fray. On Route 9 in Cape May Court House is Clary's Country Corner. Not only is the food wonderful but wallet-friendly and the staff is home-grown and charming to boot. We knew we were in the right place when Cape May Courthouse's finest came in and joined us after duty.
The corned-beef hash is fresh. The pancakes tender. The eggs not over-cooked. The coffee good. One of my dining partners ordered a ham omelet that actually had ham in it. And they didn't slap in cheese as some do when he orders "A Ham Omelet No Cheese," possibly to hide the fact that at most diners the ham looks like pepper specs.
A young mother told me to have breakfast with 3 kids at a famous pancake restaurant close by cost $60. At Clary's you can get the 222-2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 meat, for $2.22.
Had she gone to Clary's, she'd have had enough money for lunch.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Juan Pablos Wildwood NJ
I know I have been a bit harsh on places like Mustache Bill's (which I will give another try as he has had so many write-ups). However, I have to say, I had the worst dinner and dining experience (and you say "Did you expect anything different!?") at Juan Pablos in Wildwood.
This restaurant is one of the children of John Paul, who just closed his small cafe and rescued JP Prime from zoning oblivion. These restaurants are in Wildwood and North Wildwood. JP Prime has a nice looking bar and a very upscale menu.
Juan Pablos has one hell of a Margarita Menu and a bar that's visited by every serious drinker in a 20 mile radius. So I suppose the food doesn't have to be great espeically if you are so swacked you can't taste anything.
I had Crab Enchiladas in White Sauce. Here's what happened....they microwaved the crab inside the enchilada....without the white sacue. So let's see...we are a chef and we look at the food and don't see any white sauce. No bells? No whistles? Obviously no brains.
Have you ever bitten into crab that has been microwaved without liquid?
Read: Tiny Footballs.
My dining partner wasn't impressed with his either. I was outraged. Unfortunately also the service was so bad that we had to complain to another waitress and then the manager. The manager was so rude we almost walked out.
But we didn't. We had a coupon offered by Restaurants.com. They tried to scam us by telling us that an item on the menu was a lower price as we had to spend so much to use it. We grabbed a menu and asked why it was the higher price on the menu. They honored the coupon which made the meal for both less than $20.
Way too much money for such bad fare and bad flare.
Buy a bartending guide and practice your own Margaritas on someone's deck. Buy a bag of chips for a far better plate than can be had at Juan's.
This restaurant is one of the children of John Paul, who just closed his small cafe and rescued JP Prime from zoning oblivion. These restaurants are in Wildwood and North Wildwood. JP Prime has a nice looking bar and a very upscale menu.
Juan Pablos has one hell of a Margarita Menu and a bar that's visited by every serious drinker in a 20 mile radius. So I suppose the food doesn't have to be great espeically if you are so swacked you can't taste anything.
I had Crab Enchiladas in White Sauce. Here's what happened....they microwaved the crab inside the enchilada....without the white sacue. So let's see...we are a chef and we look at the food and don't see any white sauce. No bells? No whistles? Obviously no brains.
Have you ever bitten into crab that has been microwaved without liquid?
Read: Tiny Footballs.
My dining partner wasn't impressed with his either. I was outraged. Unfortunately also the service was so bad that we had to complain to another waitress and then the manager. The manager was so rude we almost walked out.
But we didn't. We had a coupon offered by Restaurants.com. They tried to scam us by telling us that an item on the menu was a lower price as we had to spend so much to use it. We grabbed a menu and asked why it was the higher price on the menu. They honored the coupon which made the meal for both less than $20.
Way too much money for such bad fare and bad flare.
Buy a bartending guide and practice your own Margaritas on someone's deck. Buy a bag of chips for a far better plate than can be had at Juan's.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Mustache Bills Diner 8th St. and Long Beach Blvd., Barnegat Light 032909
Mustache Bill's, on the tip on Long Beach Island near the Barnegat Lighthouse, is in the running for a James Beard award (American Classics). So myself, my husband, and his best friend Ken trundled off on a windy Sunday to sample Bill's fare.
The diner has been there since the 1940's. It remains the same, small, filled with locals, a to-go coffee stand near the register. I guess the locals want their coffee without having to look at their watches every few minutes as the Starbucks crowd is want to do.
We started with pea soup. It was homemade and hearty. Just enough spice.
My husband, Gerard, and I had the meatloaf. It was the Blue-Plate Special. The potatoes were mighty lumpy. On one hand, it proved they were real. On the other hand, the lumps were distracting. I was hoping for creamy (picture my Giada smile as I say "creeeemy.")
The meatloaf itself was a classic green bell pepper, bread crumb mix that could have been more meat than crumb. The edges were hard and didn't soak up the tasty brown gravy. Disappointing.
Our friend had a great looking tuna sandwich and he said it tasted as good as it looked. The tuna was white and fresh.
The coleslaw was perfect, a traditional smooth mayo touch of vinegar dressing with crisp cabbage. You have had it before but it is always good when it tastes like this.
