Tag Archive for "New Jersey"

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] Does Beer Freeze?

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : February 16, 2015

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Category: Archive, Been, Columns, Going, Kickin' Back with Jersey Joe, Topics, Travel

Tags:alcohol, bar, bar science, beer, cold, cold temperatures, deep freeze, East Coast, New Jersey, science, water, weather, winter

The Eastern seaboard of the United States is currently locked in a 20 year deep freeze. Cities up and down the coast are locked into the coldest temperatures they have experienced in over two decades.

We’ve all heard the myth that boiling hot water will instantly freeze in temperatures under 32° and scientists have proved that — but what about beer? Alcohol has a lower freezing temperature.

Watch what happens as Jersey Joe and his friends test out boiling hot water and an ice cold beer in 4° temperatures.

THE 411

What: Does beer freeze under freezing temperatures

Freezing temperature: 32° F

Type of beer: Miller Lite

Location: Jersey City, New Jersey

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

The East Coast is certainly locked in a deep freeze right now. It’s been over two decades, since temperatures have fallen this low along the Eastern seaboard. It was a cold night out… so we had a little fun. Check it out… maybe my friends and I could be of use to an elementary school science experiment or something…

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] Jersey Joe’s Year Four Rewind

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : May 29, 2014

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Here it is – my fourth official season finale! True, I’ve only been writing on Been and Going since it launched about a year ago, but this blog has now been online for four complete years. It all started 182 editions ago on fierceandnerdy.com. As my season wraps, I always go back and update what I’ve written about. So, get ready as we take a quick look back…

You can click on the title of each blog to check out the original post.

THE JUDGE JUDY SLOT MACHINE

Blogumn #134 – April 12, 2013

This blogumn looked at the new Judge Judy slot machines that had just hit casino floors. At the time, the machines were highly popular and can still be found in most major casinos.

The popularity of this slot machine continues today. During a recent visit to Atlantic City, there was always somebody playing them and still had a line of spectators watching at both banks of machines I found at Bally’s and the Golden Nugget.

BURGER TIME: THE ORIGINAL HELL’S KITCHEN

Blogumn #139 – May 17, 2013

This blogumn took a look at one of my favorite video games of all time, Burger Time. The game is simple, you are the chef and your job is to assemble hamburgers in a crazy kitchen where the ingredients have come to life and are after you!

I love to play this game at Barcade, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Barcade is a cross between a bar and arcade that thankfully, is for adults only.

Sadly, the machine has gone missing from this location. Barcade is in the process of opening a new location in Manhattan and I can only hope that it will end up there. Both locations will only be a PATH train ride away.

BURGER KING RIB SANDWICH

Blogumn #140 – May 21, 2013

In this special edition, I discussed the new Burger King Rib Sandwich that the fast food chain had added to their menu. It was their first big jab at McDonald’s by creating their own version of McDonald’s legendary McRib.

The Burger King Rib Sandwich was added to last summer’s menu and I judged it to be far superior to the McRib. While it did sell well, the sandwich finished its summer run and was removed from BK’s menu early last fall. Sadly, it has not returned and there have been no plans announced to bring it back. I hope that Burger King reconsiders and makes this a permanent addition to their menu.

NEW JERSEY ANTES UP TO ONLINE GAMBLING

Blog #157 – December 5, 2013

In a little over a week after online gambling was legalized and officially launched in New Jersey, I tested out a few sites to see what all the hype was about.

Like it or hate it, online gambling has generated extra revenue for both the state and the Atlantic City casinos who took part in it. Sadly, the state overestimated how much revenue would be brought in.

The state was estimating that $10.6 million would be earned in just six weeks. The total earned was $7.3 million, which is still a success. The revenue earned from legal online gambling has saw steady growth from January – March, with April being the first to see a slight decline in the amount wagered. The state still expects continued growth moving forward.

THE FINAL MOMENTS OF THE SANDS ATLANTIC CITY

Blog #162 – January 9, 2014

This blog took a look back at the night I was there for the final moments of the Sands casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. With my old camera phone, I captured the final blackjack hand and security ushering everyone out, while the slots were being turned off. The casino was closed for a project, that was to build a mega casino and hotel in it’s place. Sadly, the economy went bust and the project never happened.

The Madison House, a hotel that is located across the street from the site, was once used as an additional hotel tower for the Sands. It closed when the casino did, but finally reopened this past January. Sadly, Tripadvisor reviews of the initial opening were terrible. Guests complained of slow elevators, filthy and outdated rooms, and a strong cigarette smoke smell. Many guests have commented that a renovation has begun and hopefully this will be a step in the right direction for the historic property. I plan to check it out as some point in the future.

The Sands site still sits unused, outside of a light up artist installation.

JUDGE JOE BROWN DRUNK

Blog #169 – February 27, 2014

In this hilarious video I found online, we get to see TV’s Judge Joe Brown all liquored up and hitting on a group of women at some kind of resort. Joe even makes fun of his old TV show.

Since then, Judge Joe has gone back to being a lawyer in Memphis, Tennessee. Back in March, during a court child support preceding, he went on a tirade against the judge and it got him thrown in jail. (You can hear TMZ’s copy of the court room audio here.) He was sentenced to five days, but was released in a couple of hours. He is also running for District Attorney in Shelby County. Could it have all been a publicity stunt?

THE 411

Name: Kicking Back with Jersey Joe

What: weekly blog on beenandgoing.com

Time: new editions post Thursday at Noon Eastern / 9am Pacific

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

Thanks again for all your support and for checking out my blog. I love how we get to chat like this each week. As always, feel free to comment below each post or reach out to me on twitter @jerseyjoe50.

This summer, I have a quite a treat for all of you TV fans. Starting with next week’s blog, I am going to post 10 at a time, my 100 favorite TV show theme songs. You’ll get to see show opens from some of your favorite series and a few that I’m sure you’ve forgotten. Don’t miss it – starting next week!

