Americana Diner- Middletown, NY

French Onion Soup

A Rueben at a diner, it doesn't get much simpler than that. Whenever I try a 'new to me' diner I always go with a Rueben, a burger, a gyro, or an omelet. Any of these are simple and so easy to get right, yet so many don't. I use these dishes as a benchmark and I must say that the Rueben I had at the American Diner today was quite possibly one of the best I have sampled. 

Rueben Lunch Special

We went for lunch and one of the specials was the Rueben for under eight bucks which came with fries, soup ($1.50 extra for the French Onion), and desert. The sandwich was what they called a half sandwich sitting on only one slice of bread. It was plenty filling though with copious amounts of fresh, moist, lean corned beef, just the right amount of Swiss cheese, and fresh sauerkraut. 

Dish of sides

The onion soup was good, tasted home-made, and Teresa liked her bean soup. We were stuffed so we took the rice pudding home with us. Service was good and friendly, food very good, prices reasonable. We'll be back again.

Red Line Diner, Fishkill, NY

We watched the Red Line Diner being built each time we went to Sam's Club in Fishkill and we were wondering if they were ever going to finish it. It took what seemed to be a long time. Well, after it was built we passed by quite a few times before we stopped. The main reason was that it looked crowded with people waiting outside and a lesser reason was that we'd either already eaten, or weren't hungry. Today we changed that and stopped in. 

It is a large diner with a modern look to it and I saw the similarities to their sister diner, the Table Talk in Poughkeepsie. We were seated in the main dining area (right near a window  which makes for good food photography) and given menus. 

The menus featured typical diner fare and a bit more. While I wanted to get a gyro or a rueben to do a real comparison to other diners, I decided to try something different. Teresa ordered the chicken avocado focaccia panini at $9.95 and I ordered the steak and brie panini at $12.50. Both came with fries and a bowl of cole slaw with a pickle (shown at top). I tasted hers and it was good. Mine was good as well. I ordered it medium rare and it came what I consider to be a perfect medium rare. Notice that the meat is a bit purple in the middle in the photo. The onions and the brie blended nicely with the horseradish sauce, but I did have to add some salt and pepper to bring out the flavors. I think this was the case when we went to Table Talk too.

Overall it was quite good, the portions were very large as we each got two medium sandwiches and an ample amount of fries. The service was good as well. We will go back to try the Rueben and the gyro. 

Metro Diner, Flemington, NJ

The Metro Diner sits on Route 202 just south of Flemington, on the northbound side, and we've passed by saying we should try them sometime. Well, today was the day.


Inside it has more of a restaurant feel than a diner, but the menu was pure diner with all of the standards. We looked through the menu and debated back and forth over the rueben, the French dip, the Philly cheesesteak and the club sandwiches. 

Teresa got the triple decker turkey club with fries and I got the French dip. We shared so I can comment properly on both. The club sandwich had a ton of smoked turkey on it, so much that I took a bit out to make it easier to handle. The French dip had quality roast beef sliced on it with a bowl of au jus that could have been a bit darker, but it wasn't bad. The fries were nice and crispy and hot too. 

I looked at the food going to other tables and the burgers, the omelets and the Ruebens all looked good. Our food, and what I saw going by, had a different feel than typical diner food. It seemed a bit more upscale, a fact that was not reflected in the prices as they were quite reasonable. 

Overall, good food at reasonable prices with good service. They even had a piano player in the front room belting out some songs and pictures of famous actors on the walls. 

Table Talk Diner, Poughkeepsie, NY

As I've said before, there are great diners, there are good diners, there are mediocre diners and there are bad diners. Table Talk fits somewhere between good and mediocre, a nice place but nothing special.

We stopped off the other day to try something different, we'd seen seen it on our last trip on Route nine and were seated fairly promptly. We were given menus and when we looked them over they featured fairly standard diner fare. The specials had quite a few fish dishes, probably because of the lenten season. They had a Kobe burger for six-fifty, but I seriously doubt that it would be real Kobe beef for that price. I was tempted to try it just to see, but decided against.

I decided on an Italian Panini, featured above. It came with french fries and had prosciutto, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and onions. What it needed was some moisture so I asked for some balsamic vinaigrette dressing and added it. Much better. Teresa had the vegetarian omelet with home fries and that looked and tasted good.

Bottom line, the food was okay and the service adequate. Not bad for a bite, but like I've said before; when in a diner get diner food. They have a website for more information.

