Huntley Taverne: Summit, NJ

Here’s another example of why bar dining can be such a rewarding experience. I was at the Huntley Taverne in Summit for dinner last Tuesday. It was a cold, rainy night. The kind of night when you know the summer’s coming to an end. I had gone to the Huntley to check out their burger. When I was at the bar at Roots Steakhouse another patron had talked up the burger at the Huntley. I’d sent him up to Copeland in Morristown for their must have burger and now I wanted to see if his tip checked out. I hear all the time that this place or that has a great burger, most of the time I find these tips to be a waste of time. Also I’d recently had the burger at the Trap Rock in Berkeley Heights, one of Huntley’s sister restaurants, and I was unimpressed.

So I’m at the bar waiting for my burger and I notice a bottle of whiskey on the shelf that I haven’t seen before. I ask the bartender, Kevin, if I can take a look. The bottle turns out to be Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon a brand I’m unfamiliar with. Kevin and I start talking about whiskey. We both agree that summer isn’t the season for whiskey drinking. I tell him that I’m more of a scotch guy, myself, and we start talking about that. We talk single malts versus blends and I tell him that I’m a Johnny Walker Black guy. He tells me about going to a Johnny Walker tasting and asks if I knew that Johnny Walker Gold is an older version of their red label while Johnny Walker Blue is an older version of the black. I confess to never having had either of these whiskeys and Kevin pours me a small taste of the ultra expensive Blue along with another small taste of the Black just to see if I can appreciate any real difference. Maybe the Blue label is a little smoother, a little longer on the finish but for the most part I can’t see spending the extra money. The offer of the free mini scotch tasting is the kind of smart gesture that can turn the casual customer into a life long patron.

Here's a picture of that Rock Hill Farms bourbon:



Back to the burger; the Huntley burger is very good. The fries that come with it are even better, crisp and salty and served in their own free standing metal cone. I’d stay away from the “truffled” version of those fries, all they do is splash on some truffle oil and who really wants that on their fries, anyway? The burger comes in several different variations; I had mine with blue cheese. The cheese turned out to be too strong and I took it off half my burger. The cheese did work great with the scotch, however, so if you go….

Huntley Tavern
3 Morris Ave
Summit, NJ
(908)273-3166