Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones hit the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton before the Stones’ show at MetLife Stadium Thursday night.
According to NorthJersey.com, Mick went for a classic New Jersey breakfast and in so doing, weighed in the Pork Roll/Taylor Ham debate: he told the crowd before the show that he ordered a Taylor Ham, egg, and cheese along with Disco fries.
Keep in mind that Mick could eat anywhere (he’s worth an estimated $300 million), but chose a classic Jersey diner! Employees at the diner told NorthJersey.com that one of the most famous rock and rollers of all time went virtually unnoticed, being described as “quiet and low key.” The Tick Tock Diner is arguably the most famous diner in New Jersey, although a lot of that notoriety came when the manager tried to have one of the owners (his uncle) killed. The plot was foiled and the manager, Georgios Spyropoulos, was sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2014.
Waitress who served the Rolling Stones Taylor ham says no one recognized them. Mick Jagger knows exactly what his New Jersey audience wants to hear. On stage Thursday night at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, the legendary Rolling Stones frontman divulged to the audience that prior to the band’s latest monster Garden State performance, they visited the almost-as-legendary Tick Tock Diner in Clifton Thursday morning.
The Rolling Stones' lead singer told the crowd during Thursday night's concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, that the band visited the legendary Tick Tock Diner in nearby Clifton earlier in the day, NJ.com reported.
Jagger said they ate Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwiches, the website reported.
"So we went to the Tick Tock Diner!" Jagger told the audience, according to the North Jersey Record. "We had Taylor ham, egg and cheese! With Disco fries!
And Sloppy Joe to go!"
Yes, they chowed down on Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwiches.
And yes, Jagger explicitly called it Taylor ham, not pork roll.
Maria Portalakis, who was managing the diner Friday morning, said she wasn’t there when Jagger came in – nor were any of the staff who were on duty this morning — but that it’s all anyone at the diner is talking about this morning.
She couldn’t say what time he came by, if he came inside at all or if the band was in tow, but she was psyched that the rocker chose the Tick Tock Diner.
“He could have gone to any diner. We’re obviously happy he came to us of all places,” Portalakis said, praising the Tick Tock’s Taylor ham, egg-and cheese. “It’s really good. I actually had one this morning with avocado."
Is it significant that a star like Jagger called it Taylor ham and not pork roll?
“If he’s in North Jersey, then Taylor ham would be the correct term,” Portalakis said.
While we can’t be certain if he Jagger took sides in our endless breakfast meat debate simply because that’s how the sandwich is written on the Tick Tock menu — or perhaps it’s a tribute to ex-Stone Mick Taylor — but whatever he wants to call it, a rock luminary munching the same sandwich many of us Jerseyans eat after a hard night of drinking is pretty cool. Plenty of other famous celebrities have mentioned stopping by the Tick Tock Diner, too, including comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Artie Lange.
Though we do not condone the 76-year-old star eating this artery-clogging food after he just underwent heart surgery earlier this year.
The Tick Tock Diner is one of the state’s most well known eateries, and was named the country’s second-best 24-hour diner by the Daily Meal in 2017.
"Literally everyone from North Jersey has heard of the Tick Tock Diner, and just about all of them have dined there as well,'' the website said. "It’s really, really good ... this diner is a quintessential New Jersey hangout, with a menu about as long as War and Peace.''
In 2017, the Tick Tock made the news when Gov. Chris Christie met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo there.
The Stones’ visit to the diner also included disco fries and Sloppy Joe sandwiches, Jagger said.
The band has had plenty of opportunities to chow down on Jersey eats over the last 50-plus years. Its first Garden State concert was at Symphony Hall in Newark Nov. 7, 1965, on the heels of its “Out Of Our Heads” album (Patti LaBelle opened). The rock icons would go on to play 24 New Jersey dates — including this “No Filter Tour” run, which hits MetLife again Monday — across its prolific career.
