Iconic eats, Jersey style

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
So what is Jersey cuisine? Ask around and most will say a taylor ham, egg & cheese sandwich on a bun. Not just any bun but 1 of those crusty on the outside, airy on the inside buns. Butter is optional.

Yesterday we went to get us a ripper. Rutt's Hut was our final destination. It's just a stone's throw from where we are staying. I had my first dog there way back in the 70s. Vrai was a first time visitor. It's interesting when someone say, "Oh, you gotta go to So & So and get you a fillintheblank". If you have never been there you start to build an image in your mind of what you think the place would look like based on the name or the food it serves. Think of a German restaurant called Hanzel's. You think it would be housed in some Bavarian looking cottage.

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Rutt's Hut's menu is all over the place. But the dog is their staple. It's served with a homemade relish that goes well with a deep fried hotdog. We just split 1 in order to say we had it. I could have easily eaten a few myself but in the end it's a forcemeat floating in hot oil. Not the best thing to be chomping on health wise. After eating at the counter we popped our heads into the restaurant and bar section of the building. It looks like nothing has been updated since the 1960s and that is what gives it it's character. Perhaps we need to stop on our way out of town for a going away present.

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So with our appetizer consumed, we then headed out for dinner. I picked a pizzeria because New Jersey. I normally would have picked 1 of the pizza joints in Nutley, NJ. Most serve up a classic thin crust, Jersey tomato pie. This is how the urban dictionary describes Nutley:
[FONT=&quot]Think guidos, fake tans, big hair, great Italian food and pizza. [/FONT]

Nutley use to have an annual pizza contest for local bragging rights. The contest led to the 2005 Nutley Pizza War. But a lot of people go to the Star Tavern in Orange. I figured if so many people like it, why not give it a try. Getting to the restaurant we took the scenic route through idyllic north Newark, NJ. I lost count of the number of double parked cars. Needless to say we wormed our way around a gritty urban area until we reached our final destination. We got an everything pie, anchovies included. It was a thin crust pie with sauce and toppings all the way to the edge. It lacks that pizza crust look. I have to say that I still prefer a Nutley pizza. Jersey pizza is still the best outside of crossing an ocean. I also have to give props to Anna's in Williamsburg, VA and Isabella's in Baltimore's Little Italy section as having equal to or better than Jersey pizza. For a chain pizza you can't go wrong with Blaze or Mod Pizza. Both of those use a beehive pizza oven to quick cook your meal.

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So I guess it will be salads until we reach New England and begin Lobsterpalooza 2017. My goal is to get a lobster as heavy as my bowling ball. Served with real butter of course.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Just to show how serious they take pizza in NJ. Someone died recently and this is the flower arrangement they made for his funeral. I #### you knot.

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vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Rutt's Hutt is not what I was expecting. I thought it would be some road shack with dogs and that's it.

No.

It's in a proper building - albeit one that hasn't been renovated since 1942. They have counter service only and no seats - you stand at the tables to eat. The menu was all over the place: deepfried hotdogs (aka "Rippers"), beef goulash (the simple stuff like my mom used to make), broiled seafood platter, roast duck, and on and on. You can see the "kitchen", diner style.

The ripper was good, not something I'd eat all the time, but split with Monello as an appetizer was perfect.

Attached is a restaurant and bar that looks like something out of a 1970's movie about longshoreman. I think Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about it. Seriously unfancy and blue collar. I thought about calling off the pizza and having dinner there instead. Everyone always recommends schmincy restaurants for us to try - "Oh, best steakhouse!" "Amazing service and beautiful decor!" We don't care about those places. We like to eat at restaurants with personality and character, that have been around for awhile and are interesting, and where the locals hang out. We want something you can't get just anywhere, and yes indeed you can get a $60 steak with immaculate surroundings and obsequious service anywhere. But you can't get a ripper just any old where. :biggrin:

Tonight we're going to my favorite, Belmont Tavern, for my favorite dish Chicken Savoy. Belmont Tavern is like those old school bar/restaurants that your granddad used to hang out at after work for a beer, then he'd take your grandmom there for supper on a Friday night. Everybody knows everybody else, and the waitress calls you "hon". Where you're pretty sure the local goombahs are in the corner plotting their next heist.

Chicken Savoy is chicken pieces that have been browned in oil, then you pour red wine vinegar over them, top with grated parmesan, and stick them in the oven to finish cooking. SO good!! At Belmont Tavern it's almost the law that you have to get a side of spaghetti with everything. It's served family style, with enough for at least two people.

Monello gets sad because so much has changed in his home town since he was little Beaver, but I don't have that frame of reference, so I can think it's cool in a gritty urban sort of way. :yay:
 
So what is Jersey cuisine? Ask around and most will say a taylor ham, egg & cheese sandwich on a bun. Not just any bun but 1 of those crusty on the outside, airy on the inside buns. Butter is optional.

I believe the 'bun' you are referring to is a Kaiser roll. Fresh baked every morning. I like my sammich with a fried egg cheese, bacon and ketchup, more of a Long Island version, but the NJ version is just as good! Sometimes I get it with breakfast sausage instead of the bacon.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
We returned to the scene of the crime yesterday. We went in to get drinks and avoid the mid 90 degree temperatures. We chatted up a few locals. The talk was pizza, restaurants, traffic, food, corn on the cob and where everyone is from. I should have taken a few more pictures inside. Lots of the joints in this area sport their 1960 style decor. It gives it character while denoting a certain era of the past. ANd we had to get 2 more dogs.

This is the menu that appears behind the bar. Who knows when the original menus were put up. Only thing to change over the years is the prices.

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vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
ANd we had to get 2 more dogs.

In my effort to lose some of this weight, I only ate half of my dog and Monello ate the rest.

Unfortunately, after dinner Monello took his mom and me to Holsten's for ice cream, which pretty much negated my efforts for the day. Holsten's is where Tony Soprano got whacked in the series finale, and they have a lot of memorabilia on the walls and for sale. It's an old school diner and ice cream shop, with an enormous triple case of chocolates and candies.

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SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Attached is a restaurant and bar that looks like something out of a 1970's movie about longshoreman. I think Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about it. Seriously unfancy and blue collar. I thought about calling off the pizza and having dinner there instead. Everyone always recommends schmincy restaurants for us to try - "Oh, best steakhouse!" "Amazing service and beautiful decor!" We don't care about those places. We like to eat at restaurants with personality and character, that have been around for awhile and are interesting, and where the locals hang out. We want something you can't get just anywhere, and yes indeed you can get a $60 steak with immaculate surroundings and obsequious service anywhere. But you can't get a ripper just any old where. :biggrin:

Agreed. If you're in New England and want lobster or 'steamuhs' - you don't go to Legal Seafoods in Boston - you go out to Ipswich or Gloucester and get it in some dive.
In the fancy restaurants, they'll mess it up trying to make it "authentic" - but up on the North Shore - it already IS authentic.
 
:lol: Not from NJ, this is just as common in NY/LI.
The only thing I've never had, and never even heard of, is a Fat Sandwich.
I've had Tastycake but prefer Entenmann's.
Visiting a diner after midnight was a very common thing to do. Worked 3rd shift. We'd check in at midnight on Monday morning then head to the diner for b'fast.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Jersey is junk food heaven, that's for sure. They don't seem to consider the vegetable here, unless it's fried onions and peppers.
 
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