Award Winning Diner Great Place to Sit and Eat

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The slogan on the cover of the menu at the Country Coffee Shop in the Mendham Village Shopping Center on Route 24, is, “Where Friends Meet to Eat!!” and customers who come inside will get no better friend in the diner, which is comfortable and cozy, than owner, John Paxos, who comes right over to his customers and says hello.

“We have almost all regular customers who come in here,” Paxos says, who runs the diner with his father, cousins and sister, “[and] I know, I’d say, 90% of the customers by first name, and they know my name.”

The space, nestled in the corner of the Mendham Village Shopping Center, was already an established eatery before John and his “pop” Andrew bought it 12 years ago from its former owners.

“It was always some kind of place to eat,” Paxos says, “They called it the Mendham Eatery at one time. But since the mall was built, it’s been a place to eat—for forty something years.”

The area inside the diner has your comfortably typical diner look to it. There are your typical diner stools right at the counter where people can pick up a quick coffee or a meal. There are the typical booths where people can sit and face each other while they eat. There’s the typical cake on the countertop underneath the glass, the typical specials of the day posted on a whiteboard, and even the typical U2 music playing on the radio in the background. Just about the only thing not typical about this place’s diner décor are the dogs that layer the walls, many of which may look familiar to some of the frequent customers.

“The dogs?” Paxos says about the various pictures of man’s best friend that cover the walls, “Just one of my customers. He’s a canine photographer and he came in and asked if he could put up some pictures to drum up a little business. He puts in the Invisible Fence for people, and he’s also a canine photographer, so after he puts up the fence, he’ll ask, ‘hey, do you want me to take a picture of your dog?’ So a lot of these [pictures] are [of] local dogs in the area.”

Kids often want to sit next to their own dog when they come in, and it adds to the whole “homey” atmosphere that the Paxos’ family is trying to portray.

“We try to focus on being a family oriented type of business,” Paxos says, “I gave a great staff and I couldn’t do business without them. One of the managers is my sister, and the other is my cousin.”

The menu itself is also quite in the vein of diner food, with breakfast specials like double fried egg sandwiches, pancakes, and even healthy options, like the Egg White Vegetable Omelette, served with dry toast and homefries.

Lunches and dinners range in the same diner fashion, with seafood, sandwiches, pita pockets, and again, a waist watcher option with meals like Tossed salad with Turkey Breast, hard boiled eggs, and Chicken salads.

They also cook up specialty items, including home cooked meals and chicken sautés. In fact, anything not on the menu that you want, they’ll cook it right for you if you ask for it.

“You come in here and you can have anything you want,” Paxos says, “If you’re looking for something, we’ll make it for you.”

One of their main selling points, though is their burgers, which Paxos holds in very high regard.

“We have the best burgers around,” Paxos says, “We have a nice, juicy, 8 oz. burger. It’s big and juicy and we cook it on the Charbroil and the thing is just delicious. I can’t eat a whole one.”

With its great atmosphere and great selection, it even won the 2008 Daily Record Reader’s Choice Award for best coffee shop.

“I put up flyers, approached regular customers, and talked to the employees to vote online,” Paxos said, who wants to win the same title again this year, “I put out flyers again this year and I’m trying to beat the drum to get it going.”

If Paxos sounds like he knows a lot about the business, he does—he’s been in it for 35 years. He originally started out in East Hanover but came over to Mendham for one reason.

“Mendham’s a great area,” Paxos says with a smile.

