May 23, 2003: Cup of seafood bisque, turkey burger deluxe at the AMERICANA DINER, Route 35 & Shrewsbury Avenue, Shrewsbury, 732-542-1658 After cheating the MemorialDayWeekend trafficjammed Parkway, Lucky and I made our way down 35 towards Asbury Park. I could have sworn that this diner was closer to Middletown, but eventually we got there (there is also another diner one minute further down Rt. 35 S). The exterior promises a whole patriotic theme (and the logo was a bit font happy) but the inside was a bit of a mishmosh of diner themes). The place was pretty packed and there were lots of people waiting to be seated. But they were all one group, so thankfully we were seated at a booth rather quickly. The soups are fantastic! And as a certified soupwhore, I know these things. Lucky's chicken noodle soup was made from scratch and very flavorful (so there was a bit of fat floating on the top... that's the way real soup should look like!), and my seafood bisque had a nice kick to it and was packed with calamari, crab, and shrimp. Yummy.

The coleslaw that was served was very crunchy. And not chopped to slush. A bit sweet for my taste but easily fixed with a hit of pepper. The pickle could have been used as a surfboard, it was so stable (and also crunchy). The fries were ok as was the gravy (although the waiter did offer two kinds of gravy for me to choose from); the fries were those wide ones that I don't really go for since they are usually a bit too moist for me. The turkeyburger was flavorful and the L/T were fresh. The bun had been toasted and added some extra texture; however, I was jealous of the hard roll that Lucky had been given for his chicken breast sandwich (which was a bit dry but on the whole was enjoyed). The desserts looked really good but since They Might Be Giants were waiting for us at The Pony, we made our egress.

March 2, 2003: Diet Coke, bowl of chicken rice soup, turkey burger deluxe at the Mountainview Diner, 1203 Bound Brook Rd, Middlesex, 08846, 732/469-5414 Yes, I know the third month of 2003, and this is the first entry for the new year. Oh well. I've been busy! I'm not sure if I can really count this as a TBX (turkeyburger experience) since the Montainview is not a 24/7. However, it did feel like a diner... there were Greeks owning the place, a delightfully grouchy waitress handling the whole place on her shift, tables of locals, and restrooms smaller than those on NJ Transit trains. The soup was delicious and definitely homemade... lots of fresh carrots and parsley. The turkeyburger was what one expects, as were the fries. Flavorful pickle, green-white lettuce that was a bit wet but not limpy, good tomato, and sweet cole slaw that looked like someone was one Cutomatic push away from making cabbage paste. However, the bun was what turkeyburgers deserve... It was a great egg-washed challah bun. YUMMY, especially dipped in the brown gravy. Lucky had the chicken gyro which also looked fresh (especially the bread). We didn't have dessert since we had purchased Paczki (Polish for jelly doughnuts eaten on Fat Tuesday, in German "Berliner") from the local supermarket. Which weren't that yummy. And when you order a small coke... you get just that. One of those grapefruit juice sized glasses. Which is what a small coke is supposed to be.

The only negative things about the experience was that the smoke from the old guys in the smoking section severly wafted into the N/S section and almost caused me to gag, and, since she was the only one on duty, the waitress was a bit slow with the service (we also were in a section blocked by overgrown pointsettas so she couldn't see us well)