Nip & Tuck

One of the greatest dive bars at the Jersey Shore is our beloved local, the Nip & Tuck. This Long Branch institution is a fun, female-owned bar just a mile up from the beach, and it attracts a mix of locals and BENNY’s, but all are welcomed.

The Nip & Tuck is a great place to grab a burger and a beer. They offer a Happy Hour Monday-Friday from 3-6 p.m., with discount brews and bites. Until recently, local legend JD manned the grill, cooking up the Grilled Cheese of the Week, wings, tots, and burgers—dude even toasted the buns! It’s not been quite the same since his recent retirement, but you can still count on their grill guy to bring the sizzle to a variety of pub grub, as well as a bitching weekend brunch with $25 bottomless mimosas or Bloody Mary’s to wash down your Avocado Toast or pork roll sammie.

Nip & Tuck is all about the special events. Weekends feature live music, either inside the bar during the cold months, or outside on their sprawling patio, bookended by the local fire station (so don’t worry about going up in a blaze). Free music from bands like N&D Electric Duo, Rising Falls, Redbird, and Jivestock attract crowds of seasoned concertgoers and families alike. See which performers are coming via their Facebook page. Summer concerts even draw a few dogs out, to the delight of the patrons.

The bar offers up Modelo—the town’s favorite beer—on tap, as well as a rotating selection of craft brewery faves. They often team up with local breweries like Birdsmouth and Troegs to offer those brews to customers. This is a big hit with the shore clientele.

Attention, know-it-alls: the bar recently launched a Jeopardy! Bar League, Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m. It’s a great place to prepare for your chance winning some cash on America’s Favorite Quiz Show. Or to look stupid in public, should you not reach that bar. And a Wednesday night team-up with their new next-door neighbors, Just the Crust Pizza, will get you a pie for $16.

Their monthly Bingo Brunches have become events—in the sense that you better snap up your Eventbrite tickets quick, because they sell out. Hosted by local legend, Bingo caller LuAnn Russell, (aka DJ Lunique) these raucous events have a different theme every month, and often double as ways to highlight local issues.

Because Nip & Tuck follows New Jersey’s time-honored tradition of taking care of our own. December’s maximum-capacity Bingo brunch doubles as the annual toy drive for Alberto’s Angels, a group founded by a childhood cancer survivor. They collect funds and gifts for children at the Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center who are battling childhood cancer. It’s a feel-good event that ends with customers literally dancing on the bar. I cannot recommend this strongly enough, both for the do-gooding it does, and for how good you will feel after dressing up in your ugliest sweater and donating a toy to a needy child.

But at the end of the day, a bar is only as good as its staff. And the Nip & Tuck excels. Co-owners Lauren and Jamie sling drinks with a smile. On the weekends, saucy Sue will take your order—but what she won’t take is any of your bullshit. So don’t whistle at the waitstaff. Her sidekicks help keep things moving, but you’ll need to keep it respectful. Be in weekend or weeknight, it’s always packed, so you might need to press pause on your impatience until your drink arrives.

Party planners take note: the bar can cater your party, big or small, with their Silverstream food conveyance, the Nip & Truck (gotta love that wordplay). It’s a great way to take your backyard BBQ up a notch!

Nip & Tuck
23 Norwood Ave.
Long Branch, NJ 07740
732-222-0023
Nipntuck.bar
Park on the street or in the municipal lot on Norwood

Save a Few Clams

Thursday night is your chance to roll big on a small bankroll, with Nip & Tuck’s $15 Beer and a Burger combo. Pick a domestic draft, and pair it with a sizzling hot specialty burger like the Smokehouse, with BBQ sauce, bacon, and an onion ring; the traditional Cali with LTO; the N&T with provolone and banana peppers; or the Black Jack, featuring blackening spices and bleu cheese crumbles, served with a side of fries.