Turn off the Turnpike.
Escape. To New Jersey? Yes. To.
The United Plates of Jersey
Excerpts from Betsy Andrews’ March 28 NY Time Escapes piece:
Exit 13: Jersey Dogs
Tommy’s Italian Sausages and Hot Dogs is hard to find, tucked away off Elizabeth Avenue, but it is worth the effort. Since 1969, the cute street stand has been the pride of three generations of Tommy Parrinellos, the latest one an enthusiastic maker of coarse pork-and-anise sausage; sweet, spicy stewed-onion chili that dresses a superlative chili dog; and a mind-boggling Jersey creation called the Italian hot dog. Deep-fried franks, onions, peppers and potatoes are stuffed into an enormous roll made from pizza dough.
“The old Italian people, when they used to play cards, they made a vegetable-and-potato sandwich because it was cheap — they were growing the vegetables in their backyard,” Mr. Parrinello explained. “Years later, someone put a hot dog on it.”
Tommy’s Italian Sausage and Hot Dogs, 900 Second Avenue, Elizabeth; (908) 351-9831.
Exit 10: Maximum Load
Harold Jaffee cut his teeth as general manager at the Carnegie Deli in Manhattan, where the sandwiches are big enough. But there’s something about New Jersey that made him want to do things bigger.
At Harold’s New York Deli, in a Holiday Inn just a kreplach’s toss from Exit 10, Mr. Jaffee serves a 26-ounce pastrami sandwich, two little triangles of bread teetering like a farce atop twin peaks of meat. The house-cured pastrami is soft, warm and mildly spiced. You can feed a carload on it, supplemented by slices of rye and half sours from the “world’s largest pickle bar.”
Titanic-size matzo balls, foot-tall layer cakes and knishes as big as a raccoon’s head: fuel up there, and you’ll make it all the way to Deepwater without putting a dent in your tank.
Harold’s New York Deli, 3050 Woodbridge Avenue, Edison; (732) 661-9100.
Exit 7: Central Jersey Diner
In Bordentown, the Mastoris diner sits fronted by a bakeshop in a parking lot filled with cars. Everyone in Central Jersey seems to eat there — some every day.
“I’ll see ya tomorrow, I’m sure,” said the waitress to the old guy beside me as I sat down at a counter full of old guys. Given a voluminous menu of massive, Mastoris-only creations, it’s no wonder Central Jersey’s retirees retire there for lunch. As they dig into their Let’s Talk Turkey sandwiches (roast breast, bacon, slaw, Russian dressing, melted Swiss), they take notes on what to order tomorrow.
“What are you having, hon?” one of the old guys asked me. I was having Mastoris’s crab bread: a crabmeat, vegetable and cream cheese concoction piled on a house-baked hero roll and slathered with melted mozzarella.
“They won’t tell you exactly what’s in it,” said a waitress, “but it’s worth every calorie and every fat gram. That’s the God’s honest truth.”
Mastoris, 144 Route 130, Bordentown; (609) 298-4650
Exit 4: Drive-In
If you have taken Exit 4 toward Philadelphia, you will pass right by Weber’s Famous Root Beer in Pennsauken, where you can gobble up an authentic New Jersey experience without even leaving your car.
Park in the lot by the sign with the bouncing orange balls and turn on your headlights for service. The gals will bring you Taylor Pork Roll sandwiches and root beer, brewed fresh every morning and available, if you like, by the gallon jugful. The drive-in’s season “runs the same as baseball,” said the owner, Michael Mascarelli, roughly March to October.
If you are there on a Sunday, you will be serenaded by a curbside Elvis impersonator. “He just shows up,” Mr. Mascarelli said. “We feed him, but he’s not on the payroll. He does it for the love of Elvis. Then again, he eats 15 hot dogs.”
Weber’s Famous Root Beer, 6019 Lexington Avenue at Route 38; (856) 662-6632
The Lunch Encounter 