We don't know if we will go back even though the locals seemed happy, full, and chatty. Maybe it was just a bad day for the meatloaf. Maybe they didn't expect the Diner Diner.
Maybe we should have had the Mac n' Cheese. James Beard's favorite hamburger recipe (according to Sara Moulton) has meat, heavy cream, black pepper.
Take note Bill. A hamburger like that could never be hard around the edges.
The diner has been there since the 1940's. It remains the same, small, filled with locals, a to-go coffee stand near the register. I guess the locals want their coffee without having to look at their watches every few minutes as the Starbucks crowd is want to do.
We started with pea soup. It was homemade and hearty. Just enough spice.
My husband, Gerard, and I had the meatloaf. It was the Blue-Plate Special. The potatoes were mighty lumpy. On one hand, it proved they were real. On the other hand, the lumps were distracting. I was hoping for creamy (picture my Giada smile as I say "creeeemy.")
The meatloaf itself was a classic green bell pepper, bread crumb mix that could have been more meat than crumb. The edges were hard and didn't soak up the tasty brown gravy. Disappointing.
Our friend had a great looking tuna sandwich and he said it tasted as good as it looked. The tuna was white and fresh.
The coleslaw was perfect, a traditional smooth mayo touch of vinegar dressing with crisp cabbage. You have had it before but it is always good when it tastes like this.
We don't know if we will go back even though the locals seemed happy, full, and chatty. Maybe it was just a bad day for the meatloaf. Maybe they didn't expect the Diner Diner.
Maybe we should have had the Mac n' Cheese. James Beard's favorite hamburger recipe (according to Sara Moulton) has meat, heavy cream, black pepper.
Take note Bill. A hamburger like that could never be hard around the edges.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Star Diner North Wildwood NJ
When I started going to Wildwood (I grew up in Neptune near Asbury Park) it was to me like the shore of my youth, only the children, tattooed and pierced as they are, do seem better behaved.
However I was not enamoured with the restaurant scene. I still don't think there is good pizza to be had, but then I live in pizza heaven. I discovered this when I was younger and moved to California where pizza was a dough Frisbee with tomato-paste/water sauce and white pastey grease on top. Wolfgang had yet to be born-again and produce what he calls pizza but any North Jersey Italian would call-can't be repeated here.
So off I went to discover what North Wildwood had to offer. We visited The Triangle, which is no longer really there. My husband laments the loss even when we are snug in our northern home.
He longs for the Turkey Club which hit his pallet with the taste of very well cooked sugary bacon, snap-fresh iceberg lettuce, jersey tomatoes, moist turkey-breast, and toast that was really toast, warm and fragrant.
The Triangle was a "family" restaurant that was bought by another family. With them they brought a new menu and a new business. The old Triangle was gone.
Enter The Star Diner, North Wildwood. It has taken on the sort of sparkly ice-cream-parlor-doo-wop Deco facade that has largely disappeared from the Wildwood scene due to development.
It can also get very packed with lines out-the-door, like many Wildwood and North Wildwood restaurants.
The food is better than some higher-priced fare in the area. It is presented in a very clean and diner-ly way, but has texture, flavor, and aroma. The fries are crisp, the hamburgers juciy, and the salads fresh. I am going to report again on this diner as I await summer. The portions are large (I never finish).
We will see what the economy has done to this industry as I will be revisting and doing comparisons.
However I was not enamoured with the restaurant scene. I still don't think there is good pizza to be had, but then I live in pizza heaven. I discovered this when I was younger and moved to California where pizza was a dough Frisbee with tomato-paste/water sauce and white pastey grease on top. Wolfgang had yet to be born-again and produce what he calls pizza but any North Jersey Italian would call-can't be repeated here.
So off I went to discover what North Wildwood had to offer. We visited The Triangle, which is no longer really there. My husband laments the loss even when we are snug in our northern home.
He longs for the Turkey Club which hit his pallet with the taste of very well cooked sugary bacon, snap-fresh iceberg lettuce, jersey tomatoes, moist turkey-breast, and toast that was really toast, warm and fragrant.
The Triangle was a "family" restaurant that was bought by another family. With them they brought a new menu and a new business. The old Triangle was gone.
Enter The Star Diner, North Wildwood. It has taken on the sort of sparkly ice-cream-parlor-doo-wop Deco facade that has largely disappeared from the Wildwood scene due to development.
It can also get very packed with lines out-the-door, like many Wildwood and North Wildwood restaurants.
The food is better than some higher-priced fare in the area. It is presented in a very clean and diner-ly way, but has texture, flavor, and aroma. The fries are crisp, the hamburgers juciy, and the salads fresh. I am going to report again on this diner as I await summer. The portions are large (I never finish).
We will see what the economy has done to this industry as I will be revisting and doing comparisons.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Tick-Tock Diner Clifton New Jersey
My credentials are this: I love food. My first verbal demand to my parents was "Take me out to dinner." I was three. And I knew the place I wanted to go bar none. It was the most beautiful structure I had ever seen, The Neptune Diner, intersection of Hwys. 33 & 35 in Neptune New Jersey (a shining silver shore-town beacon). I guess that is my other credential: I'm a Jersey Girl.