###

Country Coffee Shop

WHERE: Route 24, Mendham, New Jersey
TELEPHONE NUMBER: 973-543-7173
HOURS: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
CUISINE: Diner food
PAYMENT: Cash only
PRICE RANGE: Breakfast $3.25 to $10.95; Lunch $4.25 to $11.95; Dinner $6.95 to $10.95; Desserts $2.75 to $5.25
RESERVATIONS: Sit down and eat
DRESS: Casual
ATMOSPHERE: Lively, warm, and friendly
THE SCENE: Nestled in the Mendham Mall on Route 24, this award winning diner has a wide assortment of meals to choose from
DELIVERY: No
ENTERTAINMENT: No
TAKE-OUT: Yes
PARKING: Free in lot
OWNERS: John Paxos

Review: Speed Zone

Talk about not judging a game by its cover. I was all set to hate Speed Zone from the get-go. Just looking at the box art, the first impression I got was that this was Hot Wheels Leading the Way in outer space. But let me tell you, Speed Zone is freaking awesome, as it has enough addictive gameplay to make you come back for more even after you’ve missed your objective for the fifteenth time in a row and just want to beat it already so you can go to bed.

The beauty of this game doesn’t lie in the graphics, though (Really, they’re just okay). Nor do they lie in the subpar techno music that thumps throughout the game like a grating buzzsaw. No, the beauty of Speed Zone lies in the “In the Zone,” meter that builds up whenever you drive over the speed limit, which is like, 200 mph, or some other ludicrous number like that. Cruising around in the solo mode, you race to beat the target time designated to you at the beginning of each level. When you do this, the only way you can beat your time is pretty much to hit every single speed boost and not crash into anything. This can be quite nerve racking as even the slightest miscalculation can send you hurdling into the great blue yonder. But staying perfectly on track and hitting all of the speed boosts is easier said than done, especially if you’re using anything other than a Classic or a GameCube controller.

That’s right, this being a Wii racing game, of course they give you more than a million (Or, you know, just six) different ways to play the game, including tilting the Wii mote to its side and steering with it, playing with the wheel that came with Mario Kart Wii, playing with the nunchuk, or just using a regular controller. Personally, I’d pick the final method, because the other ones just don’t cut it, as using the controller as a steering wheel is always too sensitive. It was with Mario Kart Wii, and it is with this game, too.

But once you get the hang of using the controller, you’ll find yourself staying on the track more and not flying into objects. In fact, play it long enough (Which I certainly did) and you begin to memorize the tracks out of necessity, remembering where all of the speed boosts are so you can beat your best time and move up the pyramid, which is how you advance in this game—moving up a pyramid. All of this is in Solo mode, though, which is fun enough on its own. But there’s also a split screen racing mode (With up to 8 players) or a battle mode, where you pick up power-ups and blast away at other racers. Really, you’re getting three games in one with this title here, as all three modes are so wildly different.

If I have a few complaints with this game though, it lies in the fact that it’s really not all that futuristic. Sure, it takes place in outer space, as the tracks have red moons on them and holes in the floor, but even with all of that, it just doesn’t FEEL futuristic. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re driving cars instead of hover crafts. F-Zero felt futuristic on the Super Nintendo, as the hovercrafts made you really feel like you were zooming over and around spacey terrain. And so did Wipeout, with its claustrophobic tunnels and pulse pounding soundtrack. But Speed Zone just feels like you’re driving around in space with zero-gravity tires or something. I mean, I shouldn’t have to make up a story in my head about why you’re able to drive cars in outer space (And so fast), but I did. And I think none of this would have really been a problem if they just made the vehicles hover crafts instead of cars. It might be cliché, but it works.

Also, once you crash your car, you’re pretty much toast, because you lose soooo much momentum in the process. Sure, Speed Zone gives you a lot more legroom than a lot of other racers to crash. But there’s nothing worse than flying down the speedway at 500 mph and then bumping into a wall or a ceiling and going back down to 100. That really sucks hard. Plus, other than the gimmicky usages of the Wiimote and the steering wheel, Speed Zone could probably be on any other console and doesn’t really have anything going for it that distinguishes it from being a 360 game, other than the slightly last-gen visuals, I guess.

Other than that though, Speed Zone is an overall enjoyable thrill ride with a great, split screen multiplayer mode, smooth gameplay, and an addictive feel that just can’t be beat. Don’t let the box art fool you, people. Speed Zone shouldn’t be missed.