Image credits – Chris Marquardt, Kathrina Birkenbach,

The Two State Lottery Challenge: The Rematch [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe]

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : May 1, 2014

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Category: Been, Columns, Going, Kickin' Back with Jersey Joe, Topics, Travel

Tags:Bingo, bodega, gambling, instant games, Jersey City, lottery tickets, lotto, New Jersey, New Jersey Lottery, new york, New York City, New York Lottery, news stand, PATH, subway, vending machine, Wawa, winning, Zuma

Last year, I put the New York Lottery and the New Jersey Lottery to the test. I wanted to find out which state’s instant scratch off tickets paid off the most – The Empire State or The Garden State. Using the same amount of cash and a random selection of tickets, I joined the ranks of millions who are scratching off to win big bucks on these instant games.

Instant lottery scratch off tickets: they’re meant to play a fast game and to make a quick buck. It’s portable form of gambling that states have relied on for extra revenue since the 1980’s. (You can read about my original discussion of instant lottery games here). The instant games are more popular than ever, to the point where states are now installing vending machines to attract commuters to play on the go.

Lottery player uses the vending machine to purchase scratch off tickets at the 33rd Street subway station in New York City.

Last year, I invested $55 and stopped first at the New York Lottery vending machine at the 33^rd Street Herald Square station in New York City. I put $30 into the machine and randomly selected a number of tickets. Once I got off the PATH in Jersey City, I stopped at a local newsstand and had them randomly select tickets with the remaining $25.

After over 40 minutes of scratching, the New Jersey Lottery $25 investment earned me $42, while my $30 New York Lottery investment earned me only $4. I declared New Jersey the winner and the whole experiment left me with a net loss of $9.

You can read the full report of last year’s challenge here.

Now, these are supposed to be random games of chance, so to be completely fair, I decided that another challenge would be needed and I did just that last week.

Once again, I stopped at the New York Lottery vending machine at the 33^rd Street station and deposited $25. I again picked one large $5 ticket and then randomly chose a selection of lower denomination games. Once back off the PATH in Jersey City, I again stopped by the same newsstand and had the clerk select $25 in random games, with the only rule being that I needed one $5 ticket to match what I had purchased in New York City.

Upon arriving home, I examined the stack of tickets and here’s what I got:

From the New York Lottery – 12 tickets

$5 Million Dollar Money Clip

$3 Spin 3

$2 Lucky 8’s

$2 Happy Birthday

$2 Win $1,000 a Week for Life

$1 Loose Change

$1 Amazing 8’s

$1 5x Cash

From the New Jersey Lottery – 10 tickets

$5 Money Match

$3 Power Play Crossword

$3 Zuma

$2 Love to Win

$2 Classic Bingo

$2 Big Money Spectacular

$2 Win $1,000 a Week for Life

$2 10x Money

$2 Fire & Ice

$2 Hit $50’s

Since there were more tickets in the New York Lottery stack; I went with those, first.

I started with the lower denomination tickets and first up was the $1 5x Cash. To win, all I had to do was match 3 symbols. And…. a loser.

Then went with the $1 Amazing 8’s. Same deal, match three 8’s and win. Too bad, I lost again.

Next up was the $1 Loose Change. This game was a little different. The player is presented with six boxes containing coins. After scratching off the six boxes, the total of what’s inside must go over $1 to win a prize. Mine did! My total was $1.05. I scratched the prize box to reveal I had won my $1 back!

Finally, a winner!

Next up, was the three $2 Win $1,000 A Week for Life games. I was really hoping for a big win on this one. I could use a grand handed to me every week! Who couldn’t?

These tickets contain two games each. The first game is a classic beat the house game. The player is given a number, if the player number is higher than the house number – you win the prize shown on the line. On my first ticket – a hit! I bet the house 12 – 7 and won $2!

The second game on the ticket is the classic New York Lottery standard of matching three like dollar amounts. On the next two tickets, I did just that winning $2 and another $5!

Four winners in a row! Things were starting to look up for the Empire State!

I then went for the $2 Happy Birthday… another dud.

I then had 3 of the $2 Lucky 8’s games. In this game, you scratch off the player area which features a number and a prize amount. If your number matches one of two house numbers, you win the prize. If an 8x symbol appears, you win 8x the prize! A coin picture also denotes an instant prize win.

I scratched the first two tickets – and nothing. Finally, I went for the third ticket. Right away, I matched the house number of 16 and won $10! Further down the line, I uncovered an 8x symbol with a $5 prize that paid off $40! That’s a total of $50! I’ve never won that much on a scratch off lottery ticket in my life!

I still had two of the biggest tickets to go.

Next was a $3 Spin 3. This game was kind of lame, there’s no spinning involved. You are presented 10 different games. All you have to do is match three like symbols in each game to win the prize. Think of it as a slot machine on a scratch off card. It didn’t matter, I got squat.

Finally the big $5 Million Dollar Money Clip game. Match your number to one of the house numbers and win that prize. A 10x awards 10 times the prize and a coin icon wins that prize. Sadly, I got nothing here.

So, for my $25 New York Lottery investment, I walked away with $60!

Then it was time to do battle with the New Jersey Lottery. I started in the same order with the lowest tickets first and that was a $2 Hit $50s. (New Jersey doesn’t seem to offer $1 scratch off games.) Again, you have to match your number to one of the house numbers and win the prize shown. I matched with a 12 and won $2! Things were already looking up once again for the Garden State.

Next was a $2 Fire and Ice game that was definitely icy cold. Nothing. Same deal for $2 10x Money, $2 Win $1,000 a Week for Life, and the $2 Big Money Spectacular. The win $1,000 a Week for Life is a popular game that is available in many different states. I’ve played that in Pennsylvania in the past.

A New Jersey Lottery Bingo scratch off instant game ticket.

