Newark, 7am
Let me just start this post off by saying…I love Hobby’s Delicatessen in Newark. I love the food, I love the staff, and I love the owners, Michael & Marc Brummer, who treat my wife and me like family every time we walk in the door. We hadn’t been since our wedding back in October and had been craving a #5 and a matzo ball soup, so we decided to stop in last week before Crisi’s flight to Nashville and it was better than I remembered, like it is all the time.
Michael & Marc appeared as guests on my old show, Greetings From the Garden State, and beyond the fact that it was one of our most popular episodes over the four years we ran that show, the experience talking with them was like no other. These guys are the real deal. They’ve shepherded the iconic Hobby’s since the late ‘80’s after buying into their father’s (more on him in a second) business. They’ve seen the ebbs and flows of Newark and the community around Branford Place. They watched NJPAC and the Prudential Center get built. They described walking over crack vials to get to work, watching Newark employees sweep them up during the day, and then walking back to their cars at the end of the day and the sidewalks being covered again. These guys are tough. They’ve seen shit. They work their asses off every day. And yet, they are two of the warmest, most welcoming people I’ve gotten the pleasure of knowing since I started doing this type of work.
Don’t even get me started on the food though. The corned beef, the pastrami, the pickles, the baked goods, everything hits every single time. I’ve never had a bad bite here. It’s simple food that feeds your soul. No frills and nothing gimmicky.
And when Michael & Marc talks about how you can be sitting next to a Supreme Court justice, a grandmother and her granddaughter, a Devils executive, and just some guy from the neighborhood. It truly is a place that levels the playing field and welcomes everyone.
I got to Hobby’s the morning of our recording around 7am (after struggling to find parking after the most recent blizzard we had here in NJ) and got a little glimpse behind the scenes as the brothers and their staff worked to fill catering orders, early carry out orders, and a few people that came in for breakfast. They were making salads, pastas, chicken parm, salads, everything both to send out and to get prepared for in the dining room. I made plans to go home and come back to give myself a little break and to get some shots of the dining room. It wound up being a little slow by the time I got back but I got to have a hot pastrami on rye. Worth it!
Do yourself a favor. Go to Hobby’s. Order anything on the menu, you won’t be disappointed. Say hi to Sue behind the register (she lint rolled my hoodie that was covered in Yogi’s hair). Say hi to Liz if she’s your server. Marc will inevitably stop by your table to schmooze, just do not let him catch you eating a sandwich with a knife and fork. Michael will be in the kitchen, running food, but will definitely stop by your table and check in. That’s the thing. No matter how busy they are, they always make time for their people.
I hope you feel as home there as I do.
And always remember as Michael says, “pastrami is damn good….corned beef too.”
