Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle
, September 27, 2009 11:56
Where are you? Why aren’t you ready? I declare we’ll never get started. But started we finally were, and in plenty of time for breakfast at Trenton’s Broad Street Diner:
Greek omelet, pork roll, egg, and cheese on a hard roll, scrapple: the Broad Street (actually just over the border in Hamilton, not Trenton) is at its best at breakfast.
Then we’re off to Pennsylvania and New York. It’s about a seven hour drive from Trenton to Buffalo, which can certainly be done in a single day, but we try to spend a little time in Upstate NY each year so the plan is to do an overnight on the way up and again on the return trip. Our first stop is in the Pennsylvania mountain town of Jim Thorpe. The town took the odd name in 1953 after the death of the famous athlete (who had no connection with the region). Jim Thorpe (the town) previously had the just-as-odd name of Mauch Chunk. We toured the Asa Packer Mansion:
Mr. Packer founded the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University, and also ran for US president. His daughter died in 1912, leaving the mansion, and money to take care of it, to the town. Mauch Chunk didn’t know what to do with it, so for the next 44 years it remained essentially untouched, furnishings and all. In 1956 the local Lions arranged to open the mansion to tours. The Swiss-built orchestrion, which still operates and is turned on for the tour, is alone worth the detour through Jim Thorpe.
About an hour north of Jim Thorpe is the region of Pennsylvania known for Old Forge-style pizza. We’ve enjoyed Old Forge pizza many times before, but one thing about it is that most of the places that serve the local specialty don’t open until around 4 pm. Lunch sources for Old Forge pizza are few, which accounts for the inclusion of Genotti’s of Moosic, PA in Roadfood.com. Michael Stern calls Genotti’s a convenience store, but even that is being generous. The focus, currently, is on fireworks, cold beverages, and cash-for-gold. There are a few tables near the window, next to the fireworks. Arrive at mealtime and the pizza cuts (they don’t call ‘em slices around here) are out on the counter. We arrived late for lunch, so all the leftovers were wrapped in plastic and put in the cooler. We selected a steak and cheese, a Buffalo chicken, and a red cut with onions (they are, thankfully, reheated in an oven, not a microwave):
The double-crusted steak and cheese cut was the best of the three but they were all OK: a quick roadside lunch and a hint of what Old Forge pizza is all about. We would, however, have a hard time recommending Genotti’s to anyone but Stern completists.
Next stop, Endicott, NY.
