I studied at NYU in the early 80s and knew some of the students that were cooking those and paper acid

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Knee Gah what u know bout that ?

I've been there back in the 80s usually around 3 or 4am when we were all completely smashed and tripping on purple microdots, so if the service was unpleasant, it was probably a plus.

The fights in the parking lot were a sight to see, and the hookers!

From the article above I'm skeptical about there having been a White Manna in Springfield; there was, however, a White Diamond located where the popular Wine Library is now sited.

Searched for a thread on White Mana - didnt find one - however nice article from Forgotten NY

http://forgotten-ny.com/2016/12/white-mana-jersey-city/

WHITE MANA, Jersey City

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Those of you who follow the Kevin J. Walsh facebook page know that I spent much of the year working for a publisher in Hoboken. I spent precious little time exploring the place, as I was kept quite busy well into the evenings during the prime exploring times between May and September, when there is still light after work. I have gotten plenty of Hoboken photos that haven?t seen the light of day and will post them, eventually.
I had expressed a desire to visit the White Mana hamburger joint in The Heights in Jersey City, since I had heard of it and read about it (and its former stablemate, the White Manna in Hackensack) for several years. It?s about an hour walk from the Hoboken waterfront, as long as you don?t mind a climb up a steep set of stairs crossing the ridge that separates Hoboken from Jersey City. By the time I was ready to go, knowing that my stint was ending soon, it was dark out and discretion is the better part of valor, especially in unfamiliar neighborhoods. That?s where my friend author and musician Lindley Farley (Oddball New York) came in, as he gave myself and fellow photographer Shell Sheddy a lift to the joint, at Tonnelle and Manhattan Avenues.

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The White Mana, with one N, has its origins at the 1939-1940 Flushing Meadows World?s Fair, evidenced by the Trylon and Perisphere symbols in the rear. It is a tidy, circular building, with a horseshoe-shaped counter. The idea behind so small a restaurant was the ?three-step? rule: The person behind the counter need not take more than three steps to prepare the order.
This is actually one of the few remaining public representations of the conical Trylon and/or the Perisphere. There had been a mosaic of the Trylon at Forest Hills? Trylon Theater (obliterated around 2000) and there is still a small concrete Trylon ornament on a building at 108th and Van Doren Streets in Corona. The circular building was constructed by the Kullman diner manufacturers.
After the fair closed, entrepreneur Louis Bridges purchased it and made it the keystone of a five-restaurant franchise, all known as White Mannas with two N?s, located in Jersey City, Hackensack, Elizabeth and Springfield. Manna referred to the breadlike substance that Yahweh rained down on the itinerant Israelites during their travails in the desert after leaving Egypt in the Book of Exodus. Originally, all of Bridges? Mannas were correctly spelled with a double N, but after The Jersey City White Manna opened in 1946, a signpainter mistakenly left out one N, and this error is now used to tell apart the two original White Man(n)as that are still operating, one N in Jersey City, two in Hackensack.
In 1979 Mario Costa, formerly a busboy at the Mana (he joined the staff in 1972), purchased it from Luis Bridges? brother Webster, who by then was running the day to day ops, for $80,000. Then, Bridges opened the White Manor across Tonnelle Avenue, but it didn?t survive. In 1979, Costa was 23 and he still owns the place. A few years ago, the intersection was nicknamed Mario Costa Corner.
Until recently the White Mana had a ?Curb Service? sign outside. The practice started in the 1950s. Several burlesque dancers from Union City?s Hudson Theatre made extra money shuttling orders to the parking lot. Over the years, the Mana has had some famous patrons, from Chuck Berry to Mike Tyson to Dustin Hoffman. Some of them are pictured on the walls.
Come on in?

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Although the Mana is circle-shaped, for some reason, it does not feel cramped by any means. The kitchen is visible behind the horseshoe counter, which has several revolving seats.

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Owner Mario Costa (mustache) is pictured with 1970s Brazil and Cosmos soccer star Carlos Alberto Torres. In a strange coincidence, Carlos Alberto, as he was known, passed away on October 16, 2016, just a few days before my arrival here to see his photo on the wall.

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The signboard menus seem to be vintage, as well, from the 1960s or 1970s. Coca-Cola last used the ?M?bius? logo in the 1980s.

