Mourning the loss of the best coffee in NJ…

As I mentioned in my last post, mother-in-law was in town this weekend on her way to Savannah with my brother and sister-in-law for some ghost tours, sight seeing, and good eating. Ahead of her arrival, we were informed by my New Jersey based sister-in- law that a terrible tragedy had befallen the people of Paramus and surrounding communities, an incident that will surely dampen the spirits of my wife and I when we next travel to mom’s for a visit. We were given the horrible news that the Tom Sawyer Diner had burned to the ground last week.

There are many, many things I look forward to when we travel to the NY/NJ metropolitan area. There’s seeing my in-laws (I am blessed to have a mom in law, nieces, nephews, bro/sis in law that I enjoy and love so much), there’s seeing Jackson and the Smoke & Mirrors kibbutz of musical talent, there’s football and friends at West Point and Highland Falls, but the thing that I get to enjoy everyday I’m on NYC metropolitan area terra firma is the good eatin’. The Tom Sawyer Diner is a block and a half walking distance from my mom-in-law’s house on Ridgewood Ave., at the light between the Garden State Parkway and Route 17. It is usually our family’s first eating stop during visits. Once we drop our bags and the girls hit the restroom immediately following our arrival, we always beat a quick path to the Tom Sawyer Diner. It is a classic Northeastern diner in the truest sense. Fresh cooked food from a menu two inches thick. Great breakfast, great lunch, great dinner. Now it’s gone.

George Siamboulis, told the local newspaper that he named the restaurant after Tom Sawyer because he is a Mark Twain fan and owns an edition of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" published in 1900. An image of the title character snoozing on the banks of the Mississippi River, his fishing pole by his side, was etched into a large mirror that hung in one of the restaurant's dining rooms.

I hope the Siamboulis family opts to rebuild and keep the family business going. Meanwhile, like George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer had to do a couple of times, we'll have to find a new diner to patronize.