Saturday Night Cheeseburger

Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night Cheeseburger! Tonight’s host is Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionary, with special guest stars, The Duncester and Rutt’s Hut and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome tonight’s host, all the way from New Jersey, Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionary!

Okay, tonight's a special treat. Frequent guest star, The Duncester was telling me about Holsten's diner in New Jersey. It's the diner where they shot the final Sopranos episode and it turns out his mother-in-law lives nearby, so he's been there many times and told me they have great food, including cheeseburgers and said we should go out there sometime. So that's tonight's destination. And the Duncester is one of the few people I know who lives in the city and has a car, so we're driving out and don't have to mess with no stinking trains! I told The Duncester that I believe that outside of a cab or car service, this is the first time I've been in a car in traffic in the city. Another thing to cross off the bucket list...oh, wait, I don't have a bucket list. Nevermind.

And it's off we go into the wild blue yonder, towards New Jersey.

Wow, we're here already! Duncester sure makes good time on the road!

And speaking of The Duncester, here he is in front of the Diner. Okay, let's go in and see if it looks like it did from that Sopranos episode.

There's the counter, looks exactly the same. Bada bing, bada boom!

And here's the dining room, which also is spot on from the episode.

I wanted to sit at the famed, "Sopranos Booth" but there was a couple sitting there eating already. So we took the booth next to it and hoped they'd finish before we did, so we could get a few shots of it. The food came quickly! First up, a vanilla shake. One of the best shakes I've ever had!

And here's The Dunceter's cheeseburger and fries. Looks great! I like that they melt the cheese on both sides of the bun instead of on top of the burger, you get more cheese that way.

There were two other guests at the table, but I couldn't take their photos because they're in the witness protection plan, but here are their burgers. You may wonder where my burger is, well, since everybody else got burgers, I got a grilled cheese, it was so delicious I ate it before I had a chance to take a picture of it!

The infamous onion rings, made famous on the episode where Tony declares them, "Best in da state!" As soon as the waitress put the onion rings down, the couple left the booth, so we quickly went over to get some pictures.

And here it is, booth B-3, which eventually faded to black on the last episode of the Sopranos.

Here's the prop jukebox where Tony selected, "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.

The Duncester took a shot of me using an onion ring for a monocle, Mr. Peanut style.

And here's a shot with full Tripping With Marty effect! Thanks for the shots, Duncester!

On the way back to Manhattan, we made a pit stop at a place The Duncester said I needed to see, a classic New Jersey bar/restaurant called, Rutt's Hut. They're famous for their deep fried hot dog which is called, The Ripper.

Okay, time for a night in the Rutts.

Cash only, always the sign of a classic joint!

Here's the dining room, I love all the dark-stained wood in this place!

But we chose to sit at the bar in the back room.

This place is definitely old school!

I love the signage in here and can you believe the prices?

Here's the fresh mustard and relish that are made fresh on the premises.

And here's The Ripper with cheese on a fresh potato roll. It was crispy, decadent and delicious! Thanks to The Duncester for setting this up and driving us there, a classic and great Saturday Night Cheeseburger!

Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionary
1063 Broad Street
Bloomfield, New Jersey
973-338-709

Rutt’s Hut
417 River Rd.
Clifton, New Jersey
973-779-8615

Further Reading: Off The Broiler, Roadfood and Wikipedia.

Born under a bad sign,
With a blue moon in your eyes.

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