New Jersey Turnpike Eats: What Are Your Favorites?

Posted by Ed Levine, March 28, 2008 at 3:45 PM

I'm a sucker for road food stories in general, so it was really fun to read Betsy Andrews' story on New Jersey Turnpike (I-95) food in today's New York Times.

Some of the places we are well-acquainted with in the Serious Eats family. White Manna is no stranger to A Hamburger Today's Adam Kuban.

Likewise Tommy's Italian Sausage and Hot Dogs (in Elizabeth), which I chronicled in a New York Times story on hot dogs a couple of years ago. It is interesting that no other New Jersey hot dog emporia are mentioned. Perhaps Rutt's Hut is simply too far from I-95.

New Jersey has a very rich pizza culture and tradition, which I have written about extensively in A Slice of Heaven, but I must admit I have never heard of Palermo's in Bordentown (and two other locations) or Franco's Place in Haddonfield, home of the deep-fried panzarotti, which is, as far as I can tell, a first cousin of the traditional deep-fried calzone. A Slice reader mentioned Palermo's in this Delorenzo's thread.

I remember passing Weber's Famous Root Beer during one of my pizza excursions, but I never stopped in.

The 26-ounce pastrami sandwich (which is $31 and feeds a small army) at Harold's New York Deli sounds positively obscene and not altogether appetizing. Harold claims to smoke his own pastrami and cure his own corned beef on premises. Do they really cure their own pastami? Has any serious eater been to Harold's?

The Indian spots in Iselin, Chowpatty and Dimple's Bombay Talk, sound intriguing, as do the trio of Asian restaurants in Edison, Grand Shanghai, Edison Noodle House, and Pho Anh Dao.

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Tags: I-95, New Jersey, New Jersey Turnpike, New York Times