White Horse Diner

The White Horse Diner is literally a stones throw from the Berlin Diner. It is located on the White Horse Pike making it an easy stop for Chi and I on our way out to the Jersey Shore. The place looked a little run down with a shabby exterior and dark windows. For a moment we thought it might have gone out of business. With one or two cars in the parking lot we decided to pull to see if they were open. We were excited to see they were open since we were both pretty hungry. The interior was a bit drab with fading greens, the backs of the booths were coming loose.

dark and drab

I've held off as long as I can, but I have to say it; this was the worst diner I have ever been to. I wanted to try something new, so I ordered a Reuben Burger. This is a simple enough item to prepare, the menu made it sound pretty simple. The burger consisted of the meat patty, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a bun. A Reuben Sandwich should be a diner classic with nice, tangy sauerkraut and rich cheese making for a flavor filled meal. The trouble for me started when I was asked four times if I was ready to order while I was clearly still looking the menu over. There are a total of seven other customers in the diner, therefore, there was no need to rush us. While that was plenty annoying, I almost couldn't believe what happened when my food came out. I was served a plate of fries with two hamburger buns both topped with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. I was incredulous. They forgot the patty? Do I not know what a Reuben Burger is? Shouldn't the burger be part of the burger? The waitress came back about a minute later after I sat there dumbfounded digging through a pile of sauerkraut and cheese looking for the the rest of the meal. I said I think something is missing and she looked at my plate and quickly took it back to the kitchen. She brought me back the same meal about thirty seconds later with a dried hamburger sitting on one of the buns.

burger fail

There are three fundamental things that went horribly wrong at the White Horse Diner. Firstly, the cook did not realize that he had forgotten to put the hamburger on my hamburger. This means that he also saw the meal go out of his kitchen and did not realize the hamburger was still on his grill. The second incredible thing was that the waitress realized something was wrong when she picked up the plate, or didn't realize there was something wrong, and then served me an incomplete plate. I was angry and embarrassed for them. The third problem was that the food didn't taste good. The burger was over cooked, there was double the amount of sauerkraut and Swiss cheese than was necessary, and the french fries weren't hot. I feel like the slough they brought out to me was just sitting around all afternoon. The White Horse Diner has made my very short list of places I never want to visit ever again.

The menu was a decent size but had nothing for vegetarians so I decided to have breakfast for lunch. I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes because I was feeling nostalgic and had a bit of a sweet tooth. I ordered them with homefries (because as you know, I'm obsessed with potato-based foods). My pancakes were slightly warm with nothing special about them. The pancake itself was tough and chewy, only accented by the awful silverware that couldn't cut through butter. The chocolate chips were charred and bitter. My butter was average- not especially creamy or salty, or any of the superlative ways you could describe butter.

In fact, there is nothing superlative about anything that this diner produces. When my homefries didn't come out, I had to struggle to find the waitress to ask her for them. She apologized and said she'd get them. She then returned to say "Sorry, it'll be a while. We have to make fresh ones. I didn't want you to get the ones that had been sitting around all day getting gross." And then she smiled as if anything she had just said was okay to say to a someone who was patronizing your restaurant. What could she have possibly meant? Did she not understand that the overarching context of what she was saying was "We don't make our food fresh here"? Any decent diner can whip up an order of home fries in two minutes- why would you ever not make them to order?

Regardless, since I was hungry from not eating the rest of my pancakes, I said "fine". She comes back later to say, "So...do you want them or no? Do you want me to take it off the ticket?". No, I do not want you to take if off the ticket. If I ordered them (twice!), then of course I still want them. When they finally came out Chris and I picked at them both agreeing that after all we had been through, at least there was some decent home fries to help ease our anger. But a swallow does not a summer make.

Thai Basil

Chris and I feel very fortunate to live so close to good food in Collingswood and Haddonfield, NJ.  People have been mentioning Thai Basil to us for years, but we’ve never gone. I’m always a bit skeptical when it comes to Asian-American or Asian fusion restaurants, just because I feel as if I have a high standard due to my upbringing. I imagine it’s the way Italians feel about Italian-American food. It’s indicative of the correct region, but yet, not true in spirit.