Now it was on to the $2 Classic Bingo. This game took a long time to play. You are presented with 25 Bingo Ball numbers on the left. You scratch them off one by one and play the numbers on one of your four Bingo cards. Payouts are different for each card and each way you get a bingo. There are 12 different payouts that are printed next to each game. After scratching off all the ball numbers, I had to transfer them to the game board. After 10 minutes or so, I had a diagonal bingo on card 2 and that scored me $2. Had that been on card four, that payout would have been $5.

I then went for the $2 Love to Win, which was a classic match the house number scratcher. No love here, I got nothing.

Next up was a $3 Zuma ticket. Have you ever played this game online? In the online game, you have to shoot at multicolored balls rolling along a track to make them disappear before reaching the end. I was surprised to see how well this turned this into a scratch off game.

It was one of the more unusual layouts. You are presented a circular game board with six games of balls presented in groups of three. If your three balls match the color, you win. Sadly, mine did not. It was a great nod to the online game, though.

Next was the $3 Power Play Crossword and this thing took a long time to complete. You uncover 10 house letters. The player is then presented with a completed crossword puzzle. You task is to take the 10 house letters and scratch them off anywhere they appear in the puzzle. If you complete three words, you win a prize. The prizes go up with the more words you completely uncover. A pay table is posted on the back. It was useless to me; I only rubbed off two words.

Lastly, was the $5 Money Match game. Same deal as many other tickets. You get 5 house prize amounts. If you match one, you win. If you match an amount, but yours is in green color, you win double the amount. Find a money bag and win $50. Find a green money bag and win $100! I matched and won $5.

So, the total won in New Jersey from my initial $25 investment was only $9. I lost $16 to the Garden State.

Many of the New Jersey games that I played were quite involved. Instead of just finding three like symbols as in most games, here you are required to use some thought. Matching the letters in the Crosswords game took some time as did the Bingo game. So, if you’re looking for instant gratification with matching three symbols, then look for the simpler games as some of the choices can get quite complex. The bonus with selecting one of these tickets from a vending machine is that you can take a closer look at what’s required before making your selection. It’s a little hard to do when there’s a ton of people in line at the bodega waiting to play their Powerball numbers and pay for a jug of milk.

The total time I spent scratching 22 tickets: 41 minutes 31 seconds. It was thanks to some of those complex games I got from New Jersey that added took extra time.

All the mess left behind after 40+ minutes of scratching off instant lottery tickets.

And here’s a look at the pile of shards left behind from all the scratching. Wonder if this stuff is toxic?

THE 411

What: Instant Lottery scratch off games

States played: New York, New Jersey

Denominations: $1 – $5

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

This was a completely different outcome from the last experiment. I won $60 in New York and only $9 in New Jersey. It was that one large hit on the NY ticket that changed everything. For my $50 investment, I walked away with $69. Not a life changing amount, but still a winner none the less.

The New York Lottery games also offer a second chance drawing. By going online and entering the code on the ticket, players have a chance to win more random prizes. That’s a great feature more state lotteries need to adopt.

The New Jersey Lottery has also gotten into the ticket vending machine business. They recently signed a contract with Wawa convenience stores to have machines installed in all of their Jersey locations. I hope this program extends to other stores throughout the state. Judging by the popularity of the New York machine at 33rd Street, New Jersey could make some big bucks putting these in train stations targeting commuters who are just standing there waiting.

With the second match now complete, the lottery challenge series is tied 1 – 1. It looks like I will have to do a tiebreaker in the future to find out which state has the loosest scratch off lottery tickets.

For more information:

The New York Lottery

The New Jersey Lottery

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] The Great Ketchup Challenge: Could You Tell the Difference?

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : April 3, 2014

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Heinz, Hunts, or generic? We all use ketchup, but in a blind taste test can you tell the difference? I assembled a panel of 9 friends and co-workers and put them to the test.

Ketchup or catsup is a delicious red sauce made primarily of tomatoes, vinegar, and sugar. Generally used as a condiment for hot foods such as French fries and hamburgers, it can also be used as an ingredient to add additional flavor when cooking.

The first form of ketchup (I’m not calling it catsup) was originally made in 17^th century China, where it was a brine for pickled fish. The sauce was discovered by English explorers a century later and then made it to the new colonies in the United States. The Chinese pronounced it kay-chap, but when the English got a hold of the sauce, it was changed to our common word, ketchup.

While there are many variations on the recipe, the American tomato version was first created and published by Sandy Addison in 1801. The English version used at that time contained anchovies!

As the 19^th century went on, the popularity of ketchup skyrocketed. Being made and sold by local farmers, Americans could eat the sauce without having to worry about the shelf life of tomatoes.

In 1876, the Heinz foods corporation was the first to launch a mass produced ketchup to stores and advertised it as “Blessed relief for mother and other women in the household.” Years later, after concerns over sodium benzoate, Heinz changed the recipe to remove the controversial preservative. Ketchup now has an additive, usually xanthan gum, which gives it a thinning property. The harder you slap or shake the bottle, the more liquidity it will become, allowing it to be removed easily. Once it is no longer in motion, the ketchup will return to a more solid, thicker state.

Heinz ketchup main rival in the United States in Hunts. Hunts started out as the Hunts Bros. Fruit Packing Company of Sebastopol, California in 1888. It wasn’t until the 1930’s after a company takeover they decided to focus on canned tomato products and prepared tomato sauce.

As with most common household products, most stores have their own private label generic brand products. For this taste test, I went with Shop-Rite brand generic ketchup, but the store name was not disclosed until after I finished the test.

I placed a small serving of each in secretly labeled clear plastic cups and then gave one cup each to my panelists. 7 of them tried the ketchup with standard French fries, 1 with sweet potato fries, and 1 ate some off a knife because we ran out of fries.

I asked three simple questions:

Pick your favorite
Tell me which is Heinz, Hunts, and the generic brand
What brand do you usually buy?

