The founders of America’s largest open-air food market, Smorgasburg, announced that they are coming to Jersey City and taking over the Lutze back in May. Originally in Brooklyn, attracting 20,000-30,000 people every weekend, Smorgasburg has expanded to pop-up locations throughout the country, with the founder’s latest venture coming to Chilltown as ‘Smorgasbar,’ a permanent Jersey City location. Read on to learn what to expect at Smorgasbar, taking over the Lutze Biergarten, and how the founders made their way to Jersey City.
We got the exclusive in May 2021 that the Smorgasbar project has been in the works for a while now. As of July 2021, the new restaurant is open six-seven days a week as a Biergarten, its signature Smorg food markets on the weekends Friday through Sunday.
(Photo credit: @smorgasburg)
While the Smorg markets are known for having an epic variety of food vendors together for a unique experience, the Biergarten is at the forefront of the Jersey City location, emphasizing unique brews and drinks in the spacious indoor and outdoor space.
Food enthusiasts, don’t fret, the market is staying true to its name by curating an awesome group of vendors from startups to seasoned chefs some weekends from Friday – Sunday, including some of the OG Smorgasburg vendors. During the week, food is available via a single vendor.
In addition to Smorgasbar, the owners have also been hosting the outdoor Smorgasburg market on Saturdays at the parking lot at 195 Hudson Street starting May 29th.
Loyal Lutze-goers, the new owners reassured us that the format + design of the Lutze will not be changing much and patrons can expect similarities in the newly-owned venue at this time, starting in mid/late June. However, the experience overall will certainly be different and will boast good food, drinks, live music, and events! Oh, and in case you were wondering, the slushie machine stayed (hello frozen drinks!).
See More: Must-Try Daiquiris in Hoboken + Jersey City
Smorgasburg founders Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler created the Smorgasburg concept and have grown it to the largest outdoor market in the United States.
Now with day-to-day, Eric oversees the markets’ brand, daily operations, and curating of vendors as they have grown to become New York City’s largest public market. Aside from co-founding the Smorgasburg market, Jonathan is a Brooklyn-based entrepreneur and also the founder of the real estate blog Brownstoner.com. He also co-founded the popular Brooklyn Flea.
“Jersey City is really unique. We’ve opened in a lot of new locations in our 14 or 15 years — and it’s always challenging, but it’s been quite easy in New Jersey,” Eric shared with Hoboken Girl.
Fun fact – Jersey City’s Bread + Salt (who just received national acclaim from Food & Wine as one of the best places to get pizza in the country) started out at their beer hall in Crown Heights.
“It [Jersey City] really feels really familiar, people know about us, built-in excitement — the ease of that is very enticing. We really like it here,” Eric explained. “We’re excited to make new friends here, and that view should not go unutilized.”
Smorgasbar is hiring, so stay tuned to our jobs platform for a General Manager position as well as others.
