Beef Goulash and Stuffed Cabbage with Latkes at Wayne Hills Diner, NJ

Beef Goulash and Stuffed Cabbage with Latkes

New Jersey is the diner capital of the world.  Who knew?  I guess I had heard that, but forgot it. 
I asked the hotel front desk guy where I could find a good meal that I could not find at home, and he reminded me of New Jersey’s diner history.  I am truly grateful. 
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  I love a good Diner, especially if they have regional ethnic food along with good basic coffee shop fare. Think a better Zippy's with East European food choices. I guess our compatible would be Big City Diner, but with more basic diner food. Sorry Lane, but while you do have loco moco, you do not have the diner basics like a patty melt, or fried chicken. We do have Zippy’s, but they offer even less in comparison.

The menu are vast, many pages, and encompass every day and meal part. Appetizers, soup, salad, entrée, sandwiches, desserts, and on and on. Impossible to try them all. But of course, there are the regional/ethnic foods also. Usually, the family that owns them has foods of their ethnicity added on. That had my radar up. But also, ASK the server what THEY like. They would know. Yes, sometimes they will just blurt out the expensive items, as they are trained to do. But sometimes you can pick up on sincere recommendations. You can decipher what is worthwhile, including your preferences, whether to have the $28 meat loaf, or the $18 Goulash.

Speaking of goulash, beef goulash, WHERE can we get that at home?  No one makes it anywhere. It’s like their adobo. Every household has their own recipe.  It’s a stew of beef, vegetables, and lots of paprika.  Not the paprika that is years old sitting in your cabinet at home. Fresh, multiple types, and copious amounts of paprika. Mine was served on a bed of egg noodles. It was so much, I could not finish it. It was delicious. That is the other thing about diner food.  It is seasoned well, and served in huge portions. Not at all like the scant plates of fried chicken chili we get at home.

Of course there were other items on the table. Latkes with sour cream and applesauce. Stuffed cabbage, which was not like what we are used to. These are lighter, the stuffing is not as dense as we are used to. This makes you want to say it’s not as good as at home, but maybe WE are used to the wrong thing? Let's face it, our stuffed cabbage memories are usually based on Stouffers, not home made.
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The food was so good here, it made for a subsequent visit. There were other diners visited, but they were not as memorable, not worth a second visit, and not even worth a photo.

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