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A mystery. The internet is silent on the Ireland coffee brand, with the tagline ?America?s Best Coffee.? If anyone has any background, hit me at kevinjudewalsh@gmail.com. I do know that cops drink coffee for free at the Mana.
ForgottenFan ?Joe Fliel? Zrodlowski sends this article about Ireland Coffee. It has nothing to do with the Emerald Island; it is named for founder Samuel W. Ireland:
10 of the [Atlantic City?s] dozen casinos pour Ireland coffee, as do a majority of South Jersey hotels, restaurants and office machines. So do the Old Original Bookbinder?s restaurant in Philadelphia, the Four Seasons and Pierre hotels in Manhattan, the Showboat Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, the Holland America Cruise line, and the California-based Ruby?s Diners.
The article dates to 1996, and the casino landscape has changed in Atlantic City since then.
Ernie Anastos, who has been with just about all local TV stations as an anchor at one time or another, beams at left. His most infamous moment was probably letting loose with an unutterable verb on air a few years ago.

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The cash register, like the signboards, is of a certain age.

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An artist?s rendition of the Mana.

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Instead of the counter, we ate at one of the booths. However, the section where the booths are in is a later addition to the Mana done a few decades after the original was brought to Jersey City.

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That addition is evident here in a Google Street View shot.

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The fare is quite reasonably priced. You will shell out about $10 for 3 White Mana burgers, fries and a drink. The burgers are of the steamed variety you may be familiar with from the White Castle franchise, but they are larger. The buns seem to be of the Wonder variety, but I?m here for the ambience. You will come away filled and satisfied.

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I will return.
Info: Jersey Diners, Peter Genovese, Rutgers University Press, 1996
12/6/16

Back to 1939 as White Mana Diner celebrates 70 years

By Claire Moses/The Jersey Journal
October 15, 2009, 2:00PM

White Mana Diner in Jersey City, which was built as the "diner of the future" for the 1939 New York World's Fair, is celebrating its 70th anniversary on Sunday Oct. 25.

Owner Mario Costa is offering 1939 prices to celebrate. On Oct. 25, Costa is selling $.15 hamburgers, $.10 fries and sodas for a nickel to 70 of his customers.

"We want to remind the public just how long we have been around," Costa said. "And offering prices from the 1930s seemed like the perfect way to do it."

The first 70 customers to come into the diner after 2 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 25 will also receive a White Mana T-shirt.

White Mana is located at 470 Tonnele Ave., by Manhattan Avenue, in Jersey City.

For more information on the diner and its history, stay tuned for a story in the Jersey Journal.

hackensack white manna kicks booty...for me it's the potato rolls that put that burger over the jc manna...

and rory...kudos, my man....lido's is the spot....god damn god damn...pizza, sliced steaks that you could cut with a friggin fork!!! and the butter...oh the butter.

for a different sliced steak, equally as good, more medallion like than the thinly sliced, is DP's in garfield on river rd(near outwater lane)....talk about cheap, great food, good jukebox...they have awesome fresh fish as well....crabcakes to die for...stuffed shrimp is out of this world...

quick story on the owner/cook: some guy asked the waitress for his steak to be cooked well done...the owner/cook came out of the kitchen to tell the guy he couldn't do that to the meat..." i can't cook it well done, you'll have to order something else"...true story....that's the guy i want cooking my steak!!!

As a resident of JC, whose mother lived right of the hill of the JC Mana, and a alum of Hackensack High School, and someone who has had both, its the Hackensack Manna hands down. The atmosphere, the smallness, and the potato rolls. I like them better as take out, when everything has time to settle, its road side food at its best.

And Lido's kicks as well, nothing better then a small bar pie followed with a sliced steak.

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hey, I've got to save some money for the Olive Garden!!!

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For all but the super rich, eating at either White Manna is a once in a lifetime luxury. Most of us can only afford to dine at one or the other only on a very special occasion, eg: 25th anniversary, and it would be a shame to pick the wrong one. If I were you I would spend a few months researching your decision before plunking down the money.

grovester, doesn't matter which you try first, but definitely try both and report back here.