Deli Offers Speed and Friendly Service to the Neighborhood

Stand outside the Wicker Basket in the Mendham Village Shopping Center on Route 24, and the place just screams deli. From the glowing Boar’s Head sign on the window, to the customers who walk in empty handed, only to walk out minutes later with a giant sub or a salad in their hands, everything about the Wicker Basket tells you in very distinct words that this is a deli, and we are here to serve you.

“We just try to give the people quite a bit of what we can,” says Glenn Schmidle, owner of the Wicker Basket along with his wife, Mary Ellen, “Good service, good stuff, and hopefully, they’ll keep coming back.”
Inside the Wicker Basket is a very inviting atmosphere that has enough floor space to allow big lines to form and not feel crowded or closed in. This is intentional as the lines at the Wicket Basket can get quite long sometimes.

“The line may look long, but we blast them out,” Schmidle says, “Our motto is, the Wicker is quicker.”

Part of the reason for this is because many of the same customers come in everyday ordering the same meals, allowing Schmidle to already know what to have ready for them in advance.

“There are people here all the time, the same people every day,” Schmidle says, “And I can have [their food] ready for them. I think that’s what people like. Before they get to the counter, we have it all done and ready for them. They’ll get their sandwich or their Taylor Ham or their coffee, [and it will be] just sitting on the counter when they come in.”

Other than the ample floor space, there’s the deli counter that has various meats and salads—from Asian Chicken and pasta to Chicken Caesar—behind it. There are also a variety of chips available for quick and easy pick up on the shelves. The menu features sandwiches of all kinds, including breakfast sandwiches like the Taylor Ham Egg and Cheese, cold sandwiches like the Sloppy Joe with Turkey or roast beef, and hot sandwiches, like the Pizza Sandwich. Added items on the menu include more salads for the more health conscious customers, and more burgers, “with like, millions of things on it,” Schmidle says.

Along the walls are soda freezers on one side, and unopened sodas in boxes on the other, sitting atop steel wire shelves and waiting to fill the freezers. But those drinks aren’t the ones that most people who are familiar with the Wicker Basket come to get.
“We have the Half&Half.” Schmidle says, “Half iced tea, half lemonade. Kids line up in the morning to get them before they go to school.”
For those who haven’t been to the Wicker Basket in awhile though, they may notice some very immediate changes.

“We fixed it up like seven months ago,” Schmidle says, “President’s Weekend. We closed for a week and did it.”
These changes—brighter lights, a sign with a cartoon man with big eyes smiling at a sandwich, more modern look—are all part of Schmidle’s way of giving back to the community.

“We just try to keep up with the times,” Schmidle says, “I just wanted to put something back. Instead of just taking from the business, I wanted to put something back [into it]. Now, when somebody comes in, they’re like, ‘It’s new.’”
These new things don’t alter the history of the place though, which goes back quite some time.

“This was the first store in this mall,” Schmidle says, “and it’s been like, 45 years, and the store had been the same and never changed.”
Glenn Schmidle’s parents bought the store 21 years ago from its original owners, who had already changed it from being a cheese store to a deli before they got there. Glenn took over the shop when his parents retired and has been running it with his wife ever since.

“Being here for that long, it seems weird,” Schmidle says, “Kids who came here in strollers are driving now. They’re going off to college. We saw them as little kids and [I think] that’s pretty cool.”

