Friends' Merchant Series: Heights Bar and Grill

Editor's note: As part of their fundraising efforts for this year, the Friends of
the Hasbrouck Heights Library is asking area businesses to offer discounts to library supporters who join their Friends Merchants program. Friends' Justin Watrel has prepared profiles of participating businesses, which Patch has agreed to publish one to two times per month throughout the year. Patch plays no role in selecting the businesses or writing the profiles.

“We like to keep things interesting,” says owner Andrew Demicco of Heights Bar & Grill.

“We want to be known as the place to have a beer, a burger and a good conversation. We want to be the local corner bar and give people the best experience we can.” Andrew Demicco and his brother, Joel, are breaking the traditional mold of a bar and are giving Hasbrouck Heights a unique restaurant set by their own rules.

“This was the fourth establishment that we lookeat and something about it felt right,” Andrew continued. “The town was needing something different and we wanted to provide that.”

Andrew was raised in Teaneck with his seven brothers and sisters. “My mom and dad are from Jersey City originally and wanted a suburban life for their children. Teaneck was a great place to grow up. Most of my family is in the medical field and even with all their success, I wanted to own a different type of business. I had started my own Dot.com back in the early part of the decade, selling motorcycle parts online. Even though the business grew every year,
at some point I knew it was time for a change.”

Andrew does work in the commercial printing industry and his brother is a Gemologist on top of running their bar full time.

“It wasn’t about buying a bar,” Andrew continued, “it was about buying this place. There was something about this business that felt so right. I had never worked in a restaurant before even though I had wanted to work as a cook and server when I was younger. I just felt it was meant to be. We wanted to make the business more personal to fit that image.”

“We have been lucky that business has been wonderful and with a lot of town support, we have grown the business every year for the last three years,” Andrew said.

“We like to keep customers trips to Height Bar & Grill interesting. What makes the business a success it two factors, great food and a great staff. We are very lucky to have a staff that is friendly and welcoming. Our bartenders work their shifts on a regular basis and get to know our customers very well. Some of the bartenders know many of their customers family members and will ask about them. This is a personal touch you don’t see in too many restaurants anymore.”

“We constantly are reworking the menu,” Andrew explained. “We want to provide the freshest and best ingredients we can and it shows when you bite into one of our burgers or sandwiches. We have tried to set our own standards. Our hamburgers, which have been very popular since we opened are made of freshly ground meat and are never frozen.

He continued, "All of our sauces are homemade and we make our soups from scratch. We have worked on our ‘craft’ beers, featuring beer on draft from smaller breweries. I have been featuring Brooklyn Lager from New York City and have been bringing in beers from small upstate breweries. Recently, I approached North Jersey Brewery, a small brewery in North Bergen, which has been in business for a short time and make small batches of their product. We like to help other small business as well as introduce new items for our customers.”

“We are even reworking our dessert menu and we will now be offering our version of the deep fried Oreo,” Andrew said. “We felt that the traditional cakes weren’t enough. This also goes for our martini menu and specialty drinks. There is always a new way to create a twist to a traditional menu item. We are not even in the pizza business in the traditional sense, but our bar pizzas have become very popular and we are starting to do take out, something we never thought of before. It goes to show you how the customers can dictate your business.”

“We also try to be part of the community,” Andrew added, “We want to be involved in Hasbrouck Heights. We sponsor a soccer and baseball team, provide a sign for Little League, run a clambake during the street fair, which a percentage of the proceeds go to the fire department and provide hot chocolate to families during the Holiday Parade. This is because we don’t just want to be seen as a bar. We want to be a place people can take their family for a great burger and watch the game. We are packed on football weekends with people of all ages. We even offer kids 10 and under eat free every day from 2 to 7 p.m. with the purchase of any adult meal special for in house orders only."

"We have even opened a more private dining area in the back of the bar, where our pool table once was, to provide a quieter environment for people to eat and
watch TV.”

Some of the well-known items on the menu are the Heights Fries, fresh cut potatoes fries topped with three cheeses and bacon, served with a ranch dressing, pastrami and Swiss minis, three pastrami and Swiss minis sandwiches served with sauerkraut, a grilled chicken wrap made with a chicken breast, cooked to order topped with fresh lettuce and tomato and such traditional entrees as Chicken Francese and Cordon Bleu, served with mashed potatoes or pasta.

A buffalo chicken bar pie is topped with buffalo sauce and bleu and mozzarella cheeses putting a twist to the modern pizza. This can all be washed down with an array of beverages or specialty drinks made to order in front of you by someone who really knows how you like it.

“Some of our upcoming events are a Halloween Party, which there will be various contests surrounding the event, a Christmas Party on Christmas Eve and a New Year’s Bash. We have become a very popular place when college students come home for Thanksgiving and like to keep that tradition alive with all sorts of specials. We want to be that place where families can come and reconnect with friends. We want to become that town institution. If you want to meet
up, come meet at the Heights Bar & Grill. You won’t be disappointed.”

Heights Bar & Grill
163 Boulevard
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
201-288-9338