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.