Something about the word "Thai" and this kind of sign display just seems...incorrect.

Regardless, we visited Thai Basil for a Saturday late lunch. We arrived around 2:15 to an almost empty and very low-lit restaurant. (Throughout the course of our meal, only one other couple showed up to eat). The vibe is very chill, very relaxed, with large comfy booths sectioned off to create privacy. The music is lounge-y, with every other song in French.

Right off the bat, from looking at the menu, you can tell that the focus of this food is “flavor”. They have two of their specials engraved into the mirrors in the room to showcase the range of ingredients they use for staples such as tom yum and drunken noodles. They also proudly boast four types of curry- red, green, panang, and massaman.

I ordered the drunken noodles with mock duck after reading a favorable review of it on Yelp. It was priced at around $12 which seemed perfectly reasonable. On the menu, it has two stars indicating its spiciness. I ask for it to be reduced in spice, to which the server said “We can’t make it completely spice less, but we can make it mild”. “Great,” I said, “let’s make it mild”.

Our appetizers came out before our meals. We ordered the veggie curry puff- a whimsical dish reminiscent of an Asian-style Jamacian spicy beef patty or an empanada. Flaky and doughy at the same time with rich aromas, it was filled with potatoes, curry, and onion. It came with a sweet chili sauce that tasted like Vietnamese nuoc mam ngoc with a bit of duck sauce to thicken it up. Delicious, and left us craving more.

The best way I can express my main meal is: a labor of love. Presented well in an avant-garde tilted bowl, it smelled delicious with aromas of fish sauce, chili, garlic, and all other things that make life great. My ‘duck’ was pretty good imitation, although some pieces of the ‘skin’ fell short. I don’t really see how you could imitate the high level of fat (and eventual crispiness) that you would get from an animal. Noodles were delish, just the right amount of stickiness and starchiness.  This being said, I could not eat more than two bites in a row without taking a huge sip of water. The spice level was ridiculous almost to the point of being intolerable. This was better once the dish had some time to cool. I know that one shouldn’t go into a Thai restaurant and tell the kitchen that the food is too spicy, but when you’re told that something is coming to you “mild”, you expect a certain threshold to not be breached. The only other customers there actually were comped because their food ended up being too spicy to eat.

As for me, I was mostly happy with the entire meal. I ordered the Laad Na off of their "Meal in a Hot Pot" page of their menu. The Laad Na's description was simple enough. I had the choice of beef, chicken, or shrimp in a pot of sauteed vegetables and seared rice noodles with gravy poured on top. I went with the beef because I was curious to see if the beef would be prepared similarly to Pho that I've had in the past. When the meal came out I was immediately pleased with what I saw. The beef was front in center, the bowl was big and deep, and the vegetables had their color. It was beautiful. Sadly the beef was a tad over cooked and not as tender as I was hoping. However, it did bring in a lot of the flavor of the sauce. My favorite part of the dish was the broad, flat, rice noodles that were soaking up the gravy at the bottom of the pot. They were extremely tender and rich. The gravy reminded me of a Vietnamese oyster sauce. It was very savory, but it definitely had some sweet element to deepen its flavor profile. The worst part of the experience was that we were seated at a table that was next to an area of the carpet that looks as though it hasn't been washed in a few years. Hopefully by the time I go back they will have already shampoo'd their carpet.

I felt very conflicted about the food because it was delicious, but for the majority of it my tongue was maxed out and the spice detracted from the layers of salty, sweet, and sour.   

Such an awful experience, but over so soon! We’re gonna have to do this one over again. Perhaps it was a fluke?

Dark, moody, and minimalistic

Extra notes:

Free soursop hard candies when you leave and it looks like they  might own a new place called Fusion Bay next door that offers similar taste profiles but in a casual dining atmosphere.