They each first picked their favorite. The brand was not disclosed at this point, but here’s what they chose:

FAVORITE KETCHUP

Heinz 3

Hunts 3

Generic 3

It was split right down the middle. Not even the lottery has these kinds of odds!

“I was really stuck between Hunts and generic,” said Mike from Jersey City, New Jersey.

But, when I asked them what brand they usually buy:

BRAND USUALLY BUY

Heinz 5 2 incorrect

Hunts 0 2 incorrect

Generic 3 1 incorrect

Doesn’t buy ketchup 1

Three of the panelists missed identifying their favorite brand in the blind test. One Heinz buyer picked generic and one picked Hunts. One generic buyer picked Heinz as their favorite. One Hunts buyer picked generic, while the other picked Heinz. The third Hunts panelist said he usually doesn’t buy ketchup.

That means that 33% of those taking the taste test could not identify their favorite brand.

“Heinz is the gold standard in ketchup,” said Max from Cranford, New Jersey.

When asked to name which brand was which, based on flavor, here’s how many out of the 9 panelists got the brand correct:

CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED

Heinz 5

Hunts 4

Generic 5

More than half of the panelists correctly picked both Heinz and the generic brands. 3 panelists got zero correct, while 4 guessed all three correctly.

Many of the comments they made stated that Heinz has a distinct flavor and texture.

The ketchup taste test underway.

“You can tell one is sweeter and one is saltier,” said Jeremy from Bayonne, New Jersey.

“The generic is watered down,” said Michael from Los Angeles, California.

Our test can conclude that the generic brand is pretty darn close to as good as Heinz, the most indefinable product. When I did the test, I felt that the generic had a very strong flavor and I was surprised when I mixed it up with Hunts in my blind taste test. I always buy Heinz and was able to easily identify that. But, the generic really did have a strong flavor and I did like the taste of all three brands.

But, when you look at the ketchup aisle in the store it can be a bit overwhelming. While there may be only a few select brands to choose from, there are dozens of different varieties.

On some bottles ketchup is labeled as “fancy,” meaning it contains a higher amount of tomatoes and solid concentration, beating FDA standards.

In the Philippines, ketchup is actually made from bananas and has been since World War II, when there was a shortage of tomatoes. To compete with tomato ketchup, it is dyed red.

The number 57 on a Heinz bottle means nothing. Founder Henry Heinz simply thought the number was lucky. There are more than 60 Heinz products on store shelves.

Should you refrigerate ketchup? An open bottle will last one month in the cupboard, but an open bottle in the refrigerator will last up to six months.

Most ketchup sold in stores contains a large amount of sugar. Something may people forget when they are on a sugar restrictive diet.

For quick comparison, according to the bottle, 1 tablespoon of ketchup from each the three tested brands contains:

Calories:

Heinz 20

Hunts 25

Shop Rite generic 15

Fat:

Heinz 0g

Hunts 0g

Shop Rite generic 0g

Sugar:

Heinz 4g

Hunts 4g

Shop Rite generic 4g

THE 411

Name: ketchup or catsup

What: tomato based condiment popular in the United States

First recipe in US: 1801

First sold commercially in US: 1876

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS

It’s Heinz all the way for me and I was easily able to identify it during my blind taste test. (Yes, I admit I got the other two confused…)

However, you may want to try this test yourself and see if you are purchasing what you and your family really like. You could even collect some sample packets that are given away at restaurants and see which you like best.

Image credit – David Copeland

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] Birthday Cake M&M’s Want to Party in Your Mouth

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : March 13, 2014

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Category: Columns, Going, Kickin' Back with Jersey Joe, Topics, Travel

Tags:birthday cake, candy, CVS, food, limited edition, M&M's, Mars Candy Company, milk chocolate, new, New Jersey, novelty flavor, store shevles

M&M’s, the milk chocolate candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hands has been rolling out all kinds of new flavors and now, they’re making every day your birthday with their new Birthday Cake M&M’s.

Forrest Mars, Sr., son of the founder of Mars Candy Company came up with idea for M&M’s in the 1930’s. He had witnessed Spanish War soldiers eating pieces of chocolate candy with a hard chocolate shell that prevented them from melting. He decided it would make a great item to sell, got a patent for his version, and M&M’s hit stores in 1941 from a factory in Newark, New Jersey.

Birthday cake M&M’s come in red, yellow, and blue color pieces.

The two M’s in M&M’s represent the names of Forrest Mars, Sr. and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey’s chocolate company president. This cemented a partnership with Hershey’s to use their milk chocolate in the candy as Hershey’s had control of all rationed chocolate during World War II. During the war, the candies were sold only to the military where they became an instant hit. After the war, demand skyrocketed.

In 1950, each piece was branded with their now signature M for the first time. However, it was black until 1954.

Also in 1954, Peanut M&M’s were introduced but were only tan in color.

Since 1991, M&M’s have been sold in a variety of flavors with the first being peanut butter. Now, it seems that a new flavor and special limited editions are hitting stores on a regular basis, with the latest being birthday cake flavor.

Packaged in a light blue bag, the birthday cake M&M’s are only red, yellow, and blue in color. The size of the candies are a little bigger than a standard M&M, almost as big as the peanut sized version.

The package contained 22 pieces and retailed for $1.42, but was on sale for $1 at CVS.

Cross section of a birthday cake M&M.

Sadly, it’s hard to taste any birthday cake. The flavor is basically like a regular milk chocolate M&M and the insides are the same color and texture as well. I’m sure ate side by side there would be a subtle taste difference, but they’re really nothing special (and who would do that, anyway?)

Other current M&M flavors include dark chocolate, pretzel, peanut, peanut butter, raspberry, dark mint, almond, and dark chocolate peanut.

