Jersey Diners

Peter Genovese. Rutgers University Press, $32.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-8135-2350-7

""A diner is not only a place to eat, it is a hangout, a community center, often more of a town hall than Town Hall is,"" says journalist Peter Genovese. ""Wealth, possessions, background count for little; inside, everyone is equal."" And nowhere are there more of these bastions of democracy than New Jersey. In Jersey Diners, Genovese salutes the state's 550 ""colorful and kitschy"" purveyors of food. Photos and illustrations provide a wonderful tour of the Garden State's not-so-secret treasures.

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