November 29
...serving up your daily dish.
Despite talk on NJ.com's Bloomfield message board about the White Circle closing, the fine Bloomfield Ave. eating establishment dive seemed alive and well when we visited yesterday and nobody had heard a hint that it was supposed to close. The decor, grease, counterman and customers all appear unchanged from the Truman administration.
I'd like to know what their 'system' is. You have to admit they are in a classic location right at the old railroad tracks near the City Subway.
Posted by: Krys | Nov 29, 2005 1:55:44 PM
I've never eaten there but I'm grateful to all the people who do. It's great to see these old NJ institutions survive.
Posted by: todd | Nov 29, 2005 2:12:17 PM
Someone later posted under the name "White Circle" and said that it was untrue that it's going out of business. So it may have been an unsubstantiated rumor. Personally I'm glad it's still going to be there. It's such an icon of that type of little diner (like the late lamented Short Stop). I have to admit I've never eaten there but someone said the burgers are good. Maybe I'll stop in!
Posted by: mauigirl52 | Nov 29, 2005 3:37:44 PM
The name conjures up images of a presegregated society that existed, in that time-frame, and touted white supremacy in its signage, by power of suggestion. Never mind indigestion.
Posted by: One for the road | Nov 29, 2005 8:40:13 PM
Okaaaay. . . . Actually, I thought it was a competitor of, or the inspiration for, the White Manna location(s) in Northern NJ. Can anyone offer a comparison between White Manna's burgers and the ones at White Circle?
Posted by: Schizohedron | Nov 30, 2005 10:19:59 AM
In the beginning, there was the White Castle (Burp!) - Wichita, KS in 1921. Then came the White Tower (Eep!) in 1926 in Milwaukee, WI. White Manna (Yipe!) apparently first appeared in Jersey City around 1940, then expanded to Hackensack. I have not been able to trace the history of the White Circle System.
White Supremacy (Barf!), however, is indigestion of a much different intensity.
Posted by: Conan the Grammarian | Nov 30, 2005 10:42:58 AM
