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.

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