THE 411

Name: birthday cake M&M’s

What: special flavor of M&M’s chocolate candies

Released: February 2014, mass release scheduled May 2014

Website: www.mms.com/

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

Skip them and buy a standard bag of M&M’s, because they don’t taste any different. While this product is a good idea, these need to be reformulated with more birthday cake taste. These probably won’t be around long, once people realize this flavor is just a gimmick.

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] Caught on Tape: Fight over Fried Chicken

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : January 23, 2014

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Category: Been, Columns, Going, Kickin' Back with Jersey Joe, Topics, Travel

Tags:bar, caught on tape, cheap chicken, cheap food, chicken, fight, fried chicken, gentrification, Jersey City, late night, New Jersey, police, street fight

Sometimes you just end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last weekend, my friends and I had one of those moments when simply trying to get some late night fried chicken.

(WARNING: strong language in video)

After living in Northern New Jersey / New York City area for all these years, one thing that I’ve come to learn is that each town, city, and suburb has their own iconic fried chicken joint. Many of these places are open until the wee hours of the morning and Hollywood Fried Chicken on Newark Avenue in downtown Jersey City is no different.

Hollywood Fried Chicken on Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ

The fried chicken is super cheap, super tasty, and probably not the best for you. The breading is not too spicy, but is crisp while the chicken inside remains moist. Their menu consists of fried chicken and all the sides, plus burgers and gyros. There are three locations in New Jersey and this restaurant has been a neighborhood staple for decades. Just say the name – and most locals know all about it!

And by cheap, I mean you can purchase a 15 piece chicken box with 2 sides and biscuits that will feed the entire family for $13! While there are dozens of door buster meal deals, an individual chicken wing starts at the rock bottom price of 75 cents!

The restaurant opens at 10am and doesn’t close until 4am. Those late night hours often make the place a last stop for those who’ve had a little too much to drink bar hopping all night.

We’re not sure what started the brawl. As we turned the corner from Jersey Avenue, you could hear lots of commotion and arguing going on inside the restaurant. Next thing you know it, one group is pushing the other and within a minute, people spill out the front door onto the street.

No one was seriously hurt and we left right after I stopped recording. We had a conversation with two other customers who were inside when everything happened. As one of them told us:

“It was stupid. One girl bumped into the other and things got out of hand.”

The Jersey City police heading toward the scene.

Within about 10 minutes after everything broke up and being called, the Jersey City police finally arrived on the scene.

The sad thing is in this day and age with all the lawsuits and cameras, a simple misunderstanding like this can really blow up into big trouble. While some of it was fueled by alcohol (and you could clearly see at least one girl, barely able to walk) too many people are looking to sue. Just watch daytime TV with all the injury lawyer commercials!

Hollywood Fried Chicken has a 3½ star rating on Yelp with reviews mixed from really good to really bad. Many of the reviews note the rowdy customers and late night drunks, but thank Hollywood for saving them from a massive hangover.

But, like it or hate it, the restaurant has a profitable business model. The place is always busy no matter what time of day and they turn out lots of chicken during business hours. They may want to add some more late night security, however.

Does your neighborhood have a late night chicken place like this?

THE 411

What: Hollywood Fried Chicken

Where: Jersey City, New Jersey

Date of incident: after midnight, January 20, 2014

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

The Hollywood Fried Chicken banana pudding.

The neighborhood along the Jersey City waterfront across the river from New York City continues to gentrify. What were once railroads and warehouses are now expensive rentals and high rise condos. Hollywood Fried Chicken has certainly seen the changes in the neighborhood over the decades.

The food is really good; sadly the crowd sometimes is not. I eat there on a regular basis; I just scope it out, first. If it looks packed and rowdy inside – I pass.

But, you’ve got to try their banana pudding! It’s absolutely succulent and quite the little hidden bonus item on their menu!

Image credit – Paul Lowry

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] The Final Moments of the Sands Casino Atlantic City

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : January 9, 2014

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It becomes a big deal when a legendary casino shuts down and in just a few days, another will fold up in Atlantic City. It got me thinking back to the night in 2006, when I was there for the final roll of their old Sands casino. It’s kind of a surreal moment to be there when security pushes everyone out the door.

The hotel tower of the Sands Atlantic City

On that night, I had my old cell phone, and did my best to document the final moments of the casino. I caught on camera everything from the final blackjack bets to the employees saying good bye. I uploaded these to the web years ago, but decided it was time to take another look back at that historic moment caught in time.

The Atlantic City Sands casino opened on August 31, 1980 as the Brighten Hotel & Casino at the corner of Indiana Avenue and Brighten Park. Shortly after opening, it was bought along with the Las Vegas Sands and was officially renamed the Sands Casino Hotel Atlantic City to cash in on the famous “Rat Pack” name.

The resort featured 532 rooms in a 21 story hotel tower. The casino was 2 levels, with a 3^rd floor restaurant area. After opening and become a sister to the Las Vegas property, it attracted big name entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Cher, Whitney Houston, and more.

Inside the people mover that connected the Atlantic City Boardwalk, Sands Casino, and Claridge Casino.

While the resort was set back from the famous Boardwalk, a block long people mover was constructed featuring three Dunlop moving belts to take people directly inside either the Sands or neighboring Claridge Casino. The belt was kind of springy and you could actually bounce up and down a bit on it.

The flashy exterior of the Sands Atlantic City at night.

The Sands was quickly surpassed by the newer resorts that opened in town and went bankrupt in 1998. The property block was purchased by Pinnacle Entertainment, with their own plans to demolish the resort, and create their own $1.5 billion mega-resort known as Pinnacle Atlantic City. They erected billboards all around town advertising their coming and gave Sands employees 60 days lay off notice in September.

My friends Simon, Chris, and I decided to be there for the Sands final night and with my old fashioned camera phone in tow. We arrived around 10pm and the place certainly wasn’t a ghost town. In fact, it was quite packed. In the madness, I tried to snap as many phone shots as possible and here’s what I captured that night. I apologize in advance for some of the blurry photos.

