Food channel judges iconic North Jersey slider jointsMonday, October 25, 2010
Last updated: Monday October 25, 2010, 9:18 AM
BY ELISA UNG
The Record
STAFF WRITER
FOOD FEUDS
10 p.m. Thursday, Food Network
When it comes to sliders, is the king really White Manna or White Mana?
Food Network's new show "Food Feuds" hits North Jersey in the next few weeks, aiming to settle culinary rivalries new and old. On Nov. 4, it's a slider competition: Hackensack's White Manna vs. Jersey City's White Mana.
Whose cuisine will reign supreme? Oops, wrong show. But "Food Feuds"' host and final judge is an Iron Chef, Cleveland-based Michael Symon, who even roped his Paramus-raised college roommate into helping pick the show's competitors.
"I've always had a tremendous passion for joints – places that have been around forever, that become known for one thing," Symon says. "White Manna is the perfect example. That's a slice of American history. What we wanted to do was go into these places and show how great these places were, and the history behind them, and the passion that goes into them."
Symon spent some time with each competitor, helping make their specialty, before ultimately deciding the winner based on criteria such as taste, history and technique. At the end of each episode, he hands down a final verdict.
"The White Mannas were fantastic," he says. "The history was great; the guys who owned the places were hysterical. We were sitting in these places in the middle of the day and selling hundreds and hundreds of sliders."
As the story goes, Jersey City's White Mana was the first, having been built for the 1939 World's Fair as the "diner of the future." It was owned by the same owner as the Hackensack location, but both spots were eventually sold to different people and are no longer affiliated. Both were named White Manna, though the Jersey City location lost an "n" through a service error and the new name stuck.
The Food Network shooting "was a lot of fun," says Ronny Cohen, owner of the White Manna in Hackensack, who wouldn't reveal who was announced victor during a finale shot in Liberty State Park. He got to try the White Mana burgers. "They're OK, but they're not even close to the one we have," he says.
The sliders at Hackensack's White Manna — the ones favored by many foodies — feature potato rolls, sliced onions and ground beef that's only 10 percent fat; the meat gets its moisture from steaming on the grill. White Mana's sliders, which also have their loyalists, feature regular white rolls and chopped onions. (Mario Costa, the owner of White Mana, did not return phone calls.)
E-mail: ung@northjersey.comBlog: northjersey.com/foodblog
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