Live in Jersey, Love Diners!

All my life I have lived in New Jersey, and I must say, I love it! I have been to other states, Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, Florida, New York, California and no matter what, none of them compare to New Jersey. I mean how can you not love a place where you can get to New York City and the shore in less than an hour? Not to mention the fact that places like Philly, DC, Baltimore and Atlantic City are all just a few sweet hours away. Don’t get me wrong, New Jersey has it’s sore spots…Newark and Camden aren’t exactly hot vacation spots…But places like Bernardsville, New Hope and Hillsborough overshadow the bad with their beauty and rural elegance.


New Jersey has lots of other great attributes as well. Bon Jovi, Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Derek Jeter, Artie Lang, Frank Sinatra, Meryl Streep…all proud decedents of the garden state. And as a nod to those “You know you’re from Jersey if…” emails that you get, anyone who loves Jersey knows that when someone is talking about Oranges, they’re not referring to fruit, you know what a jughandle is, you’ve never pumped your own gas (another thing I love about NJ), you know at least three kids in your class named Tony, and last but certainly not least…

You don't understand why there aren't 24-hour diners elsewhere in the country.

Ah diners, how I love you so! How can you not love a good diner? There is nothing better than being out late on a Friday night, after having a few beers, going to the diner and ordering a plate of disco fries. Or how about waking up on a Sunday morning, rolling out of bed, going to the diner and ordering your favorite omelet served with home fries and toast!

But the true beauty of the diner can be found in the array of menu items that are available at any time of the day. I’ll never forget this one trip to the diner with my best friend, Kristine. It was our senior year of college. We woke up on a Sunday morning, and decided that we needed to indulge a little and hit up the diner. When we got there and started looking at the menu, it no longer became a matter of what we wanted to eat, but more so what DIDN’T we want to eat. But I must say, Kristine was the one who did it up right. At first her order seemed like the norm, coffee, an egg omelet with hash browns, and toast. Nothing less than a typical diner order on a Sunday morning I’m sure. But that wasn’t the end. She then proceeded to order a side of chili and pizza fries. And at that moment I remember thinking, “that’s my girl!”

But the most surprising part of the story is this…after Kristine ordered all that food, the waitress gave her a funny look and asked, “Are you sure you want to order all that? That seems like an odd combination of food.” Kristine and I were shocked. Who was this waitress? Did she not get the memo on the greatness of the plethora of food that can be ordered at the diner? Kristine got it (and she’s originally from California). But it was in that moment that I realized three things. 1.) Kristine was being a Jersey girl 2.) That I truly love diners and 3.) As an extension, New Jersey.

I live to love, and I love to eat

For most of my adult life, people have been telling me that I should be doing something that has to do with food. The more people said it, the more I started to wonder what I could do with my life that would incorporate one of my many loves, food.


I mean I know you understand the passion that one can form for all the taste tantalizing goodness that food can bring…there’s the feeling of warmth and comfort that a bowl of beef stew brings, the sweet, creamy chill that hits your tongue when you take that first lick off of a vanilla ice cream cone, or the salty crunch that you get when you bite into a perfectly cooked French fry. And that’s just the tip of the “wonder that is food” iceberg. But I’ll come back to actual food talk soon enough…


My love for food started at a young age. Of course when I was younger my palate wasn’t that refined. Some of the greatest meals consisted of a McDonald’s Happy Meal or White Castle hamburgers. Not that McDonalds or White Castle aren’t the grease gods of yummy food goodness, but let’s face it anyone who is really into food knows that this is not the best of cuisine. But the true source of my love for food came from something that I love even more, my family. Being Italian, every single member of my family has had a deep appreciation for food. Meals don’t get planned around events, events get planned around meals. And no matter what, there has never been such a thing as having too much food. So no matter how you look at it food has played a major role in my life since, well, the womb.


So why not pay homage to food and the different ways it has affected my life? Why not write about the various meals I have had, or items I have baked, or restaurants I have been to that have all been the silent character in this story, which is my life? So that’s what I intend to share. Charles Schultz (yes the guy who created Snoopy) once said “My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?” Well for me, I think I may have figured it out…I live to love, and I love to eat, therefore I am happy. And you can quote me on that!