My 1st visit to a NJ classic...RUTT'S HUT
It's unfathomable that I've never gone here before today. It's a place of legend. And within MINUTES of where I grew up. Rutt's Hut in Clifton, NJ. They're famous for their hot dogs...so that's exactly what I got today. One hot dog, please. Though I just learned via online research that they're called "rippers" here. I knew i'd be right in the area shopping today, so last night when I had everything SUMMER on my mind, it dawned on me to once and for all go here. This joint is CLASSIC AMERICANA...an ideal symbolic place to begin what I'm intent on making a classic summer.
If only I knew how to get there. I'd meant to find it online before I left, but I forgot. So ALL I had to go with was that I always saw a big sign for it while driving the connecting highway ramp between Rt. 21 North and Rt. 3 West. My ENTIRE life i've seen this sign, yet never went to the actual place. SO...it was a fun little jaunt figuring out how to get there, as you could SEE it from the highway, but not GET to it. I used my little head, though, and drove toward the general area...and found it rather easily.
It IS out of the way, though...which makes it more fun, if you ask me. Reading about it online tonight, I'm glad to see i'm not the only one who thinks so. Also reassuring was reading about how OTHERS, too, arrived confused about exactly how to actually GET their food. I sat in the parking staring at the building, which seemed to have multiple entrances. Ding, ding...I was right. There's a restaurant part, a bar part, and then the hot dog part...which is standing room only. It's just SO delightfully old school...right down to the menu board, like something you see on the boardwalk. It opened 80 years ago...and looks just about the same as it did in 1928. There's a huge parking lot where I ate my dog while leaning against the car under the strong 5pm sun, staring into space. Perfect!
I was a tad alarmed when I saw the dog...thick and meaty. I like Sabretts...slender. So I was stunned when I bit into it and it DIDN'T have that nauseating meaty taste. How, i'm not sure...and don't care. This hot dog was among the BEST I'VE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE!! I'm appalled I've been so close to this mouth-watering joy my entire life without indulging. Now they're called RIPPERS because they're all burnt and cut up on the outside...the meat ripping. They're deep fried, you see. Apparently, there's "cremators," too...EXTRA burnt. I'll have to get that one next time. I'm all about everything being well done, thank you. So tough on the outside, tender in the middle...yet without that UGH meaty taste. YUM! How I didn't go back inside for a 2nd is beyond me. The mustard was fantastic, too. I will now make this a regular stop throughout the summer! I urge anybody nearby who's never been to Rutt's to do the same.
If only I knew how to get there. I'd meant to find it online before I left, but I forgot. So ALL I had to go with was that I always saw a big sign for it while driving the connecting highway ramp between Rt. 21 North and Rt. 3 West. My ENTIRE life i've seen this sign, yet never went to the actual place. SO...it was a fun little jaunt figuring out how to get there, as you could SEE it from the highway, but not GET to it. I used my little head, though, and drove toward the general area...and found it rather easily.
It IS out of the way, though...which makes it more fun, if you ask me. Reading about it online tonight, I'm glad to see i'm not the only one who thinks so. Also reassuring was reading about how OTHERS, too, arrived confused about exactly how to actually GET their food. I sat in the parking staring at the building, which seemed to have multiple entrances. Ding, ding...I was right. There's a restaurant part, a bar part, and then the hot dog part...which is standing room only. It's just SO delightfully old school...right down to the menu board, like something you see on the boardwalk. It opened 80 years ago...and looks just about the same as it did in 1928. There's a huge parking lot where I ate my dog while leaning against the car under the strong 5pm sun, staring into space. Perfect!
I was a tad alarmed when I saw the dog...thick and meaty. I like Sabretts...slender. So I was stunned when I bit into it and it DIDN'T have that nauseating meaty taste. How, i'm not sure...and don't care. This hot dog was among the BEST I'VE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE!! I'm appalled I've been so close to this mouth-watering joy my entire life without indulging. Now they're called RIPPERS because they're all burnt and cut up on the outside...the meat ripping. They're deep fried, you see. Apparently, there's "cremators," too...EXTRA burnt. I'll have to get that one next time. I'm all about everything being well done, thank you. So tough on the outside, tender in the middle...yet without that UGH meaty taste. YUM! How I didn't go back inside for a 2nd is beyond me. The mustard was fantastic, too. I will now make this a regular stop throughout the summer! I urge anybody nearby who's never been to Rutt's to do the same.
posted by Gregoire at 10:11 PM
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