Tony & Ruth's Steaks

Across the Delaware from Philadelphia, in a Camden neighbourhood that has seen hard decades, a small counter on North 8th Street has been feeding people for generations. Tony & Ruth's Steaks is the kind of place that does not appear on lists and does not need to: a few stools, a griddle, a menu of breakfast plates and sandwiches, and the steady commerce of a neighbourhood that eats here in the morning and comes back at lunch. Anthony Bourdain brought Parts Unknown to New Jersey and made a point of going to the towns the state's reputation overlooks, and this is exactly such a place — unglamorous, longstanding, and quietly essential.

The breakfast is where to start: eggs with rice and beans, a combination that speaks to the mix of Southern and Puerto Rican families who have made this part of Camden home, served hot and cheap with toast and coffee. Then there is the cheesesteak, and here is a useful thing to know: Camden sits in the same orbit as Philadelphia, and a cheesesteak on this side of the river is a real cheesesteak — thin-sliced beef, onions, melted cheese, on a soft roll, made to order on the same griddle that fried the eggs an hour ago. Order one and judge for yourself.

Come in the morning or at lunch, when the counter is full of regulars, and bring cash. It is a working room in a working town, and it does not dress anything up.

Bourdain's gift was to grant places like this the dignity that television usually reserves for white tablecloths. Tony & Ruth's is not a destination in the glossy sense, but it is a place where you can eat well for very little among people who have been doing the same thing for years — and that, on Bourdain's terms, is worth a trip.