Dinner is Served – Where to Eat Out

Charlie Brown’s Steak House in Old Tappan

BY ANDREW SMITH

This month I decided to return to a place I haven’t been to in a long time; Charlie Brown’s Steak House in Old Tappan on Old Tappan Road. For years I would bring my mother there for her birthday dinner. It is always clean and orderly. The bar has its own room which makes it quiet for family dining. They also have a wide selection of beverages on tap.

The menu has a broad selection but has changed over the years. My favorite used to be the barbecued beef sandwich with French fries and coleslaw but it is no longer on the menu. So I had to make a big decision as to what to have. Not being a steak eater I seldom venture out into that arena. The fish and chips looked nice but I wasn’t in the mood. Then I noticed their special of a cheeseburger for only $1 if you get it with the salad bar so I jumped on that with my usual tall seltzer.

I began my journey by making myself a Cobb salad as the bar had all the ingredients. I tried their honey lime dressing which was delicious and covered very nicely. My second trip I tried out a host of other offerings including their red potato salad which was very nice and I used some blue cheese dressing on the salad which was creamy and had lots of chunks of cheese. I found that they had something I had never seen before at a salad bar which was Norwegian cucumber and onion salad. They also had corn relish and whole curd cottage cheese. I have to add at this point that the last time I was there they had the low fat kind which was quite tasteless but this time it was the real thing and was very full-flavored.

About this time my cheeseburger was waiting on the table for me. For being well done it came quickly. It was nicely-sized and very moist and tasty. I decided to make one more lap around the salad bar for some things I hadn’t tried yet and this time I used the ranch dressing which was also very creamy and tasty.

For dessert I had a piece of their cheese cake. It was thick and rich much like cream cheese. The whole feast came to only $11.76, a real bargain by any measure. I was never made to feel rushed and the help was always around if I needed them so I recommend the experience.