From the people-mover, the O in casino had lost part of its covering. Nobody cares; this will be the last time this sign is lit.

To access the Sands, you had to take a sharp right after the second long belt on the people mover. You would then descend down a high flyover ramp, decorated in white and blue K-Mart rope lights. The next day, this flyover was sealed with a temporary wood partition. Only a few weeks later, the entire people mover to the neighboring Claridge was closed.

After exiting the people mover flyover, you would descend down an escalator to the main floor of the casino. There was a large atrium where a three story escalator would take hungry gamblers to the dining level. By the time we were there that night; only a small deli was still open.

It’s only 10pm, but this part of the casino floor was nearly dead… that will change as we delve further in.

Just steps from the door – this place is happening. Gamblers are trying to make the most of every last second the Sands is open!

The band plays on at Swingers, a bar/nightclub that was located in the center of the casino floor. Only 6 hours later, this place would be dead forever!

These signs were posted all around the properly informing players of the Sands closure. These signs would be up for months after the doors were locked.

We took a quick walk outside to check out the impressive front facade of the building. This was the final night for these signs and logo to be lit. Within 7 months, all of these signs went up for auction, and what was left was bulldozed 9 months later.

We went back inside to play the slots. Check this old machine out! It’s a unique nickel slot that offers a gold watch as a prize! Hit the right combination on the screen, push the button, and it’s yours. Two of the watches were already gone at this point. Too bad, they don’t have slots like these anymore!

We decided to explore the property a bit and came across this little used walkway to their hidden kids’ arcade. It looks like they didn’t want kids anywhere near the casino floor!

Here is the last open place to get a bite to eat… a late night deli. The Sands used to have a really neat themed buffet, where you sat on chairs that were designed to resemble the rolling chairs on the Boardwalk and the whole room was boardwalk/ocean themed. I ate there once; it wasn’t bad from what I remember.

Nobody was around in the poker room on the last night!

We took a final ride from the 3^rd floor dining area down the long escalators back o the casino floor.

We took a stroll up the Boardwalk to the Irish Pub and returned at about 4:30am.

We again circled the casino to find that many of the machines had already been taken offline, such as this machine at 4:41am. There was quite a buzz floating around the floor as the casino had paid off many of their progressive jackpots earlier in the evening. There were stories of quite a few gamblers who hit it big!

By 5:11am, lines were forming at the casino cages as many of the tables began to close.

By 5:20am, one by one the tables were closing. Most of the staff began saying goodbye and swapping stories with one another.

By 5:21am, only two table games were available for play. $25 baccarat and $250 blackjack! The tables that were open now had rows of spectators.

…and at 5:22am, here’s one of the last blackjack tables that was open.

At 5:27am, I sat down at a still working Hollywood Squares slot machine. At this point, security was walking around telling players to cash out.

…and at 5:35am – a big win! My $20 turned into $186.50! Thanks Sands! A security guard stood next to me to finish my bonus round, then asked for a third and final time to leave the machine. Seconds after I got up, an attendant disables the machine.

…at 5:37am one of the last blackjack tables still going strong. At one point in the last years, the Sands had removed all of their table games. Some players said that was the final nail in their coffin. They brought them back not too long before closing.

One of the very last slot machines that was still online. You can tell by the red lights on top, which machines are offline.

At 5:43am, here’s that Hollywood Squares machine I was playing… now locked off!

Another view of that great win!

Here’s a bank of disabled Price is Right nickel slot machines. Funny, how the sign says TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE.

Someone should take a Sharpie and change the sign to PERMANENTLY OUT OF SERVICE. These machines were probably shipped to another casino. I doubt they’re still in service in 2014!

…and at 5:46am here it is – the very last deal at the very last blackjack table. An announcement is made over the intercom – the Sands Casino is now officially closed. The woman won the last hand with a 20!

The staff says goodbye as security begins to usher patrons out of the building. A series of rope barricades had been put up at the edges of the casino floor. Once you crossed the line – you couldn’t get back in! Local news crews were waiting outside.

More of the staff taking pictures, hugging, and saying goodbye. There were still guests in the hotel rooms and they had to leave the building by 9am.

It’s now 5:54am, a look at one of the many security barriers in place.

Security ushering everyone out.

…and past the security barricade to the outside. The casino is nearly empty and closed. It’s 5:56am.

A cameraman from CBS 3 in Philadelphia takes some b-roll shots.

Another of the many signs announcing the casino’s closure.

A reporter from CBS 3 Philadelphia doing interviews.

It was $10 admission to get into the Sands Casino liquidation sale in 2007.

7 months later, after the casino was officially closed, the entire property, and everything inside went up for sale at an auction. I was able to check that out as well. It was neat to walk through every nook and cranny of the place. People were buying up everything. from old TV’s, to copper pipes, to hot tub parts, everything (except slots and table games, which were gone by this point) had a price tag on it. I originally went there, hoping to score a deal on an HDTV, but those were gone early in the auction. I did pick up a few small kitchen items: a serving dish, some wine glasses, and salad tongs! Every room in the building was open to explore. We even found a secret elevator that only went between the top three floors for high rollers to access their exclusive lounge.

Pinnacle made $31 million from the sale, including finding an additional $17,193.14 in found cash when the original slot machines were removed.

The entire property was imploded in a big Las Vegas style spectacle on October 18, 2007. Numerous viewing parties lined the Boardwalk for the festivities.

After being the smallest Atlantic City casino when it closed, Pinnacle had big plans to open their mega-resort by 2012 at the latest. Those plans never happened. Shortly after the building was imploded, the housing bubble burst, and Pinnacle was no longer interested in opening in the AC market. The site has sat vacant, except for an art installation, ever since. In March 2013, Pinnacle sold the land to developer Boardwalk Piers who has plans to build another casino or a family friendly complex.

The Dizzy Dolphin video poker bar inside The Atlantic Club.