In New Jersey, Diner dining is not a downmarket dining experience. Especially if you like simple food done well. Diner dining is part of my fabric, my family, my Jersey to the New.
So now my review of a recent meal at one of the most famous diners in New Jesey, The Tick-Tock Diner, Clifton, New Jersey.
I started with Disco Fries.
If you are a "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" addict, you know that Guy loves New Jersey Diners and visited the Tick-Tock. He had the "heart attack on a plate" Disco Fries and proclaimed excellence.
Uh uh.
I got mine on a great Tick-Tock platter (can I BUY a set of these?) with their logo. But the serving dish was the best thing in front of me.
The fries came un-crisp (yes they do come with gravy, but did they have to come white, blobby, undercooked?). The smattering of gravy was but the cheese was on top was MICROWAVED.
Tell me, even those of you who are not TOP CHEFs...what does a microwave do to a French Fry?
Soggy fat logs in your mouth.
I did ask to take them home as I knew I could doctor them up for passable consumption (and did the next morning). A young, very young, bus-boy brought them back to me and handed them to my dining companion, my sixteen year-old daughter. Oh, his eyes said, these can't be for you. Your enjoyment of this Love Boat has sailed. I smiled and watched the horror on my very Vegan daughter's face. Cheese and meat? Oh Mother.
On to my Spinich Salad which was supposed to come with Blue Cheese and Ranch Dressing. Pardon me, did you say Blue Cheese and RANCH dressing? I asked for vinegarette.
The spinich was so old and tough it was like tearing through tarp. The bacon was undercooked (hello French Fry) and the hard-b0iled eggs had green yolks (Sam-I-Am-I'm not). There was a lot of blue cheese, but it was difficult to eat, alone, with vinegarette as it's only partner. The cucumber was fresh, the tomato too wintered to eat, almost as pale as my undercooked fries.
My daughter did not complain about her Garden Burger. That dish seemed fine, but not as good as the Veggie Burger at the Star Diner, North Wildwood, NJ.
A few years ago my father ordered pea soup at the Tick-Tock and it was wonderful. So I can't say this dinner was typical. But I did talk to a friend we ran into there that same night. And she asked me "How was your dinner?" I flattened my hand and moved it back and forth. For those not from NJ, that sign is as universal in NJ as the international "no" sign is to the world, it's Italian (although I'm not) for "metza metz," or "metzo metzo," half-and-half. Mediocre.
She nodded in agreement.
In New Jersey, Diner dining is not a downmarket dining experience. Especially if you like simple food done well. Diner dining is part of my fabric, my family, my Jersey to the New.
So now my review of a recent meal at one of the most famous diners in New Jesey, The Tick-Tock Diner, Clifton, New Jersey.
I started with Disco Fries.
If you are a "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" addict, you know that Guy loves New Jersey Diners and visited the Tick-Tock. He had the "heart attack on a plate" Disco Fries and proclaimed excellence.
Uh uh.
I got mine on a great Tick-Tock platter (can I BUY a set of these?) with their logo. But the serving dish was the best thing in front of me.
The fries came un-crisp (yes they do come with gravy, but did they have to come white, blobby, undercooked?). The smattering of gravy was but the cheese was on top was MICROWAVED.
Tell me, even those of you who are not TOP CHEFs...what does a microwave do to a French Fry?
Soggy fat logs in your mouth.
I did ask to take them home as I knew I could doctor them up for passable consumption (and did the next morning). A young, very young, bus-boy brought them back to me and handed them to my dining companion, my sixteen year-old daughter. Oh, his eyes said, these can't be for you. Your enjoyment of this Love Boat has sailed. I smiled and watched the horror on my very Vegan daughter's face. Cheese and meat? Oh Mother.
On to my Spinich Salad which was supposed to come with Blue Cheese and Ranch Dressing. Pardon me, did you say Blue Cheese and RANCH dressing? I asked for vinegarette.
The spinich was so old and tough it was like tearing through tarp. The bacon was undercooked (hello French Fry) and the hard-b0iled eggs had green yolks (Sam-I-Am-I'm not). There was a lot of blue cheese, but it was difficult to eat, alone, with vinegarette as it's only partner. The cucumber was fresh, the tomato too wintered to eat, almost as pale as my undercooked fries.
My daughter did not complain about her Garden Burger. That dish seemed fine, but not as good as the Veggie Burger at the Star Diner, North Wildwood, NJ.
A few years ago my father ordered pea soup at the Tick-Tock and it was wonderful. So I can't say this dinner was typical. But I did talk to a friend we ran into there that same night. And she asked me "How was your dinner?" I flattened my hand and moved it back and forth. For those not from NJ, that sign is as universal in NJ as the international "no" sign is to the world, it's Italian (although I'm not) for "metza metz," or "metzo metzo," half-and-half. Mediocre.
She nodded in agreement.
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