I guess I kinda forgot about this blog.  It has been years since I posted.  I'm looking back at the few entries that I've posted and still feel the great ambition I had for this project when I started it out in 2010.  Unfortunately I lack the time to properly contribute to this blog so I highly doubt I'll ever make regular entries to it.

It may seem somewhat naive but I get quite nostalgic looking at this blog.  So much potential here and much has changed in my life since I first started it.  Well, if I have to include something food related to this entry, let it be RODIZIO! 

It's been awhile...

I haven't posted in quite some time on this blog. With some health issues in my family and just being very busy overall this blog hasn't developed into what I hoped it would become. I still plan on updating it every now and then and hopefully I'll start putting up some new posts soon.

By the way, the Diversity Buffet has closed. From what I heard, the owners of the buffet never paid their landlords for the entire time that the restaurant was open. It was one of the better Chinese buffets in the area and will be missed.

Diversity Buffet

Last night we went to Diversity Buffet in Toms River for dinner. Diversity Buffet is a Chinese buffet, but they stress that they also offer American and Japanese cuisine options. It's a relatively new place, having opened last year in the late summer/early fall and it occupies the place where the Old Country Buffet used to be.

Diversity Buffet is one of the better Chinese buffets in the area. The place is clean, the servers are attentive when it comes to clearing off plates and replenishing drinks, and the food is usually hot and fresh. Some of the items that I liked were: the General Tso's chicken, the stuffed potato skins (stuffed with cheese, corn and ham bits), the bits of steak in steak sauce, the teriaki chicken, and the fried wontons. They had a variety of soups, including egg drop, hot and sour, wonton, and New England clam chowder. I had the chowder, which was decent, but I've had better. The buffet offers a Mongolian style grill which is included in the price of admission. I usually don't have to wait too long in line for the grill, even on busier nights, but this grill had a huge line and I must have waited 15-20 minutes to get my steak cooked (some people in front of me really had their plates loaded up which took a while to cook). Once I got it though, it was very good. I passed on desert, even though the selection of cakes and cookies looked pretty good. My mother and brother had the ice cream, which they said was so cold it was difficult to scoop out.

I believe it was my third time at this particular buffet, and each time we go it is pretty good. Last night was exceptionally busy, probably because I've never seen the place on a Saturday night, and the staff did their best to keep everything well stocked and the tables clean. We will definitely be back sometime in the future.

Ocean Bay Diner

Although I haven't been there in a few months, it just wouldn't be right if I didn't post about the OB Diner, which I've probably been to more than any other diner. About 2-3 years ago the OB ceased being open 24/7/365 (they stay open 24 hours on the weekends and during the summer). That was one of the reasons my friends and me went there was because it was a great place to hang out at any time of day (or night, in our case).

The food is good. There are many diners in the area with much better food but I've never had to send anything back as many times as I've been there. Besides my personal schedule changing and not being able to frequent it as much, one thing that has somewhat kept me away is that the prices have risen drastically within the last few years. Without tip, a basket of chicken fingers and fries along with a soft drink is going to run at least $10 now. I've read some reviews complaining of poor service, but I've found the wait staff to be very friendly. Every now and then we would get a server who didn't seem to be "with it", but those seem to be the types that don't stick with a job too long.

Breakfast is pretty good here. I like the cinnamon french toast which is great (they give you a gooey cinnamon syrup to drizzle on top of it). The burger selection is pretty extensive. The blackjack burger is a favorite (burger with cheddar cheese, fried onions, and blackened with cajun seasoning). The South Jersey burger and the BBQ burgers are good as well. The classic French Dip is another standby for me. The pizza is a relatively new addition within the past year or two and it tastes good, however the crust is soft and thin so it doesn't hold up too well and gets sloppy quick. The dinners include choice of soup or salad and come with bread (desert not included). I found that the pasta dinners such as the baked ziti are quite good and come with garlic bread. For desert, I would recommend the cheesecake (they sometimes have pumpkin cheesecake depending on the season).

The OB Diner is definitely worth a try. I think with the economy and its location at the shore the place had no choice but to jack its prices up, but the overall experience is still pretty good.

http://www.oceanbaydiner.com/home.html

The Atlantis Diner

Another standby diner for my family and me is the Atlantis Diner on Route 35 in Wall Township (I believe the mailing address is listed as Manasquan, however). Before our re-discovery of the Princess Maria, this was the default diner whenever we wanted a good meal or sandwich relatively quick. The diner had incorporated a sushi bar about a year ago, but I suppose it didn't do too well as they removed it a few months later. The menu has typical diner fair at pretty good prices, but the last time I was there the dinners included choice of soup OR salad, when they previously gave you both (you still get a choice of desert though). You still get bread with your meal, which is something that the Princess Maria seems to neglect. My favorite dish here is the penne vodka with grilled chicken. The portion is large enough to be filling, and save for one incident their vodka sauce is usually pretty good. The burgers and wraps are quite good as well. I usually get the bread pudding for desert, which is on the eggy/custardy side. So what makes us go to the Princess Maria more? I think the PM's menu is a little more diverse and the all-inclusive dinner specials are better. The quality of the food is about even and you really can't go wrong with either diner.

The Atlantis had a website but it seems to have disappeared. A menu can be located here but it is somewhat out of date (you have to disregard the sushi choices).

Princess Maria Diner

The first diner I would like to bring to attention would be the Princess Maria Diner on Route 35 in Wall Township, NJ. This diner is fairly new, having been around for a little over a decade I would say. I had visited it when it originally opened, and while I found it to be satisfactory, it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. Now fast forward roughly ten years later, it is now the "default" diner of choice for my family (an honor that originally went to the Atlantis Diner, also on Route 35 in Wall).

What makes the Princess Maria good? The menu is pretty expansive, and the dinners are all-inclusive: you get soup AND salad, vegetable or pasta, and choice of desert afterwords. It's kind of refreshing to see a diner give you both the soup and salad when so many of them only give you one or the other nowadays. On a number of occasions the soup of the day is a seafood bisque which is great, and the size of the salad is quite decent, with plenty of grape tomatoes and some broccoli and cauliflower pieces in it which kind of set it apart from other diners dinner salads.

My favorite dish at the Princess Maria would be the Chicken Murphy, which is by far the best Chicken Murphy I've had anywhere. The serving is quite large, with large pieces of chicken in a red sauce, with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and large potato wedges served over pasta. My only nitpick would be that while I enjoy my Murphy dishes spicy, their spicy Murphy is not really at all that spicy. The overall quality of the dish more than makes up for it however.

As for some other things, the french fries are definitely among the better fries I've had in a diner. Some other things worth mentioning are the burgers, which are good and the Texas Roast Beef sandwich, which is an open faced hot roast beef with jalapeno peppers and melted cheese. The service is usually more than adequate and as many times that I've been there I do not recall waiting too long for my food.

If you're looking for a quick bite to eat or just looking for a leisurely meal, check out the Princess Maria Diner.

http://www.princessmariadiner.com

Shamrock Shakes

Just thought I'd get the show on the road by paying tribute to something not necessarily New Jersey, but delicious nonetheless, the McDonald's Shamrock Shake. At select McDonald's the Shamrock Shake starts showing up in late February. After St. Patrick's Day, it becomes increasingly more difficult to find. (The McDonald's in Brick located on Van Zile Road as of Friday still had the shake).

So basically, what is this green concoction? To be blunt, it probably is nothing more than a vanilla shake with a green mint flavored syrup/food coloring added. Is it good? You better believe it, and if you happen to come across a McDonald's that still has one, do yourself a favor and pick one up.