$\"\"$ <\/a>
The menu<\/p><\/div>\n
The menu is posted up on the wall behind the main counter. In addition to burgers, they also offer cheesesteaks and breakfast items such as omelets, though I’ve never seen anyone order breakfast. I wonder if they really do even make those? While it can get a bit hectic, especially when it’s crowded and people are packed into the small space, there’s still some semblance of order. People line up and call out their burger requests to the cook manning the grill, and it’s amazing that nothing is written down, yet the cook always remembers each order exactly. To prevent from sounding like a newbie, there are a few simple rules to remember:<\/p>\n
1. Know where you are in line. Though people try to line up single file down the middle of the restaurant, the line tends to mash up when more people try to smush their way into the restaurant. The people working behind the counter don’t know who’s next so everyone is on the honor system to order only when it’s their turn. If you call out when it’s not your turn, the people ahead of you will make it quite known that you’re out of order.<\/p>\n
2. When it’s your turn to order, call out to the cook what kind of burgers you want and how many of each. When ordering your burgers, you can either get it with cheese or without, with onions or without, and single or double patties. It’s important to note that the cook only takes burger orders. If you want a drink or french fries, someone else behind the counter will take that order.<\/p>\n
3. When your burgers are almost ready, the cook will ask if you’re staying or going. If you’re staying, they’ll pile your burgers onto a paper plate with a large handful of pickle slices. There are ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce bottles on the counters so you can use whichever condiments you prefer. If you’re taking your order to go, you’ll have to tell them if you want pickles, and which condiments to put on the burgers. Each burger is then wrapped individually in wax paper and given to you in a paper bag.<\/p>\n
4. When you’re paying, it’s up to you to remember exactly what you ordered as there is no bill or check. Usually when you eat in, you can pay when you’re finished. Just remember that there are no free refills on soda, so count each drink individually.<\/p>\n
5. While service is informal, it’s still nice to leave a tip for the cook and the counter workers as they’re really busy standing on their feet all day getting orders out as quickly as possible to keep up with the demand. There’s a tip bucket on the counter in front of the cook so you can just drop in a few bucks before you leave. Prices are super cheap so it’s easy to leave a decent tip, percentage-wise.<\/p>\n
On this particular visit, Josh and I had been craving White Manna burgers for months so we decided that we would stay no matter what the line looked like. As usual, when we pulled up, the line was snaking its way out the door. We waited outside for a few minutes until more space opened up inside, and then we squeezed our way into the tiny restaurant. I snagged some empty counter seats for us while Josh stood in line to place our order.<\/p>\n
Even though the line was relatively long, it only took about 10 minutes for our turn to order, and another 20 minutes to get the food. It wasn’t super fast, but it wasn’t too long either, and we entertained ourselves by observing how the burgers are made.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Watching the burgers cooking up on the griddle<\/p><\/div>\n
We also got two sodas and an order of fries, which came almost immediately so we munched on the fries while we waited for our burgers. The fries are the crinkle cut frozen variety, a la the Shake Shack<\/a>, but they’re always just-fried, piping hot, crispy on the outside, and have nice potato flavor on the inside.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Crispy crinkle cut french fries<\/p><\/div>\n
We got five hamburgers and five cheeseburgers, all singles and with onions. They’re not huge burgers, maybe a little over an ounce each, so they’re closer to sliders than regular burgers.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
A pile of burgers with pickle slices on the side<\/p><\/div>\n
The cheeseburgers are each covered with a slice of American cheese that are the perfect size for these small patties. The onions are sliced super thin so they get nice and caramelized during their time on the griddle, and they add an extra boost of flavor.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Cheeseburger with onions, up close<\/p><\/div>\n
The hamburgers seemed just a bit drier in texture, mostly because they didn’t have the coating of melted cheese. The burger patties are so small that they’re not really cooked to order, so some may get a bit more well done than others. The meat is somewhat coarsely ground and the patties are broken up a bit when they’re smashed on the griddle, resulting in a looser texture. The Martin’s potato rolls that they use are just perfect for soaking up all the juices that come off the burgers and the onions, and I love the squishiness of the buns.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Hamburger with pickles and onions, up close<\/p><\/div>\n
We ended up getting way more food than we could actually eat, as the burgers are bigger and more filling than you think. Not a problem, we just got some wax paper from one of the counter workers and wrapped up the extra burgers to go. And the cost of our burger feast that included five hamburgers, five cheeseburgers, an order of fries, and three medium sodas? Just $20.06 after tax. We tossed a couple of bucks into the tip bucket and walked out with full bellies and a sack of leftover burgers, perfect for snacking on later. And when we left, the line was still out the door.<\/p>\n
White Manna
\n358 River Street
\nHackensack, NJ <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Josh and I grew up less than five minutes away from the White Manna hamburger stand in Hackensack, NJ but we never ate there until after we had moved into the city. It’s kind of sad when we think about how many burgers we missed out on over the years so whenever we’re home visiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[50,68,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2522,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/2522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}