***

The Wicker Basket
WHERE: 86 E. Main St. Suite B (Kings Supermarket shopping center), Mendham
TELEPHONE NUMBER: 973-543-7279
HOURS: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Closed on Sundays
CUISINE: Fresh deli, salad, grill items, breakfast sandwiches and bagels
LIQUOR: No
PAYMENT: Cash only
PRICE RANGE: Breakfast, $1.75 to $7.50; salads, $3.95 to $7.50; sandwich and wraps, $4.95
CATERING: Yes
ATMOSPHERE: A great little hometown deli
PARKING: Large lot
OWNERS: Glenn and Mary Ellen Schmidle

What Is the Most Dangerous Animal in the World? (Better Luck Next Time, Sharks)

Find the article here: http://flisted.com/84026/what-is-the-most-dangerous-animal-in-the-world-better-luck-next-time-sharks/

Jaws is a really good movie and it made Steven Spielberg a star. After its release, a lot of people were afraid to go back in the water, and for good reason. But sharks really aren’t THAT bad. I mean, they made Shark Week for us.

And as it happens, they’re even lightweights at Sea World, losing out in terms of being an ice cold murderer to… jellyfish. Which animal is most likely to ruin your sh*t?

Well, jellyfish kill around 100 people each year to a shark’s paltry (laughable, even) 30-100. I mean, seriously, even bees are more dangerous than sharks, as bees cause over 400 deaths each year. Do they have a Bee Week? They do not. Bee Movie, certainly though.

More impressive still are the dangers of scorpions, which kill at least 5000 people each year. You’ll never guess number one, though. Unless you’ve read about Africa in the past, I don’t know, ten years.

The high number of deaths that come as a result of mosquito bites are those mostly in Africa that carry diseases such as Malaria. Mosquitoes by far outrank the number 2 most dangerous animals in number of deaths, causing over 2 million deaths every year!

Snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, and elephants also kill more people than sharks.

Asian, Big-Boobed Queen, Minka, Looks Sad, Bored With Her Job

Find the article here: http://flisted.com/84033/asian-big-boobed-queen-minka-looks-sad-bored-with-her-job/

Number one Asian big-boobed queen, Minka, doesn’t look like she’s enjoying her job of being porn star goddess anymore. In a recent, I guess you could call it, movie shot, Minka is seen looking generally disinterested and bored as she, um, goes to work. The glitz, the glamor of having 60 pounds of silicone strapped to the front of you – where had it gone? Minka did not know. Sad, sad picture, after the jump.

Minka has never really looked excited in her job. While some porn stars will at least make the effort to sound like they love what they’re doing (See: Ava Divine), Minka has always had more of a “look-at-me” quality to her. But recently, her heart just is not in it. Just take a look at her here. I know she’s not getting any younger, but still. It shouldn’t be depressing to watch.

Real Heroes: Firefighter Review

I really wanted to love this game. Firefighters are pretty much the unsung heroes of our time, and the idea of a first person firefighting game for the Wii is a highly appealing concept that could really set the Wii ablaze (Sorry, bad pun) if pulled off effectively. But alas, Real Heroes: Firefighter is anything but heroic, as many contributing factors make it just your average Wii game with a few shining moments here or there but not enough to burn a hole in the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere (Sorry again, no more fire puns, I promise).

Let’s start off with the graphics, as they’re sure to be a sore point for this game. I’ve never been a graphics whore in the past and if the graphics on a great game are subpar, then I’ll usually turn a blind eye to them and note the game’s other stellar qualities instead. But this game seriously looks like a Nintendo 64 game; better stated, this game seriously looks like Goldeneye 64, which wouldn’t be so bad if so much of the gameplay didn’t rely on scoping out the background for what you have to do next. There were instances where I seriously had no idea what I was doing because the graphics are so last (last) gen, which led me to be frustrated as the game clearly tells you what you’re SUPPOSED to be doing, but since so many objects blend into the background, I had a hard time deciphering how exactly I was supposed to do it. All this made me want to do was put the game down and let the building burn to a crisp, as it really didn’t matter to me after awhile since I wound up getting so frustrated in the end.

