NJ Dining: White Manna (UPDATED)

Welcome, Anthony Bourdain:No Reservations viewers! I’ve added a number of shots to this post that I took during the filming of “Obsessed”. Enjoy.

White Manna
358 River St, Hackensack, NJ
(201) 342-0914

Fast food is not something I indulge in frequently, and when I do, I tend to prefer the classic Americana kind rather than the big chains. White Castle is an exception, just because of the uniqueness of the product.

If the hours are right, and the moons are properly aligned, and my stomach says “throw your best at me, you son of a bitch!” then I head over to my very favorite Jersey burger place of all — White Manna, on River Street in Hackensack.

 

White Manna as seen in daylight. Photo by “Daniel”, eG Forums

White Manna is a tiny little diner structure that can seat about maybe 15 people, tops. The story goes that the original was built in 1937 prior to the 1939 Worlds Fair exhibition in Flushing, NY, was then used at that event, and then later moved to New Jersey. The Hackensack location is not the original, it was built in 1946.

The “Original” location in Jersey City also serves hamburgers and was started by the original owner of both restaurants, however they are no longer related to each other.

All this historical stuff aside, it’s pretty much acknowledged by everyone who has been to both that the better burgers are at the Hackensack location.

When Tony Bourdain asked me where we should go eat when arranging our interview for No Reservations, I could only think of one place — the tiny little belly bomb joint which has over the last few years probably accrued more web traffic on this blog than any other.

There’s No Reservations at White Manna. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Blogroll: Diary of a Foodie

Gourmet Magazine’s Diary of a Foodie features lots of great video food porn.

I don’t often link to the bigger content sites, as I prefer to highlight individual bloggers that would otherwise get buried in the mainstream media. However in the case of Gourmet Magazine, they’ve got same utterly fantastic video content, direct from their PBS television series Diary of a Foodie, which is produced by Zero Point Zero Productions, the same people that bring you Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.

Suffice to say that the folks at Zero Point Zero are the Shaolin monks/Kung Fu masters of video pornography, and Gourmet Magazine gives them an incredible Hi-Def canvas to work with.

The Diary of a Foodie website features entire episodes from 3 seasons of the show. I recently started watching this program on PBS, but you don’t have to own a HDTV set to get in on the fun.

I recently saw the “Ancient Traditions” episode from season 3, which was originally shown in January, about food in Korea, which was utterly mind blowing.  I encourage you to sit and watch every single one of these episodes, especially if you are a fan of No Reservations. It’s just like taking a trip with Tony but without the angst and the cigarettes — and it’s narrated by hardcore food bloggers and food writers from around the world who you’ve probably never even heard of.