BUD

DAN

Main Dish

Paramount Chicken Sandwich

Never let it be said that I ignore Dan’s input when I order my dish. I was well on my way to a[nother] buffalo chicken wrap, but (1) the recipe conspicuously omitted blue cheese, which is really just silly, and (2) I spotted a chicken sandwich that I knew Dan would endorse. The Paramount chicken sandwich has marinated chicken, onions, mushrooms, and provolone. Dan was on board.

The problem is, it was remarkably bland. For chicken they explicitly advertise as “marinated,” it might as well not have been there flavor-wise. Onions and mushrooms aren’t the most insistent flavors either, and provolone is one of the milder sandwich cheeses, so it all came together in a glorious fiesta of…well…not a whole lot.

But the bread was just spectacular. Eveready’s menu talks about how they have their own bakery (which is probably just a highfalutin way of saying, like many other diners, they bake some stuff on premises), and boy do they mean it. This wasn’t some off-the-shelf Kaiser roll, it was a dense, crusty, flavorful hunk that was let down by the fillings. I had a few bites of Dan’s sandwich, and while I won’t steal her thunder and opine too much on it (it was delicious), I can confirm that the bread is no accident because hers was just as good. Better, even. She does this thing, which is kinda cute but also bizarre, where she orders a burger or sandwich and then tears off half the bread because she hates bread, and normally I don’t do anything about it, but this time I picked the bread off her plate like a large featherless pigeon and couldn’t get enough of it. Hers was served as a panini, and we both agreed that it wasn’t pressed nearly as flat as the term would normally suggest, but it definitely had a wonderful crunchy crust.

Main Dish

Steak and Cheese Panini

I’m really trying to stray from my staple three dishes that I order on rotation every week. So, just like last week’s French toast surprise, I went out of the box again and ordered the steak and cheese panini. This panini boasts top sirloin, mushroom, onions, and American cheese. Well, I hate American cheese so I subbed it out for mozzarella, which I love more than my giant featherless pigeon, Buddy.

The dish was great. The bread ratio was a little crazy, causing me to tear off enough pieces to make another panini out of. That being said, it was probably some of the best sandwich bread I’ve had yet on our diner journey. I’m glad Bud didn’t let it all go to waste.

As you well know, mushroom, mozzarella, and fried onions are the holy trinity when it comes to sandwich toppings, as far as I’m concerned. This trio made for a very flavorful panini. The steak was good, if a LITTLE dry. I feel like it could have benefitted from some dipping sauce, au jus style.

Fries

These fries were crunchy enough that Dan could barely find any that she could stand to eat. Usually I’d take that as a hopeful sign, but I never thought I’d see they day the fries were too crunchy. Most were spot-on but many were virtually potato chips in French fry form.

Fries

THESE FRIES WERE TOO DARN CRUNCHY.

Dessert

Brownie Cheesecake Pie
Café Latte

Eveready did a weird thing to advertise this as a cheesecake-pie hybrid, because the only pie-like characteristic was a flaky crust, which was barely detectable. But nevermind my disagreement with the menu verbiage because this dessert was amazing. It was a top-three creamy cheesecake we’ve had—creamy enough that Dan described it as (and she authorized me to share this) “creamy supremey.” The brownie pieces weren’t just a pile-on overkill, like “hey here’s some more sweet garbage you fat lump”; they were correctly proportioned and were an excellent supplement, not a spotlight-stealer. The whipped cream added a lot. I don’t give out a lot of five-burger ratings but I knew immediately that this cheesecake deserved it.

I’m not usually a coffee drinker after dinner, mainly because I am, in fact, a fat lump and I’m too full after doing my Burger Deluxe duty, but Eveready really pushes their coffee selection and I needed a pick-me-up for the drive home. I wanted something fun like a Frappuccino, but Dan scolded me and told me to get a café latte, so that’s what I did, and then I asked her what a café latte is. Anyway, it was nice, not outstanding and really nothing noteworthy, but I mention it because I think Eveready’s coffee menu is an interesting and endearing feature.

