Journal Square Pub and Krug's Tavern
Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night Cheeseburger! Starring Krug’s Tavern, with a special guest appearance by James Mollo at Journal Square Pub and featuring the Ready for Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now; please welcome our host, all the way from Newark, Krug’s Tavern!
Okay, we'll be taking the Path train to Jersey City to meet my friend, James Mollo at the Journal Square Tavern.
To the Path trains, Batman!
And through the magic of the internet you're spared what was a somewhat uneventful ride on the Path train. It's a pretty easy trip and takes about twenty minutes. Hello, Jersey City!
And here's where I'm meeting James, the Journal Square Pub. I met James here about a year ago, back when I was doing the MAD blog. Deja view!
There's a familiar face at this familiar bar...
My friend and yours, James Mollo! Alright, now the boozing can officially begin!
And on queue, Patty the friendly bartender strolls up with a bottle of Bud. Patty told me that someone from a Jersey City bar guide took her picture a while ago and she was wearing the same shirt. So, just so everyone on the internet knows, Patty has other shirts than this one!
It's a friendly place in here and loaded with characters. This gentleman calls himself Dux and broke out into spontaneous dances now and again during our visit at the pub.
Spellcheck alert!
After a couple of beers, the clock on the wall and my stomach said it was time to get a cheeseburger.
And we're off on the second road trip here on TWM, in case you missed the first one, here's the link to that one.
And we're Newark bound. James estimated it would be about a ten minute trip.
And he was right, ten minutes later here we are at Krug's Tavern. Looks like a nice neighborhood joint.
The bar's crowded...
So we chose to sit at one of the circular tables opposite the bar.
And here's super-cute and friendly, Chrissy serving up a couple pre-cheeseburger beers for us. Chrissy is not only on waitress duty, she's also bartending, so she had her hands full.
A photo hung over our table showed a bride and groom making out in front of Krug's Tavern from years ago. They've been on this block since 1932 and the family that owns the tavern is related to boxer Jake LaMotta, whom Robert De Niro portrayed in the film, "Raging Bull."
There's larger tables in the front room of the bar to sit at and enjoy dinner.
And here's a shot of the bar from the other end. While most of the people in here are all neighborhood locals, everyone was friendly to newcomers, James and I.
And here's Chrissy, busy in motion behind the bar.
And when I get back to the table, dinner is just about to be served!
And here's the burger, I got the Krug's "Taylor Ham" Burger, with cheddar cheese, grilled onions and it's topped with three grilled slices of Taylor Ham. Goddamn, that is one tasty looking burger!
Here's what James got, the prosciutto with fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers sandwich. It looks great too!
And here's the onion rings, which after I saw the size of the burger and James' sandwich, I don't know if we'll make much of a dent in.
The burger was great! after taking this bite though, I had to put it down and east it with a knife and fork, it was too big and messy to eat with my hands.
And after a couple beers for dessert, it was time to hit the road and take the train back to Manhattan.
The Meal
I got the Krug’s “Taylor Ham” Burger and we split an order of the onion rings. I ordered the burger with cheddar cheese and grilled onions and it’s topped with three slices of grilled Taylor Ham. It’s a twelve ounce burger and is packed in a soft, sesame bun and it was delicious. James got the prosciutto with fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers and it came on a fresh hero roll. He said the mozzarella tasted fresh and it was a wonderful presentation and sandwich. Both the burger and sandwich were so enormous that we barely made a dent in the onion rings, but the couple rings that I sampled were excellent.
Krug’s has been a Newark institution in the Ironbound Section since 1932. It's a nice little neighborhood bar and a friendly place where Frank Sinatra songs are most likely playing on the jukebox. They have five burgers on the pub menu including: a bacon cheeseburger, a pizza burger, a California burger, and the signature burger, the Krug’s Burger which is just a burger on a fresh sesame bun. There’s 20 sandwiches to choose from as well such as: Buffalo chicken, a double Italian hotdog, salami and cheese and a meatball parm. Seafood entrees include: fried shrimp, calamari, mussels and clam strips.
Cheeseburger Rating
Three Wimpy’s—a great burger in a classic place!
Krug’s Tavern
118 Wilson Ave.
Newark, NJ (Ironbound Section)
973-465-9795
Further Reading: You Don’t Know Jersey, A Hamburger Today and Newark Patch.
Rebel girl, Rebel girl,
Rebel girl you are the queen of my world.
Jersey City, Krug's Tavern, NJ, Newark, Sheridan Square Pub Posted on Sunday, April 8, 2012 at 10:28AM
Reader Comments (15)
Both Jersey bars look great though I would pick Krug's if given a choice. What a great burger and with that ham, a real HAMburger, and James ate a really great sandwich. The spelling check on that sign is hilarious,, I misspell all the time but "Accepect" and "Doller" is just too funny,,,,,great Saturday nite. Glad you are venturing out of Manhattan and maybe Montero's and "O'Connor's" in Brooklyn may get the Marty treatment in the near future?
two bars in one night, cool! hilarious spellcheck sign! and that monster burger looks great, but chrissy looks even better! lol!!
I spent a week in Jersey City one time, my girlfriend convinced me to run away from home, we were both 15 at the time. We stole food from the shops with a pair of pants for her to wear and slept in bathrooms, it was the early 60s until the cops dragged from Broad Street looking beat and disheveled but what a week that was. That's the only time I've been in Jersey City but it was great! Always wanted to go back but never did.
Yes, great to see you tripping out of Manhattan every so often. The Krug's exterior looks nice. I second visits to Montero's (again!) & O'Connors, plus Jackie's Fifth Amendment, Freddy's, Soccer Tavern, Capri Social Club & an early evening Sunny's. And some Sunset Park food.
@Al: It was a great Saturday Night Cheeseburger outside of the city! Krug's definitely puts the "ham" in hamburger! And I'll add those to to my list of places to go for sure!
@Booby D: I agree with you about Chrissy!
@Mykola Mick Dementiuk: That sounds like quite an adventure for a 15-year-old! Pretty wild story!
@onemorefoldedsunset: I'll definitely add all those to the list. Two of them that I want to hit soon is O'Connors and Sunny's, I went there on the bar crawl and loved the place! I'll let you know when I go!
Woah...talk about your massive meat....
It's all about the doller doller bill yo.
Damn good looking burger!
Happy Easter Daddio.
@Jaws: Massive meat indeed, ham on top of hamburger!
@csp: Yoe!
@"Boris:" A great burger indeed, happy Easter to you, Daddio!
Two classics ! ... I've been to JSP and like it .... Krug's reminds me of a few different Baltimore bars -- good stuff ! ...... and I hope places like this last forever and ever .......
@GENE: I remember that you've been to the JSP and Krug's Tavern seems to me to be like a classic Baltimore bar, you need to check it out on the next BBC tour!
I thought no sandwich could be more delicious looking than your burger, and then I saw James'.
@Biff: James said he sandwich was even better than it looked!
Be honest; the only reason you ate the rest of your burger with a fork and knife was because you didn't want to look like a slob in front of Chrissy. I'm not judging though; pretty sure I'd do the exact same thing if Chrissy was lurking about!
@JAZ: Ha ha ha! You are a wise man, my friend!