If you work in Hackensack and haven't been already, you gotta try Lido's (on Main Street in the Fairmont section). It's a no-frills pitcher of beer and pizza kind of place with great thin-crust pizza and the best steak sandwiches anywhere. It's been there forever. I used to go there as a kid and haven't been a while, but I know it's still there. Yum.

I work near the Hackensack Manna and live (somewhat) near the JC Mana. (Or, at least, I live in the same city and drive past it twice a day.)

And I haven't tried either one.

So, which is better? Which should I try first?

White Manna from heaven

The Record
Sunday, February 18, 2007
JIM BECKERMAN

For a restaurant that measures 15 feet by 30 feet, Hackensack's White Manna sure has a big rep.

Call it history, art, pop culture or just a cheeseburger to make Jimmy Buffett weep. Few are the works of men that have been treasured by so many people for so many reasons.

It has appeared in coffee-table books. It has made any number of "10 Best Burger" lists. It has boasted celebrity customers ranging from Jerry Seinfeld to stars of "The Sopranos." It has attracted historians, nostalgia buffs and all fans of the curious, the quirky and the quintessentially Jersey. Tales of its supposed "rivalry" with its onetime sister restaurant, White Mana of Jersey City, are part of the lore of both cities. A White Manna movie may be in the offing.

To hamburger hoi polloi, a White Manna burger might not seem so different from a White Castle, a White Tower, a White Rose or any of their other sisters in white that sprung up in the 1930s and 1940s (the "white" was a signifier of cleanliness; greasy spoons back in the day were notoriously dirty).
PHOTO GALLERY
DAVE ADORNATO / THE RECORD

Photo gallery: White Manna from heaven

But those in the know say that White Manna is the nonpareil, the hamburger supreme, 95 cents' worth of pure joy with ketchup on top.

"I've never been to another place like White Manna; it's special," says Nick Santora, the writer and co-executive producer of the Fox TV hit "Prison Break" who was introduced to the place by his wife, a Maywood native.

Fans of the mini-burgers, all snug in their little potato rolls, are legion. The White Manna cult knows no age, sex or condition.

"I came here once a week when I was pregnant," says Donna Hatton of Glen Rock, sitting at the counter on a recent Friday afternoon. "I've been coming here since I was 7 years old."

Tales of fanatical consumer loyalty are part of the folklore of the place, run since 1986 by Israeli brothers Ronnie and Ofer Cohen.

No condemned man has ever ordered White Manna as his last meal, so far as anyone knows. But the Cohens have seen just about everything else.

"We had this woman who wanted to stop at White Manna and have a hamburger before she got married," Ronnie Cohen recalls. "So you have three limousines stopping in front of White Manna; everybody jumps in here and has hamburgers. Then the bride gets back in the limousine and gets married."

Naturally, the burgers at the other White Manna ? er, White Mana ? on Tonnele Avenue in Jersey City also have partisans. The owner, for one.

"They claim their hamburgers are better than mine," says Mario Costa Jr. "But I know my hamburgers are good. The reason I know is that on weekends, the kids come, and they eat the whole hamburger. The kids don't lie."

He can also match the Hackensack location, celebrity for celebrity. Celtics great Larry Bird ate there. Chuck Berry used to stop at the Jersey City Mana -- probably after driving on the New Jersey Turnpike in the wee, wee hours. "He just loved the cheeseburgers," Costa says.

The Jersey City White Mana does have one indisputable leg up on its Hackensack cousin. It was the first.

This very restaurant, with its futuristic round, "flying saucer" design, launched the White Manna franchise with a bang at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

"That's why it's round," says Costa, who has owned the place since 1979. "Everything at the fair was round."

That landmark event, it will be remembered, gave Depression-weary audiences a glimpse of a brighter tomorrow (i.e., 1960) at such attractions as the original "Futurama." No surprise that the humble hamburger got its own visionary makeover.

At White Manna, fairgoers could see how the burger of tomorrow would be cooked ? right in front of them, on a grill right next to the counter, from pan to plate in five seconds. It was an early experiment in what would now be called ergonomics.

"It only took one step in either direction to go from the grill to the soda fountain to the customers," says Mark Moran of Weird New Jersey magazine.