Clinton Station Diner, Clinton, NJ

The Clinton Station Diner in Clinton New Jersey, just off Route 78, was featured recently on the Food Network show Outrageous Food with Tom Pizzica. I'd seen the episode, but I didn't recognize the restaurant as one we pass by once in a while on our way to Pennsylvania. Today we were passing by at noon and decided to stop by for lunch. This turned out to be a good decision. One of the reasons we always thought about stopping was that there is a railroad car attached to the building that was once a railroad observation car. We were given a seat in the main dining area, but I peaked into the dining car and realized we should have asked to be seated there as it was brighter and looked interesting. Well, next time.

Still didn't recognize the place from the Food Network until we looked at the place-mats and Teresa pointed it out to me. They make the world's biggest burger, a massive fifty pounder called the Mount Olympus. They also make burgers that are one pound, two pounds, three pounds, and up to a seven pounder called the Zeus, as well as normal sized ones with a whole bunch of toppings choices. I remember the big one on TV. This keeps up with our Food Network restaurants and chefs we've visited and makes number six.

We smelled the coffee as we entered and saw the sign that announces the coffee is made fresh every twenty-minutes so we ordered coffee and water and looked through the menus. Well, we took quite a bit of time looking as the menu is extensive and everything looked so good. I was originally going to get a Cuban burger and finally decided to pass in favor of the Cuban Panini, shown to the left. Teresa got a chicken and eggplant sandwich with marinara sauce on the side. By the way, the coffee was very good.

The food came rather quick and was piping hot, so hot I had to be careful picking up my sandwich. The cheese was melted perfectly, there were plenty of pickles on it and the ham had a nice flavor. The fries were steak fries and there were plenty. Very good sandwich. Teresa's was equally good and the marinara sauce had a nice flavor, better than the marinara at some Italian restaurants we'd been to.

The service was good and attentive and I watched how the waitress handled a complaint at a neighboring table where the woman didn't like what she'd ordered. They did a nice job of rectifying the situation pleasantly. Oh, and the bathrooms were clean.

Overall it was a good dining experience and I think we may take this route so we can stop by more often to sample a few things on the menu that looked interesting. I will try a burger as I saw one being delivered to another table and it looked big and juicy. They have a website for more information.

Alexis Diner, Newburgh NY

The Alexis Diner in Newburgh used to be called the Lexus Diner until the car company sued them over the use of the name. It didn't matter that the diner had the name first, I guess the corporate suits were worried that some of their customers may not be able to tell the difference between a Japanese luxury car and a corned beef sandwich. They may have been right though, both a burger and a car can some deluxe, but who wants fries with a coupe? But, as Shakespeare said, what's in a name? The Alexis Diner by any name is one of the best in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

I can speak on this with some authority, I've probably eaten there somewhere between fifty and a hundred times and it's been very good almost every time. The few times it wasn't was a few years ago when I think they were temporarily under a different management, since that they've been back up to snuff. The menu is extensive, the service is good, and the prices are reasonable.

As for the food, the Rueben sandwiches are good, and huge, the Gyros are good and come with a small Greek salad (see the picture above), the burgers are good, the deserts are very good, the salads are fresh and huge, the omelets are fluffy, in fact, just about everything is good. Of course I follow my rule of ordering diner food in a diner. By the way, if you order a salad, order the small one because it is plenty even for me, and plan on sharing a desert too. The pie slices are big.

My daughter was visiting from North Carolina and we were watching Man Versus Food on TV. It was the episode where he ate a huge corned beef sandwich. Rachel said she wanted a Rueben. You see, they don't have diners in the South. They have places they call "meat and three', meaning you get a meat and three sides. We went and she got her rueben, I got a gyro (again I pronounced it right, yee-ros, and the waiter said gyro. Of course he wasn't Greek, he was Mexican) and Teresa got a burger. All were good.

Stop by sometime for a good meal. You won't be disappointed. For more info, visit their website.

Cup and Saucer Diner, Pine Bush NY

Pine Bush New York is one of the UFO capitals of the world. There have been many sightings over the years, well mostly a few years ago. So when a new diner opened up in Pine Bush they came up with the cheeky name of Cup and Saucer and designed a spaceship logo. It's cute and interesting.

What's even more interesting about the Cup and Saucer Diner is that it is a very good diner. We've been there quite a few times and almost always the food was excellent. The only times it wasn't was when we deviated from traditional diner fare to try something different, like a special. But that's true of most any diner. If you stick to what they make al the time, it should be done right.

This time I had the gyro, I pronounced it yee-row and the waitress said, gyro. I should have written it for her in Greek, γύρος. It was very good with a Greek salad and I upgraded to sweet potato fries. I've also had the Philly cheese-steak sandwich, the rueben, omelets, and the triple decker club. Every time what I got was good.

Stop by and pay them a visit. Check out their website for more info.

Update- 9/30/11. I've been back a few times since I wrote this and the food has always been very good. Most recently I had what I thought was the best Rueben I've ever had.