Diner honored by Beard Foundation

Category: Eat in Diners

Published Date

Written by Randy Garbin

Hard to get to, hardly open, but always worth the effort to visit, Mustache Bill's is probably the best diner in New Jersey. Bill Smith serves up not only great food, but a sparkling, classic diner that is otherwise disappearing from Jersey landscape.

Mustache Bill’s drawing crowds to Barnegat Light

By SCOTT CRONICK

Mustache Bill's owner Bill Smith displays some of his menu items, including the Clyclops (top right). Photo by: Bill Gross

The only things Mustache Bill's Diner needs are bigger plates. Whether Owner Bill Smith is stacking his signature pancakes, smothering home fries in cream chipped beef or building a monstrous cheesesteak, Mustache Bill's certainly doesn't skimp on portion size.

But it's Smith's creativity, great flavors and knack for comfort food that earned his Barnegat Light diner one of the most prestigious culinary awards in the country.

Earlier this year, Smith broke his routine of wearing his diner's T-shirt and khakis, rented a tux and headed to New York, where his restaurant was honored as an "American Classic" by the James Beard Foundation. Even Smith was surprised that his unassuming island diner known for its basic-yet-extraordinary American cuisine would receive such an accolade.

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