I LOVE DINERS -- Jersey diners, Southern diners, and everything in between, whether north, south,…read moreeast, or west!
On my way up to Jersey to visit friends and former colleagues, I knew I needed to eat before reaching my hotel in Edison. It was around 8 pm, and I remembered the Town & Country Diner in Bordentown from when I lived about 20 minutes away.
Town & Country is directly across US-130 from where the famous Mastoris Diner once stood -- another establishment I frequented quite a bit. However, once my financial advisor introduced me to Town & Country, it became my diner of choice whenever I was near Bordentown.
One of the best things about diners in Central -- yes, I said CENTRAL -- New Jersey is that you can get both pork roll and scrapple! Bordentown is close to Hamilton Square, where John Taylor lived, and Trenton, where Taylor Pork Roll originated. Scrapple, meanwhile, represents that wonderful Pennsylvania Dutch culinary tradition so closely associated with the Philadelphia region.
Although Town & Country has an extensive diner menu featuring dinner entrées, daily specials, sandwiches, salads, and much more, it had been a while since I'd enjoyed a proper Jersey breakfast. So, breakfast for dinner it was!
I ordered two eggs sunny-side up, pork roll, and scrapple. The meal also came with home fries and toast, and I requested rye.
Everything was delicious!
The eggs were perfectly cooked. The home fries consisted of half-moon potato slices fried on the grill -- just the way I like them -- and were very tasty.
The portions were generous, and the meal was an excellent value. I received three thick slices of pork roll, perfectly grilled with just a little char around the edges. The generous slice of scrapple was beautifully fried, crispy on the outside without being overcooked. The rye toast arrived nicely buttered and toasted to a perfect medium brown.
And the coffee? Delicious, too!
I sat at the counter, where my waitress was friendly, attentive, and a wonderful conversationalist. She made me feel genuinely welcome, something I especially appreciate in a good diner.
Another nice touch was the advertising on the drinking glasses and coffee cups, featuring local sponsoring businesses. That's such a classic diner tradition!
The restaurant occupies a large, classic diner-style building with both a spacious dining room and counter seating. It's attractively decorated, ADA accessible, and very well maintained. The restrooms were exceptionally clean, as was the entire restaurant.
One particularly interesting touch was the New York Knickerbockers (KNICKS) home opener against the Philadelphia 76ers playing on the television above the counter.
For those unfamiliar with this part of New Jersey, Bordentown sits in an interesting geographic and cultural crossroads between the Philadelphia and New York metropolitan areas. Before cable television became widespread, Philadelphia television signals were generally easier to receive in this area than those from New York, helping establish a strong 76ers fan base. Over the years, with the expansion of cable television and New York metropolitan influence, the area developed a more mixed allegiance.
So there I was, enjoying a classic Jersey diner breakfast while watching a Knicks-76ers NBA rivalry game right in the middle of the two teams' overlapping fan territories. How neat is that?
Town & Country was a terrific start to my New Jersey visit. Great food, generous portions, excellent service, and a welcoming atmosphere -- everything I love about a traditional Jersey diner.
And that hearty breakfast-for-dinner certainly stuck to my ribs and fueled me for the remaining hour or so northeast to my hotel in Edison!
I'll definitely be back!