White Rose System, Linden, NJ

I had friends visiting from the Midwest, so I wanted to take them to an authentic MidAtlantic breakfast joint before they flew home from Newark. I found White Rose System, a small diner in Linden, NJ. Their specialty is the Taylor ham (aka pork roll), egg & cheese sandwich. The "complete" included home fried potatoes in the the sandwich.

1301 East Elizabeth Avenue
Linden, NJ
(908) 486-9651

Coppelia, New York

On our last girls day, petiteseour and I went to the newly opened Coppelia for dinner, a 24-hour West Village Cuban/Latino diner opened by the owners of Toloache and Yerba Buena.

We were very tempted by such delicious-sounding entrees as coffee-braised oxtail and chocolate-glazed ribs, but wanting to eat lighter, we opted to share a bunch of starters.

The ceviche limeno was nice and bright, with sweet potato chunks, and 3 types of corn - large Peruvian kernels, regular sweet corn, and dried crunchy corn nut-style kernels.

We also got an oxtail empanada, which was very sweet. Petiteseour suspected they used plantain in it. And lastly, was the Pizza Cubana, basically all the ingredients of a Cubano sandwich -- roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard -- all on a pizza crust.

We finished it all off with a trio of sorbet/helado -- tamarind mojito, passionfruit mango tequila, and leche condensada.

We have vowed to go back for brunch to try out their dessert basket, with creations by Pinchet Ong. And these pearl sugar cheese bread balls that petiteseour raved about.

Coppelia
207 West 14th Street, between 7th and 8th, NYC, 212-858-5001

La Belle Province, Montreal

After grazing a little at the Marche Atwater in Montreal, we met up with our cousins from NYC who were hungry after a long wait at the US-Canada border.
We went to La Belle Province, a diner a block from the market for a snack. I ordered their poutine. Their version was solid- great fresh cheese curds and tasty gravy.

Redneckhunter tried their version of the Michigan hotdog. We had heard that the Montreal versions of the Michigan sauce were a little more runny than the ones in Plattsburgh. This was true in this case.
Stephen ordered a wonderfully fatty smoked meat sandwich. Xtine got a pogo, which basically was a corn dog.

3001, Rue Notre-Dame Ouest
Montreal, QC
(514) 931-2574