Park Wood Diner! NJ.com's 27th Best Diner in NJ!
Are there really 26 better diners in NJ than the Park Wood?
I have my doubts.
Jaytee said:
Who’s number one? Not Tops in Newark!!
Summit Diner. In Summit.
Tops was #3. They mixed in a few different kinds of diner too, like the White Mana and White Manna are pretty different places than the Park Wood.
The article points out that there are over 600 diners in the state. Trying to quantify the best is challenging at best. I have eaten at a couple of the diners that were ranked higher and I have to say I’d be hard pressed to say they were better or worse.
The Tick Tock on Rt 3, for instance, is a very good diner, but I don’t think the food is any better (or as good). But I think it gets points for being an institution. And 24 hours!
mrincredible said:
Summit Diner. In Summit.
Tops was #3. They mixed in a few different kinds of diner too, like the White Mana and White Manna are pretty different places than the Park Wood.
The article points out that there are over 600 diners in the state. Trying to quantify the best is challenging at best. I have eaten at a couple of the diners that were ranked higher and I have to say I’d be hard pressed to say they were better or worse.
The Tick Tock on Rt 3, for instance, is a very good diner, but I don’t think the food is any better (or as good). But I think it gets points for being an institution. And 24 hours!
Diner food is mostly standard.
Whoever makes the menu has to come up with cute sounding names for their hamberder. And Happy Waitress no longer cuts it for the name of a sandwich.
the same purveyor delivers the same ingredients and same hot house grown tomatoes to the diners. So you ain't gonna get much help there. ---- what makes a diner, "special?" That's partly it. The "specials." And it depends on how much imagination goes into those. Usually, very little. And the soups? Monday is lentil. Tuesday is mushroom. Wednes.....
You get the idea.
White Manna and Mana --- Heaven for me was the White Diamond at the intersection of Millburn Ave and Morris Avenue.
Well, my friend, one thing in this great Garden State which is not standard is my personal favorite: corned beef. Whether it’s on a plain corned beef sammich, in a sloppy Joe or on a Reuben, different diners offer varying degrees of corned beef quality. Some places will serve up a thinly sliced, lean, slightly salty abomination and call it corned beef. Other places present you with tender, moist thick slices of delectable meat that was just sliced off a hot brisket in the kitchen. And there are gradations in between.
And then my personal diner Holy Grail - corned beef hash. Only a select few establishments actually serve hash that was made in their kitchen. Most diners serve the canned stuff (which I’m not above eating, but I prefer the real stuff). The Vincentown Diner, the Caldwell Diner and the Skylark Diner all make their own. I haven’t found a place in the immediate area that does.
French fries and onion rings are also differentiators for diners. Are they fresh and crispy? Are the onion rings actual battered rings of onion, or are they some kind of extruded onion goo shaped into a ring and fried?
And what about your diner pancakes? I’ve seen paltry, pathetic pancake platters at some places. Yes, there is a standard diner pancake which is reasonably good. But some places rise above the norm. The Park Wood makes excellent pancakes.
Hm. This seems to have struck a chord with me. I love diners and I’ve been in good diners, bad diners and everything in between.
RobertRoe said:
If Thursday is pea soup day, I'm in. Add croutons
I think Wednesday is pea soup. I went for chicken soup last Wednesday. "No. Today is pea soup. Not chicken soup."
Me: " Ok. Then hold the chicken and make it pea." (Badda bing ...)
mrincredible said:
Well, my friend, one thing in this great Garden State which is not standard is my personal favorite: corned beef. Whether it’s on a plain corned beef sammich, in a sloppy Joe or on a Reuben, different diners offer varying degrees of corned beef quality. Some places will serve up a thinly sliced, lean, slightly salty abomination and call it corned beef. Other places present you with tender, moist thick slices of delectable meat that was just sliced off a hot brisket in the kitchen. And there are gradations in between.
And then my personal diner Holy Grail - corned beef hash. Only a select few establishments actually serve hash that was made in their kitchen. Most diners serve the canned stuff (which I’m not above eating, but I prefer the real stuff). The Vincentown Diner, the Caldwell Diner and the Skylark Diner all make their own. I haven’t found a place in the immediate area that does.
French fries and onion rings are also differentiators for diners. Are they fresh and crispy? Are the onion rings actual battered rings of onion, or are they some kind of extruded onion goo shaped into a ring and fried?
And what about your diner pancakes? I’ve seen paltry, pathetic pancake platters at some places. Yes, there is a standard diner pancake which is reasonably good. But some places rise above the norm. The Park Wood makes excellent pancakes.
Hm. This seems to have struck a chord with me. I love diners and I’ve been in good diners, bad diners and everything in between.
Not quite a diner..... corned beef and/or pastrami. Goodman's. in Berkeley Heights.
Oh, and a hidden gem (if you can find a seat). Lucille's, on Rt 539, Barnagat, N.J.
Soups and pies are house made. Pies made the best pies list on the Ledger.
Love the Parkwood but the Summit Diner's corned beef hash - it's been years since I had it - was always the best!
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Nice job! It is well deserved, and they are in some very good company.
Story HERE.