For an area that boasts the most vibrant nightlife in the Bay area, there aren't a lot of options for late-late-night food in SoHo. Even a place like MacDinton's, ground zero of SoHo's pub scene, closes its kitchen at midnight on the weekends, well before beer-bloated bar-goers start seeking greasy grub to soak up over-indulgence. Or maybe they're just hungry. In any case, where's the food?
Jason and Hope Ruhe saw the problem. "It was a niche that needed to be filled," says Hope. "So we gave it a trial run." The couple already ran a catering company, so the materials were at hand. They partnered with MacDinton's and set up shop right next to the pub's outdoor deck. Now they're celebrating the second anniversary of "J's Grill."
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, J's serves up hundreds of hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst, along with the occasional special — meatball subs are popular. The stand doesn't start churning out the food until 10:30 p.m., well after most of the local restaurants have stopped cooking, and they don't stop until 3:30 a.m., just after last call.
The stand's thin, diner-size cheeseburgers (more substantial than a Whopper, smaller than those at Chili's) are the most popular item, especially with our own music maven and bar expert Wade Tatangelo. He loves them … he thinks. "I eat it in like two bites, and it's gone," he says, but the memories are obviously a bit muddy.
The burgers may be tasty, but to the people lined up after the bars close, they obviously serve a dual purpose. As Hope says, "You'll feel better having eaten some."
Restaurant row: SOHO
This article appears in Jun 13-19, 2007.
