Barnacle Bill's (Rumson, NJ)

Our family usual is steamers, zuke, and a salad for my wife. Steamers are always good, wherever you get them, but market prices can get crazy. Sometimes we’re looking at close to a $20 app. Burgers are our usual mains with a basket of fries for the table. (hold the chips)

Other real good mains include the tilefish francaise, and believe it or not the sweet and sour shrimp. As we’ve said before a lot of the staff is, I thought, Chinese… but others have said Thai. In any event they do a great version of the American Chinese staple . Once I asked for Chinese Broccoli and they had that as well, but that was many years ago.

Also, their “famous” drink is the Long Island Iced tea in the same pint glass. I’m not a LIT fan, but I end up getting one or two each year to remind me of that fateful night where I swore them off forever.

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Someone slipped, fell, and sued.

And that was the end of the monk, the monk, and that was the end of the monk…

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pretty much same reason they did away with the dock and dine…

There were a few peanut shell cases.

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My friend had somebody put sugar in his gas tank at BB’s dock and dine, had to clean all his fuel lines. Apparently the marina customers were revolting, and decided to use a little self help.

Then of course there were the people who got wasted at BBs, got in their boat, then ran into another boat at night and killt somebody, but that’s another story.

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Went for lunch with mom today. She had the burger and I went with a crab cake sandwich. All excellent. And did try a LIT. Very good!

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Found myself there again for dinner last night. They made right by a small mistake:

My mom ordered the scallops fra diavolo but the waitress thought she said seafood fra diavolo, and that is what was served. My mom was content with eating that, and she said as much. The waitress apologized profusely. It really was not a big deal. We ended up ordering dessert and coffee following entrees. So at the end of the meal, the waitress came over and said that the seafood is $2 more than the scallops but because it was already in the computer, they would leave it and give us the dessert and coffee on the house, which was like a $10 value. Very good business.

And by the way, the desserts here are fantastic. The brownie and tollhouse pie, deadly. They even have chocolate cookie ice cream, which is pretty unique.

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Since @gcaggiano brought this thread back up I actually had lunch here on Sunday, yes I got the burger and yes the cheese “sauce” was a shadow of it’s old self. (as @corvette_johnny pictured above) The burger itself was great and the cheese had “decent” flavor, but it was no where near the rich and thick sauce of the past. Something has dramatically changed and I will say the Pour House’s cheese sauce is far superior.

As @gcaggiano mentioned the LIT was superb! Probably the best LIT I have ever had, never had it before but remember his post and tried it, outstanding.

A side note, I never realized they did true steamers here, rather than clams on the grill like Pour House, there was a couple orders at the table and people complained they were not cooked thoroughly. While I love clams on the grill, steamers gross me out! The fried oysters were another big hit as well.

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There is only one word which can adequately describe their LIT: “LETHAL”.

Last night’s was especially deadly. It was like the bartender was angry. I could actually taste the vodka breaking through. Some might not enjoy that, but I certainly do. I do not remember a place actually delivering me an extreme buzz. They nailed it. Two of those babies and even with an app, meal, dessert/coffee, I was knocked out.

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Not a steamer fan? I like them. They are freaking expensive as hell right now unfortunately.

I am not sure why barnacles went the route they did. That sauce is not great. For being an iconic burger joint, you think they would try to keep things on the up and up. The ph/SD sauce is winning now. Barnacles still gets the “fun factor” but it is a shame to see them get cheap on loyal customers

Alright Greg, you are being issued your first challenge since joining Hungry Onion. As I mentioned in my post I had a LIT at BB’s specifically because you posted how good they were and well…it was a Sunday Afternoon and I wasn’t going to hit the martinis. Sooooooooooooooooo, last night I was at the Pour House (no I didn’t get a burger) and I decided to give their LIT a try and…it’s pretty dam good too.

So your challenge Sir, is to go to the Pour House try their burger with the cheese “sauce” AND have an LIT and give us your feedback on both. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

(I did have a “shark bites” appetizer at the Pour House which was very good!!!)

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I will try my best to accomplish this task! :smiley:

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I think for a fair comparison you need to try the barnacles cheddar sauce. It looks like you got American, if my eyes don’t deceive me.

I’ve never had an LIT at PH. Any good?

So after the atl fireworks I had some munchies and ubered over for some fried shrimp. Oh and I dusted off two LIT and a Mai thai. Let’s say I left feeling pretty good! It is amazing that there really aren’t too many “late” night spots that serve a full menu after ten. (Sit down spots with liquor and passable food.) This is one that’s decent.

For 21.95 these arent cheap or the best buy there but they are pretty tasty. As some of you know, I normally get the cheddar burger, but I wanted to change it up and little and was more on a “liquid dinner.”

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Two LIT’s AND a Mai Tai? Where you carried out of there???

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Nah, I’m a heavyweight lol. I was definitely feeling no pain though :smile:

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Love their fried shrimp. That pic has me drooling!

Went to BB’s tonight with mom and Justin for an “end of summer” dinner. I didn’t take any food pics because it was a table of “usuals”. I had the baked seafood combo, mom had scallops Portofino, and Justin had the burger with cheddar sauce and a French onion soup (he thought Sitting Duck’s was better). Appetizer was the fried zucchini while I polished off two LIT’s. Justin didn’t believe me about the LIT and started out with a beer. He took one sip of mine and quickly switched over. He loved the burger BTW. Added bacon to it.

Sometimes they taste like pure alcohol at BB’s. Sometimes it is masked. I actually thought my first tonight was on the weak side, but it hit me as they always do. I walked out of there feeling no pain (and pretty sleepy as I type this).

I swear, one of these nights I want to take an Uber there and just just knock back three or four of those without worrying. I’m not a lightweight by any means, but the BB LIT gets to me.

Side note: everyone needs to do themselves a favor and get a basket of fries and ask them to pour a side of that cheese sauce over them. DELICIOUS. Steak fries were crispy and covered in that luscious sauce. Totally worth the $5.95. I always walk out of there feeling stuffed.

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Sunset over the Shrewsbury River tonight

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I think we need to stop posting about BB lol. It is too hard to get a seat at the bar or a table there. I’m just messing around. I love this place. Greg, if I could tell you how many times I’ve been here you would laugh! I’ve been there dockside alone hundreds of times. I’ve grown up here my entire life and I’ve been going there forever. They keep it simple, fairly priced and the decor is unique. I miss the peanuts. I wish you could have gotten here before asshole lawyers ruined it. It was truly an epic spot but it is still a gem.

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