The place was such a hit that it was dismantled and brought to Jersey City by Georgia entrepreneur Louis Bridges. To this day it remains, along with Coney Island's Parachute Jump, one of the last relics of what is generally rated the greatest world's fair of them all. "The fair was very influential, and this was a little piece of it," Costa says.

When White Manna reopened in Jersey City in 1946, it had company. That year, Bridges opened four new White Mannas in Springfield, Carteret, Rahway ? and Hackensack.

Only Hackensack and Jersey City remain ? and only Hackensack in its original pristine form.

By the time Costa started working there in 1972, the Jersey City restaurant had gained an additional seating area. It had also lost an "n" ? thanks to some illiterate at the Coca-Cola Co.

"At some point the sign broke, and Coca-Cola gave them new panels for the sign, and when the panels came back, they spelled it wrong," Costa says. "But we never got rid of the sign."

These days, opinion is divided over which restaurant ? White Manna or White Mana ? has the greater mystique.

Fans of the Jersey City restaurant point to its futuristic shape and historic significance (it was declared a city landmark in 1996).

But Hackensack partisans point out that their restaurant is still in its original, unaltered form. And they also cite the restaurant's tiny size ? smaller, even, than Jersey City's flying saucer -- as part of its appeal.

Customers sit virtually on top of one another ? and on top of the chef at the center of the action, whose ballet of burger flippings and soda jerkings makes White Manna as much of a culinary sideshow as Benihana.

"It's like a bar in a way," Ronnie Cohen says. "People don't like to drink by themselves. At White Manna, you don't eat by yourself. You interact with the customers and the workers. It's like family."

Die-hard customers certainly think so.

"Everybody talks here because it's so small," says Kathy Callaghan of Wyckoff. "Nothing compares to this place for nostalgia."

And then there are those onions.

"When I go down there, I have to put on different clothes," Santora says. "You don't wear your good clothes to White Manna, because the smell of onions permeates your clothes. It's a great smell."

# White Manna, 358 River St., Hackensack; 201-342-0914.

# White Mana, 480 Tonnele Ave., Jersey City; 201-963-1441.

E-mail: beckerman@northjersey.com

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A White Manna world

How do we love thee, White Manna? Let us count the ways.

# AS CUISINE. White Manna hamburgers regularly turn up on lists of the state's, and even the country's, best burgers. AOL City Guide put White Manna on its "best burger" list three years running. In June 2006, GQ Magazine's Alan Richman listed White Manna's cheeseburger as No. 13 on its list of "The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die."

# AS ART. It's an art-deco icon -- poetry in steel and neon and curvy glass blocks. No surprise that in Americana calendars, studies of retro decor and coffee-table books, White Manna figures prominently. And no surprise that White Manna sells commemorative T-shirts (S, M, L, XL, $10; 2 XL, $12).

# AS AN "IN" SPOT. Stars of "The Sopranos" have been spotted there. So has Jerry Seinfeld, twice. The TV-celebrity publishers of Weird New Jersey magazine, Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran, adore the place.

# AS A POP TOUCHSTONE. The power-punk group After 7 made a video there. AT&T used the restaurant in one of its commercials. So, believe it or not, did KFC (it was making a point about people preferring chicken to hamburgers).

# AS HISTORY. Before "fast food" was even a term, White Manna paved the way with its groundbreaking design that put the kitchen up front with the customers ? a novel idea in 1946, when the restaurant first set up shop in Hackensack. By eliminating the middleman ? i.e., the waitress ? White Manna sped up the time from the grill to the gullet.

# AS DRAMA. A sibling rivalry between White Manna and its onetime sister restaurant, Jersey City's White Mana (both originally part of a franchise, White Manna Systems), was reported by Weird New Jersey in a 1998 article, "A Tale of Two Mannas." The two places are separately owned; both sides claim their hamburgers speak for themselves.

# AS FILM. A movie about Hackensack's White Manna and its customers ? tentative title, "White Manna" ? is being pitched by Nick Santora, writer and co-executive producer of the Fox TV hit "Prison Break." According to Santora, there is major studio interest.

# AS A SNAPSHOT OF AMERICA. White Manna is right across the street from a McDonald's.

# AS A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. Manna, after all, was food God provided to the children of Israel. "Like wafers made with honey," says Exodus 16:31. Strangely enough, the Bible doesn't mention sauteed onions, a White Manna specialty.