It was a fun time at the Sands that last night and now sadly, another Atlantic City casino is closing their doors. The Atlantic Club Casino, at the very southern end of the Boardwalk, will shut down on January 13^th. The casino was originally built at the Golden Nugget and helped casino mogul Steve Wynn fund his Las Vegas empire. The Atlantic Club is currently the smallest of the city’s casinos.

The Atlantic Club will be the third Atlantic City casino to ever close, after the original Playboy Casino/Trump World’s Fair site and the Sands. The only portion of the original Sands that still remains is the adjacent Madison House Hotel that was once used as an overflow hotel tower and a parking garage.

THE 411

What: Sands Casino Hotel Atlantic City

Operating Dates: 1980-2006

Rooms: 532

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

Pinnacle made a mistake closing the Sands Atlantic City. While they had big plans for their mega-resort, even the city’s newest resort Revel, is having trouble making a buck.

The Sands could have stayed on as a local’s casino and certainly had enough space to expand or re-brand. Pinnacle should have waited until they had all the proper funding before imploding the place. They could have at least flipped the property over to someone else.

It’s only a matter of time, until Atlantic City loses another of their smaller casinos and only time will tell what will happen to the Atlantic Club property after the doors are sealed in a few days.

Image credits – iirra, Laura Gomez, Mori Claudia, Cavalier92

[Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] New Jersey Antes Up to Online Gambling, But Not Without Glitches

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted by :Jersey Joe On : December 5, 2013

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Category: Columns, Kickin' Back with Jersey Joe

Tags:Atlantic City, betting, Borgata, casino, Delaware, gambling, Las Vegas, Nevada, New Jersey, online gambling, online wagering, player, Tropicana, Ultimate Casino, Virgin Casino, wager

Real online casino games are now legal in New Jersey and two other states.

Last week, after days of beta testing, anyone inside the borders of New Jersey can lawfully sign on to one of the state’s 13 online casinos and place a bet. While online gambling is seen as a boon to the state’s casino and tax wallets, the launch has not gone without technical difficulties.

Commercials advertising the online casinos have saturated TV stations, radio stations, mailboxes, and the internet. Every time I sign onto Facebook, I see at least a couple of ads for the new casinos.

On November 26^th at 12:01, 13 online casinos were allowed to start taking real money wagers inside New Jersey’s borders. All 13 online casinos are connected to six real brick and mortar casinos in Atlantic City. AC has been losing gamblers for years, since neighboring states began opening casinos of their own a few years ago. Now, each is legally allowed to open multiple online casinos and take a share of the profits. Most have already affiliated with existing online casinos that were mostly barred from the US, after a silly law was passed and their domains seized by the feds in 2006. While these operators couldn’t run sites in the US, they ran at full force overseas.

The Atlantic City skyline as seen in a recent episode of American Dad on FOX.

So far, three states in the US permit online gambling: Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. This is the first major expansion of gambling in the Garden State, since it was legalized in 1978. Over 52,000 online accounts have been created since the beta test started and 5,000 being opened on Thanksgiving Day, alone.

The six casinos offering online gambling sites are:

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa

Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort

Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino

Tropicana Casino & Resort

Bally’s Atlantic City

Caesar’s Atlantic City

The Golden Nugget Atlantic City is working out some technical issues (rumored to involve social security numbers) that kept its license on ice. They should be back online soon.

A game of online roulette in progress.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie expects online gambling to bring more than $1 billion to the state by July 1. $160 million of that would directly go to the state in taxes.

The casino software uses geo-tracking to make sure the computer or mobile device is within the states borders. If the software cannot verify the location, it will not permit any real wagers to be made. Unfortunately a little known hiccup of this limits all wagering to be done on Wi-Fi networks. No hard wire computers are able to make bets, since the location cannot be verified according to state law.

A typical error message players will see if they try to play from outside New Jersey’s state borders.

When opening an account, the player is required to enter their name, address, social security number, and wireless phone number. The wireless number is used to send verification texts to the account holder. Another red flag happens to players who have multiple addresses which can cause the software to be unable to verify their location via a background check.

Since I live in the Garden State and have for years, I tried three different sites. But, even I had a great deal of trouble signing on.

Star Trek online slot as featured in the Borgata online casino.

BORGATACASINO.COM

The casino that made Atlantic City hip has opened two online casinos, borgatacasino.com and borgatapoker.com. While both use the same account, two different software downloads are required to play. Borgata does offer a few games to play directly on their web sites, downloading the software gives access to more games and richer graphics.

Borgata has partnered with IGT Gaming (a legend in the business and their games are all over casino floors.) This allows the Borg to offer authentic casino video poker machines, but also big name slots that you would find on a real casino floors such as Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Kitty Glitter, Wolf Run, Cleopatra, and more.

Star Trek online slot bonus round from the Borgata online casino. Most of the online slots feature bonus rounds.

Once you open an online account, the Borgata offers you $20 in free play. During signup, you will be required to download a small plug-in that will verify your New Jersey location. It’s safe and you have no choice but to activate the plug in or you can’t play by law.

I also deposited an additional $20 via electronic check from my checking account, which was very easy. All they require is your bank account and routing number. Borgata, along with other sites, also offers credit card deposits.

They also have an online player card loyalty system that offers comps similar to what you will find in the MyBorgata slot card program. They offer the same tiers, such as Red, Black, and Titanium level that rewards comps and free play the more you wager, but on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, it is NOT connected to the physical Atlantic City account. Hopefully, that will change immediately. I would like to use my comps across both platforms, online and in the real casino in Atlantic City. I might be inclined to play more, if I know there is a chance I might be offered a free room at the hotel.

In fact, I just noticed while signing onto their site to write this blog, they just added a new Monopoly online slot. Applause to them for already upgrading!

Borgata online casino error message.

