Fort Lee, New Jersey · Founded 1932 · Building: circa 1932
A deep-fried hot dog stand on Palisade Avenue since 1932, the oldest business in Fort Lee and Stop No. 1 on New Jersey's official Anthony Bourdain Food Trail.
Hiram's Roadstand has served deep-fried hot dogs from a small roadside counter at 1345 Palisade Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey, since 1932. It survived the closure of a longtime across-the-street competitor, a visit from Anthony Bourdain, and nearly a century without materially changing its menu. Pete Demiris and Jeffrey Escudero have owned and operated it since 2001.
Hiram's opened as a roadside hot dog stand at 1345 Palisade Avenue in Fort Lee, on the route to the since-closed Palisades Amusement Park.
Source: Widely corroborated across Tripadvisor, Roadtrippers, The Bergen County Girl, Retrologist, and the business's own site; no single primary founding record was located in this research.
Pete Demiris and Jeffrey Escudero took over ownership of Hiram's, adding onion rings and pickles to the menu at customer request.
Source: The Bergen County Girl, “A Look Inside Hiram's Roadstand, a Historic Fort Lee Staple,” May 2026
Chef and writer Anthony Bourdain, a Leonia, NJ native, visited Hiram's for a nostalgic meal.
Source: Retrologist, September 30, 2018; Hiram's own site quotes Bourdain: “I come here to feed my soul from the cultural wellspring that is New Jersey. It's the antidote to every other place.”
Hiram's website, built and maintained by GPTuitive (Ed Donovan), recorded 1,145 pageviews in a single week, with 587 referrals from Google organic search — organically outranking the business's own prior official page for its own name.
Source: Verified directly by researcher Ed Donovan via site analytics, August 2026
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The 1932 date and the location are consistently repeated across independent tourism, press, and social sources spanning at least a decade, and the surrounding neighborhood's own history (the road's role as the route to Palisades Amusement Park) supports the account. This research did not locate a primary business license, deed, or contemporary 1930s newspaper record establishing the exact opening date or the founder's full identity.
The Bergen County Girl describes Hiram's as the oldest establishment in Fort Lee, at nearly 100 years old. This research did not locate an independent municipal or historical-society survey of Fort Lee businesses that would confirm Hiram's holds that title specifically, as opposed to simply being very old.
Retrologist independently documented Bourdain's 2015 visit, and Hiram's own site displays a direct Bourdain quote consistent with his public persona and known New Jersey roots (he grew up in nearby Leonia). The Bourdain Food Trail designation is stated by Hiram's own site; this research did not separately verify the trail's official administering body or Hiram's numbered position on it.
Current owners Pete Demiris and Jeffrey Escudero told The Bergen County Girl the menu has stayed largely the same, while also noting they personally added onion rings and pickles in 2001. The claim of continuity from 1932 itself rests on proprietor recollection rather than a primary historical menu record.
Hiram's survives on narrowness, not expansion: one small kitchen, two fryers, one grill, a menu that has barely changed since the current owners took over in 2001, and a cash-only counter-service model that never tried to become something bigger. Its location a mile from the George Washington Bridge put it on the route to the long-defunct Palisades Amusement Park for decades, and it has outlasted the competitor that once stood across the street. The 2015 Anthony Bourdain visit and the resulting Bourdain Food Trail designation gave it a documented, widely cited claim to fame without changing what it actually serves.
Hiram's has served hot dogs from its Palisade Avenue location in Fort Lee, New Jersey since 1932, making it one of Bergen County's oldest continuously operating food businesses. The exact founding date and founder are not established by a primary record located in this research, but the 1932 date is consistently repeated across independent sources spanning at least a decade.
Pete Demiris and Jeffrey Escudero have owned and operated Hiram's since 2001, according to The Bergen County Girl. They kept the menu largely as they found it, adding only onion rings and pickles at customer request.
Yes. Bourdain, who grew up nearby in Leonia, New Jersey, visited Hiram's in 2015. Retrologist documented the visit independently, and Hiram's own site displays a Bourdain quote calling it "the cultural wellspring that is New Jersey."
Local coverage describes Hiram's as the oldest business in Fort Lee, dating to 1932. This research did not locate an independent citywide survey confirming that specific superlative, though no older continuously operating Fort Lee food business was identified.
1345 Palisade Ave, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
(201) 592-9602
Cash only. Counter service, outdoor seating, open daily. Go for the deep-fried rippers and onion rings; the menu hasn't needed updating in decades.