The waitress at Clifton, New Jersey's iconic Tick Tock Diner thought Mick Jagger looked familiar when he dropped by last week for breakfast with two of his Rolling Stones band mates, but Tick Tock staff respect the privacy of their customers, she said.
"I didn't realize that it was them, so I didn't ask any questions," Kalliopi, who asked to only be identified by her first name, told NJ.com. "I kind of think they wanted to be low-key."
It was only after the three had finished their meal and ordered more food to-go that she realized their identity, on account of Jagger's familiar face and British accent.
Kalliopi added that she knows for a fact that some of her customers planned to attend the Rolling Stones' first of two northern New Jersey/NYC-area concerts that night at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. Jagger referenced his meal at the famous eatery during the concert.
The Stones dropped by the busy Tick Tock at around 10 a.m. Thursday and sat in a booth, next to a window. They stayed for about an hour and ordered a classic New Jersey breakfast of Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwiches, disco fries and coffee.
"I was thrilled he chose the Tick Tock diner," Kaliopi said. "I can't believe that he was actually here."
She noted that she's seen many celebrities come through the Tick Tock over the last 24 years, but she tries not to make a big deal out of it. She told NJ.com with a laugh that Jagger was perhaps the only customer that made her feel like a celebrity, on account of all the extra attention she and the diner got from the affair.
The Rolling Stones are playing MetLife again Monday night. Fans have reportedly been flooding the diner with additional business all weekend, ordering what the Stones ordered, and hoping the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers come by for another taste of New Jersey before the 'No Filter' tour moves to the next city.
Jagger, who underwent heart valve surgery this past spring, is famously strict about his diet and exercise regimen and probably won't make a habit of enjoying Taylor ham, egg and cheese sandwiches regularly.
Though it was originally called Taylor ham — named for the company that first produced it — the name was changed to the more general term, pork roll, in 1906. What to call the meat product is the topic of a long-standing debate amongst New Jerseyans, with the state's southern residents generally referring to the product as "pork roll" and its northern residents calling it Taylor ham.
NJ.comsurveyed residents from each one of the state's 565 municipalities in 2016and found that slightly more residents used the term pork roll.
The publication reported last week that Jagger and his band mates indeed asked for "Taylor ham" when they ordered it at the Tick Tock.
