Bourdain came, as many do, for a classic Jersey sandwich. He sat at table No. 9 and ate sandwich No. 4 — fresh home-baked bread stuffed with an absurdly generous amount of provolone, salami, pepperoni, boiled ham, capicola, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Plus, Bourdain requested, hot peppers.
"He was very nice, very polite, very cordial," Maggio said — and wore old jeans and a winter jacket. "I think his jeans even had a rip in them."
He continued, "My wife and I are big fans of his. We watch the show all the time. But I can tell you that I wouldn't eat bird's nest soup."
Go: 1406 Main St., Asbury Park; 732-775-6682
FRANK'S DELI
TONY'S FAVORITE - The #4
The # 4
Salami, Ham, Capicola, Pepperoni,
Provolone & Hot Peppers
At Kubel's, Bourdain reminisced with his dining companion, his brother, about the fun times they and their mom and dad spent “down the shore."
"I remember this place with nothing but fondness,” Bourdain told his his brother. “I mean, I can’t remember a single bad memory here.”
And, of course, he remembered the clams he so loved to eat. "No matter where I find them now," he said, "they always bring me back here."
Bourdain ended up feasting on a lot more than clams with his brother. He managed to polish off fried clam strips, clam chowder, steamed garlic clams, lobster mac and cheese, fish and chips, and a few glasses of beer. "I don't know how he did it," a young server marveled.
Martyniak still gets a kick out of telling the story of the snowy morning Bourdain came to check out Kubel's — before opening time — and the bartender, a 19-year-old who had no clue who Bourdain was, politely asked him to "come back in an hour."
Fortunately, Martyniak knew who was at the door — and rushed to let him in.
"He was very nice," Martyniak said. "He entertained the bartender more than the bartender entertained him."
LUCILLE'S LUNCHEONETTE
4. LUCILLE'S LUNCHEONETTE ... Warren Grove, New Jersey
He (Bourdain) took a seat at the bar — "That's where all the action is," Karen said — and breakfasted on scrambled eggs, scrapple, home fries, house-made chili and blueberry pie, made from scratch. And, yes, he ate it all.
By the way, it was the first time that the man who had eaten just about anything — raw sea eyeballs, turkey testicles, cobra heart and warthog anus — ate scrapple, a heavenly mush of pork scraps and trimmings.
1496 Route 539, Warren Grove; 609-698-4474
LUCILLE
LUCILLE'S LUNCHEONETTE
TONY & RUTH'S STEAKS
Toi=ny & Ruth's Steaks
Camden, New Jersey
5. TONY & RUTH'S STEAKS, Camden, New Jersey
Bourdain grabbed one of the four rundown stools at the counter, and ate ... What? "I don't remember," said Ruthie, not one to get too impressed by a brush with celebrity — though the episode shows him eating what appears to be eggs, rice and beans. Ruthie did recall, however, that his mouth was going full-speed, gabbing, not eating. “He didn’t eat much,” Ruthie said. “All he did is talk, talk, talk.”
Jose Orgiz, a Camden resident who immigrated from Puerto Rico 52 years ago, would have recommended the cheesesteak sandwich, the fare that brings him there just about every day. "I love it, and I love it here," he said.
Go: 837 N. Eighth St., Camden; 856-964-8193
A CHEESE STEAK
At TONY & RUTH'S STEAKS
AMERICA & TONY'S FAVORITE RECIPES
The BAD ASS COOKBOOK
BURGERS - CHIL DOGS - RIBS
SOUP - STEAKS
TACOS & BURRITOS
DONKEY'S PLACE
Camden New Jersey
6. DONKEY'S PLACE .... Camden, NJ
Philadelphia is the city that birthed the cheesesteak sandwich. But according to Bourdain, the best cheesesteak to be had is not in Philly but on the other side of the Delaware River, in Camden, specifically at Donkey's Place, a funky 75-year-old bar, today run by its founder's grandson Rob Lucas. (It's called Donkey's because Rob's grandfather, Leon Lucas, was a boxer whose punch was said to be like the mighty kick of a mule.)
CHEESE STEAKS
DONKEY'S PLACE
Cheesesteak is pretty much the only item on the menu at Donkey's — and the family hasn't messed with the recipe in three-quarters of a century.
“We haven’t changed anything in 76 years,” Rob said. “The sandwich is all we do, so we got to do it right.”
What makes Donkey’s cheesesteak — thinly cut steak, sauteed onions and American cheese that Donkey's serves on a poppy-seed Kaiser roll — so darn good? "The onions," Rob said. "We cook them all day,"
Donkey’s sandwich “should be a national landmark,” Bourdain declared, sitting on one of the stools at the bar. “This sandwich is unbelievably good, a thing of beauty."
DONKEY'S PLACE ... 1223 Haddon Ave., Camden; 856-966-2616,
The KNIF & FORK
The KNIFE & FORK
ATLANTIC CITY NJ
7. KIFE & FORK, Atlantice City NY
“It was paradise,” Bourdain said about Atlantic City. “American’s first dream vacation, a democratic dream designed in the beginning for everybody.” And the Knife & Fork Inn, the city’s second-oldest restaurant, was there through it all, he noted.
Knife & Fork opened in 1912 originally as a men’s dining and drinking club. Today it is a beloved Atlantic City jewel that is chock full of history and scrumptious food.
LOBSTER THERMIDOR
An OLD-SCHOOL CLASSIC
The KIND of THING TONY LOVED
