Jack and I were on such a good run. In the past two weeks we had been to the Red Arrow in NH, and Peg's and the Mill Pond in MA. We had eaten good food, met some wonderful people, and even danced to some good tunes on old jukeboxes. Driving south through central New Jersey, the Mecca of classic diners, it seemed like a no-brainer that we'd stumble upon a good diner. With great anticipation we pulled across the street from the Broadway in Red Bank, NJ. Sadly, it was nothing special.

There wasn't anything actually wrong with the Broadway, it's that nothing stuck out as particularly great. The building is a nice example of late-50's or early-60's dinertecture, but the roof that was built on after its manufacture, and the dining room added to the back, have no charm. For whatever reason they chose to paint over the original walls (which I am am guessing were tiled) with a bland shade of peach paint.

We sat at a booth in the back, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. When we had been there for twenty minutes without speaking to a waitress Deena gave me the look. If you are a husband then you know the look. This look said "We have two children under two years old with us, we've been driving for four hours, and you are asking me to indulge you in this desire to each at yet another diner and we can't even find someone willing to serve me a soda here". That look aint good.

But eventually a waitress did stop by. Deena ordered a coffee milkshake (in New England it would've been a frappe, but by that point I knew better than to raise this as a topic of discussion) and a bowl of matzo ball soup. Jack ordered a bottle of milk, and I ordered a chicken pot pie, which was the daily special. Thankfully, the food came quickly, and lunch was excellent. The crust was flaky, and there was an abundant amount of chicken. Deena's soup was good and the shake was extra thick.

What soured me so about the Broadway was that it seemed to be all business. When Jack and I went up to pay the check we asked the two women behind the counter for a little history of the diner. They didn't seem all that excited to talk. I asked the older woman, who I believe was the owner, if she knew what company had built it. To my amazement, she didn't. I couldn't believe that a diner owner wouldn't know such information. To me, that's like not knowing the name of your kids' school. As I tried to find out any information about the Broadway I got totally shut down. Even Jack's smile didn't seem to warm either womans' heart.

Alas, we paid our tab and drove on to Long Beach Island. Thankfully, Jack wasn't too upset by the situation. And Max smiled the whole time.

The Broadway Diner
45 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, NJ (732) 224-1234