Bayonne and Jersey City outdoor dining news you can use.

(Zeppelin Hall's Blaue Speck burger, left. Kielbasa, right. Click to enlarge.)

First, to answer a commenter's question: When is American Masala's happy hour? Yes, their website reads they close at 3pm. No, they really close at 7pm. Though we're sure they can accommodate you with midday drinking as well. And just to remind you how good their hamburger is, it just got another shout-out from The New York Times.

As for Zeppelin Hall, we checked it out yesterday so now we can tell you a little more about the food. The sausages come from Schaller & Weber, our favorite upper east side German pork belly purveyor. The portions are worth the price - the dishes above were $10 each and all sausages and sandwiches come with fries that are otherwise $4 a plate on their own. And they're good. They're "best fries in Jersey City" good. We can't speak to the Kielbasa, but the char of the burger had a satisfying crunch and despite being served medium-well had a flavor that held up against the tender speck and crumbled blue cheese.

Ours was the first order of the day so we could understand our order taking a while to be ready, but once the grill was fired up service only seemed to slow. You may be surprised to know you can't order food from the bartenders or servers, you're instead encouraged to go outside and order and pay at the grill. On the plus side, this means you'll get your food faster, a thousand orders coming in at once would shut the kitchen down. On the downside, the table turnover getting up creates means once you get your food there may be nowhere to sit. We'll see how this evolves once the full kitchen is open. No schnitzel or desserts yet.

After the jump, details on free birthday dinners at Ten East and Bayonne's 2nd annual hot dog eating contest...

As we just discovered from our inbox, Ten East diners receive a $20 credit at the restaurant when they dine in on their birthday. That still won't get us back there. But if you're a frequent customer - we're talking to you Missy Eliott - it's worth joining their mailing list.

Bayonne's 2nd annual hot dog eating contest will take place July 25th at 1130am. The hot dogs are courtesy of Petredis which should make it interesting as they serve Sabrett dirty water dogs versus Nathan's which grills theirs. (No complaints though as we were raised on these, washing them down with Yoo-Hoo.) Alas this is not an IFOCE certified compeition as that might attract tourism and publicity to the town.

Comments

[allison]

I deem them best fries in JC as well. food came out ridiculously quick for me, even on opening night. so far only had chicken bratwurst and a separate side of fries. heard semi-decent report on the veggie burger, though the girl taking the order from my friend seemed depressed he ordered a veggie burger. we Germans love our meat.