The Trenton Times published the following article on November 13, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

‘There’s a lot of ghosts here’ – Home of the famed ‘Rossiburger’ is latest eatery to leave Trenton after 80 years

By Nicole Mulvaney/The Times of Trenton
on November 13, 2013 at 10:01 AM, updated November 13, 2013 at 11:09 AM

When Rossi’s Bar and Grill first opened its doors in the 1920s as a speakeasy during Prohibition, neighborhood residents would flood its dining room and reminisce for hours on end over a glass of whiskey. Decades later, it hosted ballplayers, including Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, as the legends swapped baseball stories and enjoyed a bite of Italian food.

And it was during the 1960s that the iconic restaurant, nestled on the corner of Morris Avenue and Franklin Street in the Chambersburg section of the state capital, began serving its famous 16-ounce “Rossiburger,” which has been hailed as the state’s best burger by New Jersey Monthly, featured on the Travel Channel’s “Burgerland” and mentioned in “Hamburger America,” a guidebook to 150 of the country’s best burgers.

“There’s a lot of ghosts here,” according to Ted Coate, the chef who’s mastered the art of cooking the “Rossiburger” during the 38 years he’s worked there. “If these walls could talk, there’d be a lot to say.”

But as the well-known eatery prepares to celebrate its 80th anniversary next week, it’s also gearing up for something “bittersweet”— a relocation to Hamilton next spring that will include a partnership with Alan Meinster, owner of Marsilio’s Kitchen in Ewing, another longtime Chambers-burg eatery that has moved in recent years, Rossi’s owner Michael Rossi said.