OCEAN CITY – At J/R’s Ribs midtown, the original owner is back in action bringing back the restaurants authentic recipes along with a few upgrades.
J/R’s Ribs is celebrating 35 years of serving Ocean City their famous ribs among many other house recipes. The restaurant opened in 1980. Owner Jack Hubberman handed the keys over to an employee in 2006 as he made his way toward retirement. However, he couldn’t stay away and returned last year.
“The inside feelings for the business made me come back. It is a business that I love. I felt like I could pick things back up,” Hubberman said. “It is just a love for the business. I want everything to be just the way I would want it if I came in as a customer. That has always been my policy. The way I want to be treated is the way I want my staff to treat everybody. It’s that simple.”
The restaurant was renovated with all new doors, window treatments, furniture, kitchen equipment, lighting, carpet and more updates. The bar received a facelift with an all new bar front and new specialty drink menu.
“Now that the original owner is back that means the original recipes are back,” Hubberman said of J/R’s menu.
For starters, “don’t forget the Onion Loaf”, which is the famous deep fried fresh onions in J/R’s special light batter. The Crab Toast remains a big hit made with J/R’s fresh baked bread, quartered and topped with crab meat and a blend of melted cheeses.
“I am really happy after 35 years of being in business we have established a tremendous reputation for our ribs but we are now building a reputation for our crab cakes, which are by far one of the best crab cakes you will ever eat,” Hubberman said.
J/R’s Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes are exactly how it sounds — jumbo lump crab meat and that’s about it.
“The secret to a good crab cake is not to have it full of breading. We use just enough breading to hold it together, and the mix is one of the best that you have,” Hubberman said. “If you walk in and I say to you ‘Have you ever had one of our crab cakes’ and you say ‘no’ then I have a deal for you. Get the crab cake, take a bite, and if you don’t like it you can give it back and get anything else that you want. If you take two bites, you own it. I haven’t gotten one back yet. That is a true story, not a sales pitch. That’s how good they are.”
Hubberman was proud to announce the addition of J/R’s fried chicken that was added to the midtown restaurant’s menu from the former J/R’s location on 131st Street.
“We have without a doubt one of the best pieces of fried chicken that you have ever tasted made with J/R’s house breading,” Hubberman said. “It is excellent.”
A few other new additions on the menu fall under the “Seafood Lovers” category with baked salmon and fresh flounder entrees. The addition of brisket that is slow cooked to perfection has been celebrated, according to Hubberman.
“It’s outstanding, just like mom use to make,” Hubberman said of the brisket. “In fact, the next best thing to mom’s cooking is J/R’s.”
The desserts are all baked locally, such as the Chocolate Decadent, Deep Dish Apple Pie and Cheesecake.
“Manager Evelyn is doing a great job here, and we have a great crew. The loyalty is so nice, and I hope it stays this way as long as we are together,” Hubberman said. “I was gone for a while and I want to thank all the people I have done business with all these years. I appreciate their loyalty, and I am so pleased to see so many of them back to say hello.”
J/R’s is currently serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.