#3 NEW JERSEY – Yes, I Would Like A Weenie For Breakfast

New Jersey presented numerous breakfast place possibilities. So many in fact, that I didn’t quite know how to narrow them down. I thought that the governor might be able to help me out. Chris Christie is a man of considerable girth. He probably knows a good breakfast when he sees one, so I googled “where does Chris Christie eat?”. The only results I got were links to articles about Christie “eating crow” so that wasn’t much help. And then there are the New Jersey diners. There’re all over the place. I’ve been to some of these diners in the past. They provide quality food and lots of it. My problem with NJ diners is that the menus can be up to 20 pages long with too many choices for one to cipher through first thing in the morning. I wanted a place less complicated, where the choice of what I was going to order was more of a simple task. Then I saw an article on onlyinyourstate.com about 12 extremely tiny restaurants in New Jersey that are actually amazing. The article listed one of these restaurants as having “some of the best breakfast dishes around”. So that is where we went.

Genie’s Weenies
Branchburg, New Jersey

AMBIENCE:  To say the inside of this bright green building is small is an understatement. It only had two tables and about eight stools at a counter. There are a couple of picnic tables outside but Genie’s sits on a major four lane highway (Rte. 22) and the continual roar of semis and the whoosh of cars is not something we wanted to hear while eating.  We ordered at the cash register from Genie herself, and then we helped ourselves to some coffee while we waited for our food.  We did manage to grab one of the two tables. While sitting there, we noticed that they did a brisk carry-out business. We also noticed that the customers taking away their food were very large men. These men were cops, construction workers, road crew, plumbers, etc.  I took this as a very good sign although I think The Healthy One was a bit intimidated.

4 out of 5 stars

FOOD:  I ordered an undressed weenie as an appetizer. Genie did not bat an eye even though it was 8 in the morning. I then added a two egg sandwich with cheese and pork roll. . Eater.com wrote that this sandwich is arguably New Jersey’s most popular breakfast sandwich. Pork roll, also known as Taylor Ham (to make it sound more edible?), is an iconic New Jersey food. It is processed pork made from coarsely ground pork shoulder, made with a mix of spices, salt, a sugar cure, and preservatives that is smoked before being packaged. It gets its name because of the “roll” or tube-like cotton sack it comes in when you buy it from a store.

The weenie arrived at our table in a matter of minutes.

The weenie was tasty with a nice crunch when I bit into it. I learned that it was a Thumann’s hot dog (motto: SNAP’N GOOD).  I also later read in a Daily Beast article that a Thumann’s hot dog is the third most unhealthy hot dog in the country. Sigh. By ingesting the hot dog, pork roll, and scrapple, all within the past 24 hours, I expected to self-destruct somewhere on that day’s drive through Connecticut.

The breakfast sandwich, which arrived soon after I finished the weenie, was very good. The pork roll didn’t overpower the rest of the sandwich but added a nice bit of spice to the overall experience.  The roll was very fresh and held everything together nicely.

The Healthy One got the Egg Platter. This was quite shocking. Was the Healthy One having a moment of madness or was she just getting into the spirit of the big man experience? In her defense, there was nothing healthy on the menu. Also, I ate all those potatoes.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

COFFEE:  The coffee was surprisingly good given that it was 99 cents for an unlimited cup. I asked Genie whether I had paid for a large or small coffee. She said it didn’t matter and to just help yourself.  I’m assuming this is a perk of eating in and not carrying out.

4 out of 5 stars

SERVICE: Genie was both friendly and efficient.  As busy as the place was she handled it with ease. She made sure that The Healthy One had a fresh pot of de-caf and that we were happy with our food.

5 out of 5 stars

COST: $20.00 with tax and tip.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT BRANCHBURG:  Nothing much to say about Branchburg. I know it straddles two major New Jersey highways: Rte. 22 and Rte. 202. I don’t think there is any downtown, with most retail located on the major highways. Janet Reitman of Rolling Stone described Branchburg as a “not-quite-rural, not-quite-suburban, decidedly middle-class town.” Quaint it's not.

BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:

We awoke early and walked around the lovely campus of Lafayette College and the surrounding neighborhood. The college is in Easton PA and overlooks the Delaware River. Here is a picture of the Marquis.

August 16, 2016

NEXT UP: RHODE ISLAND