The first clue is the smell. Before you start overthinking the menu, before you wonder whether a burger from a small Jersey City spot can really live up to the noise, the air around 101 Pacific Avenue starts making its case.
It is beef hitting a hot grill, onions doing their sharp little dance, and a toasted bun waiting for trouble. Crave Burger Cafe does not look like the kind of place built to impress people who need velvet ropes with their dinner.
That is part of the fun. The buzz here is not about chandeliers, skyline views, or a burger stacked so high it needs an engineering inspection…