Fitzgerald’s 1928

I’m still a little confused how the liquor licenses work in and around the Montclair area. I know they are limited (and expensive) and that they’re like the golden ticket to actually make a go of it as a viable restaurant. After all, that’s where the margins are in a business with otherwise slim margins. Now, Fitzgerald’s 1928 is just over the Montclair line in Glen Ridge. A town — if my Googling is correct — with exactly one plenary retail consumption license (a license specifically for bars / restaurants), and Fitzgerald’s is it. That’s crazy and seemingly a pretty cool and special advantage for this long-standing eatery (opened circa 2008).

With all that, it seems like this joint remains a relative under-the-radar bar and restaurant in and around town. It’s only about a half mile down Bloomfield Ave. from Montclair’s downtown main drag, but sits tucked away on a block just off the Avenue in a non-descript spot across from a sports field and behind the Glen Ridge police department. If you didn’t know what you were looking for, you might miss it. But, bigger point, when the youngsters back for break from college and whatnot think of going out to meet friends in the area, this one never comes up. Despite its proximity to the other, more popular bars in town like Just Jake’s, Egan’s and Porta. (Tierney’s apparently being more a bar for olds like Mr. Hipster.) This is all to say that Fitzgerald’s is never the first thought when it comes to a drinking experience, and was, in fact, a completely unknown entity to Hipster Jr., who is now of legal drinking age and always looking with his friends for new and exciting places to imbibe.

I think it all comes down to vibe and access. On top of its underdog position in the regional bar scene, this place really feels more like a family restaurant than it does a drinking establishment. There used to be a restaurant and bar on Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair called The Office. It was where you brought your picky children who ate nothing but chicken fingers, burgers and pizza, but you still wanted an adult beverage without having to BYOB it. This isn’t quite that — it’s much nicer and isn’t filled with tables of youth soccer teams — but it still feels more like the place you bring your two children for a 6:30 dinner when you just don’t feel like grabbing take-out or hitting that same diner again. So, less a bar than it is a restaurant with a bar in it. What they used to call a bar & grill, I guess.

I do find the space a little weird during the daylight hours. The natural light sources are few, so being seated anywhere past the first quarter of the space is going to sink you into darkness. We did sit sat s table out front once on a nice day at the edge of COVID, and it was very pleasant. But, at night, the darkness is less of an issue. The service is generally great and the atmosphere is family-ish and chipper. There is a physical bar, but it’s one of those kind of long Irish Pub types that has very little space to maneuver outside of the stools that sit in front of it. In other words, it’s not a bad place to hang with one or two other people, but you’re not going to go with a group and have room to gather and cavort while standing around. The menu is pretty typical American fare. We always start with the giant $14 pretzel with ground mustard and beer cheese dip — which seems like a pretty steep price to pay for a piece of twisted dough, but is damned tasty.

For mains, I’ve gotten a couple of different sandwiches there: the French dip and the fried chicken sandwich. Both are decent, but having the fried chicken sandwich most recently, I will say that the sriracha aioli, napa slaw and pickled cucumbers on a perfectly fried piece of fowl on a nice bun definitely did it for me. The fries are also really good. I’ve also gotten the rigatoni with vodka sauce, grilled chicken and sweet peas. That was a little less successful, the chicken breast being a bit overcooked, making it dry and a little tough, and the vodka sauce missing some bite, which I was expecting. On our most recent visit, Hipster Jr. got the buffalo chicken wings, which he was super-happy with. Hipster Jr. Jr. got a burger that was supposed to be medium rare, but looked closer to medium-well. I told her to send it back, but she just ate about one-third of it and petered out. It was the same visit as the overcooked chicken, so perhaps the chef was just having a bad day with his timing. Ms. Hipster got a California club sandwich (grilled chicken, avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato, chipotle mayo on wheat toast), which looked horrendous to me, but blubbery bacon on wheat bread is just a non-starter for me. She said it was fine — yet only ate half of it. I don’t know if I believe her, but it’s a thing I would just never order, so I’m biased.

Ultimately, I wouldn’t call this joint a secret or anything, but it’s certainly a place — though relatively small — that might have availability on one of those nights where the usual just feels blah or the you need to get the kids out of the house when you don’t feel like cooking and need to unwind with a really decent beer list of local breweries. In fact, a much better list of beers than any of these other places in town. I don’t imagine it’ll ever become a destination for the youngsters or get anything close to rowdy, but you could certainly do worse for an evening out if you’re into brews and like to top them with some hearty American grub.

13 Herman St. – Glen Ridge
973/748-4702
fitzgeralds1928.com