Restaurant Project: D

Okay - this is backlogged a bit; we went out to eat over a week ago, but with all of the drama and adventure of the past week or so, I haven't quite gotten around to writing about it yet.

Actually, in some part, the incipient drama and excitement was what led to our restaurant choice for this round. While we had a lot of recommendations for Dali, I've eaten there before - and while I love it, part of the point of this project is to try new places as often as possible, so I wanted to pick out someplace new. And when we wound up with a weekend evening with a little bit of time and absolutely no desire to cook, I tasked my husband with picking out a "D" restaurant and taking me there.

He decided on the Deluxe Town Diner, a place where he had eaten before and mentioned wanting to take me to in the past. I grew up in the Tri-State Area, and diners were a huge part of my adolescence and young adulthood; they're one of the few things about New Jersey that I miss. I've been eager beyond belief to find something that fills that gap here in New England, and was fairly hopeful as we headed out to dinner.

Alas, my hopes were not fulfilled. While I'm sure that the Deluxe Town Diner is, as umbran reassures me, a wonderful place to get a sandwich, it is... not the best place to go for dinner.

It's a cute little place, that is very authentically diner-ish, with its chrome and neon and booths and front counter, but it didn't live up to the promise. Also, the service was just plain lousy; we were stuffed in a corner and our spacey waitress forgot at least half of our orders. (In my opinion, part of the Authentic Diner Experience involves having a waitress who calls you Hon, has a memory like a computer, and, in a perfect world, has your table set up, your diet coke poured, and a plate of disco fries on the way by the time you wander in at 1am after your tabletop game wraps for the night.)

I wound up ordering fried chicken, which came with mashed potatoes and broccoli. The chicken itself was not too bad - the coating was crispy and the meat wasn't dry, and it wasn't greasy, so that wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the mashed potatoes were kind of gluey and bland, yet disturbingly sweet. Not as in sweet potatoes, but as in red bliss potatoes that someone had added a bunch of sugar to. And the broccoli was treated more as a garnish than a side dish.

umbran ordered the meatloaf, with the same sides, and said it was (quoting from the little pad where I took notes during the meal) "Okay." Not condemning, but not exactly a ringing endorsement, though he did also mention that the potatoes were much better with gravy. He did, though, wind up with the best part of the meal - a raspberry lime rickey that was quite possibly the best I've ever tasted. I spent a decent part of the evening trying to steal it away from him and sneak sips. (Yes, I could have ordered my own. This was more fun.)

Dessert was a little better. I ordered a vanilla cupcake, which was surprisingly good - the cake was rich and not dry, the icing was actual buttercream, and the entire package was adorable, at least in my opinion, though I'll understand that the fuschia-and-teal color scheme might have scared off lesser mortals. My better half ordered carrot cake, which was a little dry and stringy, but the cream cheese icing went a long way towards salvaging it.

All in all, not our best experience. I'll probably be willing to give the place another try, at least for lunch, but it's not going to join our regular restaurant rotation.

Meanwhile, while I have an idea of where to go for E, I'm always open to suggestions - and my quest for a decent diner continues....