Rutt's Hutt - Review

Intro
Rutt's Hut - Recommended
417 River Rd
Clifton, NJ 07014
Phone: 973-779-8615

After recently having such a stupendously good, yet bad for you burger at Shake Shack I wanted to continue that taste good, feel bad feeling with hot dogs. Only one place comes to my mind that fits the bill - Rutt's Hut. Rutt's serves Jersey style hot dogs. What makes a Jersey dog you ask? Most dogs are boiled or grilled - jersey dogs are deep fried till they split open. Kinda felt bad about going here after having such wonderful artisanal cheeses at Bobolink, but I wanted hot dogs and I'm glad I went. Overall, I give the restaurant a 75/100.

My Menu
1) Hot Dog – Highly Recommended
2) French Fries with gravy – Recommended

Dish Comments
1) Very crispy and very oily on the outside and juicy on the inside. Buns are serviceable and don't interfere with the dog. Goes great with the mustard and/or relish that is housed in a tin box on the counter. Generally, I like a very rich, flavorful dog (ala Katz's dog) but there's something about having a dog with insanely crispy skin and juicy meat. Betcha can't eat just one - I had 3.
2) As the name implies, it's basically french fries coated with gravy. The gravy makes the fries soggy, but you know what...I don't care that much - it still works well. Again, usually I would prefer crispy fries but these fries drenched in gravy goes well with the dogs.

Overall Restaurant Experience (75/100)

• Food 7.5/10 – Deep fried hot dogs...they're cholesterol-rific.
• Service 7.0/10 – You order the food yourself at a counter and the dogs come out immediately. When it's busy though, the fellas there are like the soup nazi so you definitely need to know what you want.
• Atmosphere 8.0/10 – You order the food, get it and stand around a couple counters to eat. Place looks like the inside of a bathroom (not because of the dirtiness), but for the white tiles. Everyone in there is male and gets three dogs and either frenchie (code for french fries) gravy or cheese, chili, or onion rings. Kinda like a men's club for eating, with no one interacting - maybe it's the shame of eating such a bad for you dog by your lonesome. For some reason, this works perfectly for me when I'm eating hot dogs.
• Price 8.5/10 – Hot dogs and frenchie gravy are $1.80 each. Great bang for the buck considering the dogs are larger than Nathan's and also cheaper.