Unfortunately, many of the games have the tendency to crash and completely lock up the software. They offer a rich, graphic environment, complete with bonus rounds – but the slots constantly crash. Sometimes, you only get in a spin or two before the game peters out.

That gets even more frustrating when you are in a bonus round and the software loses connection to the server and causes a major crash. You don’t lose any money and the game usually will re-launch and continue your bonus. But, many times, I was only offered a blue screen and had to CONTROL+ALT+DELETE to hard crash and relaunch the entire application.

If the software crashes in the middle of a bonus round, it’s OK — it will start off where you stopped once the game is reopened.

Last Saturday, most of the games were offline and offered weird errors as “the game could not be played with the current currency selected.” Even though, I was playing in American dollars. I called the 800 number for help and was on hold more than 20 minutes both times before I gave up.

When the games do work, I’ve had quite a bit of fun, and have gotten a ton of play for my $20 investment, plus the $20 bonus. In fact, I’m up!

Sadly, all of their technical glitches may permanently turn off some players, who can easily sign on to more trustworthy sites. I would suggest waiting a bit and letting the Borgata completely overhaul their software before giving their site a try.

Rating: Average (Excellent once glitches are fixed)

Borgata also operates borgatapoker.com

VIRGINCASINO.COM

Partnered with the Tropicana Atlantic City, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin empire has moved into the online gambling business. Virgin Casino offers up to a $50 reimbursement of your initial loss within the first seven days.

Virgin’s site does not require any software downloading. While they offer all of the same IGT games as the Borgata, playing inside a web browser can make the games appear small on the screen. A recent software fix seems to have addressed this as the games are now appearing in a larger size.

The Ghostbusters slot machine at the Virgin online casino. Virgin makes it easy to understand your total balance by constantly displaying it near the top of the screen.

Virgin offers Virgin points for the money you wager. These can be cashed in for free money to play the games. I opened my account with $50 (which I was able to deposit via electronic check from my checking account) and went through that in a couple of days. They instantly added the $50 bonus.

I somehow earned 6 points for my $75 in play. It seems to take thousands of points to get any online cash back. They have the exact offers posted on their site.

The Virgin online casino withdraw screen. This was a fairly easy process.

I played for some time longer and cashed out with $25 remaining. The cash out was fairly easy and they sent an email the following day noting the withdrawal had been processed and would be in my checking account in 3-5 business days. Why is withdrawing so easy, but depositing taking several days?

Rating: Average

ULTIMATE CASINO (UCASINO.COM)

They have the flashiest commercials for online gambling airing on TV.

Their site offers a large selection, but not all, of the IGT games from Borgata and Virgin casinos.

Sadly, I was unable to play.

What happens if an online casino can’t verify your location… you get this.

I was successfully able to open an account in which they offer $5 in free cash and $20 in poker table play (only said in the fine print, their splashy ads offer a flat $25.)

According to their site, the games can be played online in a web browser or by downloading their app. Unfortunately, their app is online for Android devices, so sorry IPhone users.

The Loki plugin installing over and over again, with no luck.

Like Borgata, in order to play you are required to download a browser plug-in known as Loki to sign up and play. However, the plug-in would not work to locate me, even though I’m inside the Garden State and installed it again and again. I tried for over and hour rebooting the computer, checking their help FAQ, installing Mozilla Firefox as they suggest… but nothing.

Another option on their FAQ was to change the Windows registry to allow the games to play. Sorry, I am not a computer programmer and the registry file they offered for download won’t launch, either. There’s no reason to ask any player to alter their Windows registry. That’s just asking for trouble and its way more time than the $25 in free play is worth.

After two hours and two different days of attempts – I gave up on them.

They need to redesign the software, so installation is not this complicated. There are easier sites to sign onto out there.

Rating: Fail

I’ve also briefly checked out caesarscasino.com and harrahscasino.com, both operated by parent company Caesars Entertainment. These sites offer their own non-copyrighted slots and a few games found on the other sites. Many of the bigger slot games seemed to be missing here, however.

There are several more sites that I plan on checking out in the future and will report back here. My early findings seem to be that most operate with the same IGT games.

Sure, not everyone is ready for online gambling and it can be very easy to get in trouble. Some of the slots offer wagers as high as thousands of dollars on a single spin.

One night, in research for this blog, I was lying in bed playing the slots. While it is fun, it isn’t a substitute for a night out at a real casino. However, it does make it easy for those with a gambling problem to play at any time. You definitely will need self control, especially now that you can basically turn any dorm room, hotel room, service plaza, kitchen, and library into a casino.

New Jersey state law has online account deposits capped at $2,500. The online casino is required to contact the player at this point and verify if the player wishes to deposit more. Once the total reaches $15,000 in accounts across all state casinos, another warning check will be issued. The player also has the ability to control how much they can deposit at once as well.

As inside a real casino, a gambling hotline is available for anyone who needs help at 1-800-GAMBLER. While that’s a creative number, spelling out your troubles on a touch tone keypad seems to be the last kick in the teeth.

Playing Star Trek while watching Star Trek… only in New Jersey!

THE 411

What: online gambling

Where legal: Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware – other states coming soon

Wagers start at: 1 cent

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS

New Jersey is by far not the only state that is looking to ante up to online gambling. Eight other states are working on similar laws: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Texas. New York representative Peter King is also working on making it a federal law.

It looks like this technology is here to stay. Just as I’ve told you before – it’s up to you to bet with your head and not over it. If gambling is against your nature or religion, then you will most likely not be happy with this latest online offering.

And in full disclosure, I have shared with you my experiences signing up with these three particular online casinos. As with any form of wagering, your experience may differ. I’d love to hear how it goes for you!

THE 411

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

Blogumn #134 – April 12, 2013

Blogumn #139 – May 17, 2013

Blogumn #140 – May 21, 2013

Blog #157 – December 5, 2013

Blog #162 – January 9, 2014

Blog #169 – February 27, 2014

THE 411

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THE 411

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THE 411

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