The spelling difference was an error
Who's got better burgers? One N, or two? It's a question that may never be answered, though we'll be happy to keep taste testing till it is. (Food Network's "Food Feuds" set out to settle the score in 2010, with Hackensack edging out its JC cousin.)
Both fast food diners were opened by Louis Bridges, but Jersey City's came first. The Tonnelle Avenue eatery was the first to open and was the 1939 World's Fair building (a fact proudly displayed on their signage and celebrated with World's Fair anniversary events). Present owner Mario Costa Jr. told New Jersey Monthly in 2007 that the spelling difference was an error when the sign was being serviced. It is, however, a "typo" that has helped the JC diner stand out.
Hackensack's White Manna sits on the bank of the river that shares its name with the Bergen County city and is a TV darling, being featuring on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," "Man v. Food," and "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations."
In Jersey City, "Newport" either means Newport Centre Mall or the neighborhood that's developed around it on the Hudson River waterfront. It's home to new real estate, restaurants and businesses as well as a University of Phoenix campus, Newport Green park featuring an urban beach and merry-go-round, and a PATH station.