But the graphics aren’t the only reason why I was frustrated, as the clunky controls added to my overall dissatisfaction as well. The reason why a FPS like Halo works (Even though I hate it) is that the control sticks really aren’t all that far apart on the X-Box controller, making aiming and moving around not much of a problem and easy to pick up and play after only a few rounds of fragging. But using a Wiimote and nunchuck combo just doesn’t bare the same results as many times with Real Heroes: Firefighter, if I didn’t point the Wiimote directly at the sensor, my character would be shooting water aimlessly all over the place instead of where I intended to shoot. Never is this more of a problem than when you’re trying to rescue people from a burning room and you’re spraying everywhere but at the flames themselves. You have no idea how many times I was burned to bits just because I wasn’t hitting what I really wanted to hit. It’s aggravating because I was really trying, and the more I seemed to try, the less I seem to hit. Arg!

Also aggravating is the fact that sometimes, I had no idea what the game wanted me to do next, as the arrow that shows you where to go, while helpful, only achieves so much. One example of arrow malfunction is when I was supposed to clear a doorway so my partner could get into the room, but no matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t figure out how to do it. A dresser was blocking the doorway, but I couldn’t push, break, or shoot it with my water, so I had no idea how I was to go about moving it, even though the arrow kept pointing towards the dresser the entire time. In fact, I STILL don’t know how to open that door. My poor partner is still standing outside the building somewhere while I’m writing this article, stranded because of poor communication with the player.

But that’s not to say that everything about this game bothers me, as it does have some plusses that truly save the day. The objectives, for one (besides the ones you get stuck at), are pretty fun, as you’ll be tasked with doing everything from rescuing workers from a flaming building, to breaking down doors with an ax, to getting on an actual fire truck and shooting out flames from the top of it. You know, fireman stuff.

And surprisingly, one thing that this game isn’t lacking, even though your only villain here is fire, is variety, and it gives you enough objectives to make you want to continue playing—until you get stuck, of course. Also, the voice work is commendable, as James Marsters (Better known as Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Futurama’s John Di Maggio, and comedian, Jaime Kennedy, add nice little perks to the game if you can actually pick out their voices.

Not only that, but the fire is actually a pretty formidable foe and it’s really quite scary when it starts exploding out of control all over the rooms, hitting the ceiling, walls and floor in an instant just when you think you’ve got everything under control. If this is what real firefighting is like, then hats off to the boys and girls in yellow and black for not soiling their suits every time they go on a mission, as even in a game with poor visuals like this one, the fire is pretty intimidating as it snakes around the halls and floors.

All in all, though, with confusing graphics, sloppy controls, and difficult to complete objectives, Real Heroes: Firefighting doesn’t reach the spiraling heights that you’re hoping it will. But it’s still a promising introduction from upstart company, Conspiracy, all the same, and the price is certainly right at only thirty dollars. I’d like to see what they could do with a bigger budget and a few more folks on their team. A sequel with more money backing it could definitely bear great things.

Forget Guitar Hero 5, I Want Christian Rock For The PC! Yeah!

Guitar Hero not Christian Rock enough for you? Then the Family Christian Store has the perfect game for you. It’s JAMBand, which, if you asked me what I THOUGHT that could be, I’d probably think something along the lines of Phish or the Grateful Dead, but nope, JAMBand has all of your favorite Christian Rock bands including Avalon, DC Talk, and um...other bands, too! JAMBand supports up to four singers and two musicians which is actually kind of cool, and it uses peripherals already on the market, such as G Hero guitars, drum sets, and microphones.

Not present though are Christian Rock bands that are skirting the lines, like As I Lay Dying, Flyleaf, and P.O.D. My thoughts on all this though? Well, judging by all of the commercials I see on TV for Christian Rock compilations and seeing the huge audiences that show up to them, I guess there’s actually a pretty big market for it, so this may not be such a bad idea after all. I mean, I wouldn’t play the game, but I don’t live in the Midwest, either, so yeah. The game comes out on August 25th (The day after my birthday!) and will be available for the PC. No word on whether this is going to come out for the consoles but I pretty much damn well doubt it. Check out the clip below.