I visited the Manna a few weeks ago. I haven't been there in many years, decades actually. Although I have a nostalgic fondness for the building, let us not mince words. The food sucks big time, and I am no food snob. I guess I had forgotten why I haven't been there in so long. The burgers were tastless back then and they still are. The fries back then were't bad, the thick crinkly ones. Now they have gone to shoestring fries. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of meeting the nasty griddleman. I would take White Castle over Manna any day. Sorry to be sacrilegious here but the truth must be told. I did go to the Hackensack joint a long time ago. I don't remember how they were but in the photo I posted a few posts above they look pretty gooey and unhealthy, ie: tasty.

Respectful -- I think not!



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Fantastic visual, Edward.

From the NY Times, "Sure, They?re Chefs, but They Eat, Too."

MICHAEL JOHNSTON, R.U.B. HUT, MANVILLE The White Manna burgers in Mr. Johnston?s hometown of Hackensack really soothe him on his day off. ?You want to get there when the grill is dirty,? he said. If the cook has cleaned it, ?the flavor is gone,? he explained. ?He?s got the ground beef rolled up in little balls. He puts down a bed of onions. If you get a single, it?s one ball smashed with a spatula. If it?s a double, it?s two, smashed with the spatula.? Mr. Johnston says he usually tops the onions and burger with yellow mustard, ketchup and hot sauce. ? K.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/nyr ... ionspecial2/19njdine.html

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Question: Do they cook it the same way at the White Mana Diner at 470 Tonnele Avenue?

you don't go to a place like this for the great customer service- it's like the old captain al's or mcsorleys.
BTW i've been in all of those places numerous times and i've never had anyone be rude to me. I think maybe they are rougher on men though. and even though i lived in three different states and dc after moving away from here as a kid, somehow people here can sense if you are from hudson county. maybe it's the stench of old pig farms, factories and corruption, but they don't usually mess with people born here. lucky me. i knew being from secaucus would have to work in my favor once in my life.

Sandman, it seems to me the man was going out of his way to be nice to you. He waited til your third fauxpas before the fongul. To bad you didn't get a photo of the burger as it hit the door behind you and slowly slid down the glass.
Anyway, this LINK starts off with a Calahan's/hot dog article and if you scroll down about 2/3 you will find the top burger list. The White Manna in Hackensack is in the top ten in the US. Great burger and other food photos on here.

Exchange btwn. my roommate and Jimmy at the Manna

Jimmy-Hi I'm Jimmy and I'll be your F'n Waiter.

Dude-I'll have the 2 cheeseburger combo and a Strawberry milkshake

Jimmy-Strawberry? What, are you an F'n f-ggot?

Dude-Okay I'll have chocolate

Jimmy-No, it's cool have whatever you want.

Dude-I'll have chocolate

Jimmy-Make up your f'n mind

Brilliant, absolutely priceless

I haven't been in there in ages but can't imagine the place or the menu has changed very much. As I recall, the ordering procedure is, you tell the guy what you want and sit down and wait for it. Not a lot of room for discussion. How did you get into an argument with him? Were you indecisive about what you wanted as he stood staring at you waiting for your order? You didn't start asking downtown type questions did you? I hope you didn't ask about a vegetarian menu or substitutions or fat/trans fat content or any other nutritional questions. You didn't tell him "no onions" did you? Did you ask for something that was not on the overhead menu? Did you ask about some sort of exotic or healthy juice drink? Did your face register disgust and or disappointment when you first walked in, and if so, did you pull a scented handkerchief from your sleeve and hold it to your face? Perhaps he sensed that you were a yuppie. What kind of car were you driving? Does it have bumper stickers? If so, what type? Were you with someone else? If so, what was the topic of of your discussion as you waited and could others overhear it? Was someone waiting in the car 15' away, and if so did you call them on the cell to ask them what they wanted? Did you make any derogotory comments about prostitutes or prostitution?

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I go in there all the time! That guys a hoot! He's the Don Rickles of fry cooks!

Decided to stop there for the first time, to take out a burger and fries. Was served by the rudest, nastiest SOB that ever worked in a restaurant. After being very patient with his nastiness, finally had to tell him F-U and walk out without the food. Anyone else with a similar experience there?