Dessert

Brownie Cheesecake Pie

I have a problem with the menu verbiage too; the only “brownie” feature in our “brownie cheesecake pie” was a small brown lump on top of some whipped cream. When I saw that pathetic display, my mind was on the “oh boy, here we go” train ride to disappointment. What I didn’t expect was that that train ride was taking a detour to FLAVORTOWN.

I think I’m just going to go ahead and say that this was the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. The chocolate top. The flaky pie crust. The creamy cake (I never authorized publication of my trademarked “creamy supremey” catchphrase, Bud). My goodness, it was perfect. I never thought I’d say this, but there exists a better version of State Line’s brownie cheesecake, and this is it.

Service

Our waiter was a young guy who was very eager to help, very pleasant in demeanor, and mostly absent when we needed him. He was serving a few tables around us, so we saw plenty of him, but he was always just a little late with a drink refill or a condiment. Points for good-faith effort, but it just wasn’t top-notch service.

Service

This young gentleman put the “wait” in “waiter.” Great joke Dan, definitely the first time that’s been made.

He seemed like a nice and jovial guy…when we saw him. He was as elusive as Bigfoot, the diner waiter of American folklore, except he probably smelled better.

Value

My sandwich cost $11.50, my coffee $4.00, and our dessert $6.50. Soft drink was $3.00, but with unlimited refills. I didn’t walk out feeling gouged, and I think the prices are consistent with some of the pricier diners out there, and I think Eveready can justify the higher prices like few other diners can—but they still are a little high.

Value

My panini totaled a fair $10.99, in my opinion. Anything with steak is going to add a few bucks, so this doesn’t seem like a crazy amount. If I were grading just my meal, I’d give out a generous four burgers, but considering the price of Buddy’s soda, our dessert, and his flavorless chicken sandwich, I have no choice but to knock the rating down to three burgers, as it was an overall pricier experience than usual. I feel, like an expensive handbag, we were paying a little premium for the name.

Ambience

Eveready is virtually the Platonic ideal of a diner. It’s everything a diner should be. Sure, there’s all different styles, and I like them all—sleek and polished, old-fashioned and wood-paneled, truck stop greasy spoons—but Eveready is the end of the line. It’s big, bright, cheery, cozy, bustling, old-fashioned but not run-down, polished but not futuristic, classic but not antique. There is ubiquitous neon and the waitstaff wear bowties, but there are also ceiling-mounted TVs with football and newscasts. I just love this place.

Ambience

I agree with Buddy here. Eveready is truly the Platonic ideal. I’m not about to consider any romantic feelings toward it, but it’s always there when I need it—as a friend.

Puns aside, I loved the ambience of Eveready. It’s easily one of the best looking diners we’ve been to. Top three, for sure. It’s got the neon interior, the jukebox, the giant Popeye-looking statue holding an even more giant coffee mug. Eveready managed to take trite diner designs and find a way to make them look unique. One thing Bud didn’t remark on at all, which is a shame, is that kids meals do not come in a plate. They come in a cardboard serving dish shaped as an old-fashioned Cadillac. I was obsessed with it. It was the coolest little gimmick. This place was so cool.

OVERALL

There’s a reason Eveready was featured on Our Prophet’s Food Network show: it’s a tremendous diner. It pains me to give such high marks to a joint outside of New Jersey, considering our thesis that Jersey is the epicenter of quality dinerdom, but nearly everything about Eveready is spot-on. The food, even when bland, has qualities (i.e., the bread) that redeem it; the service, even when somewhat inattentive, is affable. And the things it does right, it does very right. Eveready is out of the way for most of our readers, but if you’re ever on holiday in tropical Poughkeepsie, New York, you must make a stop.

OVERALL

Affable service? More like LAFFABLE, amiright!?

Nah, but this place is a-ok in my books. Buddy went to college very close to this diner and has lots of nice memories here. I have only been twice, both times with Buddy, so my memories are just as nice. It’s a bit of a drive for us New Jersey folk, but what can I tell you? On a beautiful fall day, sometimes you need to just take a drive to Poughkeepsie, walk across the Hudson River, and enjoy a nice meal at a wonderful diner to end the night. I’m looking forward to the next long drive to this awesome diner again sometime in the future.